Instant coffee that doesn't suck

I'm a bit of a coffee snob... to the point where I have tried roasting my own beans.  I prefer a good dark roast brewed strong.  At work, we have a coffee pot and a Keurig, but they end up both being wasteful.  If I brew a pot, sometimes I'll have a few cups out of it and no one else touches it leaving a lot of wasted brew, and other days it seems like all 4 of the others in the office smell it and it disappears before I get any.  The Keurig is just a pain.  Pods are expensive, the re-usable basket is nice, but messy, and no matter what I do I can't get it strong enough.

The easy button is instant coffee because we have a hot water tap in the water cooler.

Any brands that don't suck?  I tried some store-brand instant and discovered I would rather eat rusty nails.

If you like strong and have a hot water tap, I think the answer will be French Press or AeroPress

In reply to Curtis :

Starbucks Via Instant (single serving pouches)

By far the best I've ever had.  NOT cheap, but tastes amazing for what it is.

Via,

Or this stuff is quite good as well  https://amzn.to/2rbR02j

This stuff is pretty good.  Some coworkers turned me onto it.  You can do hot or cold brew, or mix it in with a regular cup to get an even stronger flavor, and it really wakes you up.

With any of the pod-based, you will never get strong coffee unless you use espresso beans, but even there there just is not enough grounds to get a strong cup. 

I found one good instant coffee, but when I priced it out it was cheaper to use whatever Dunkin bag I get at Costco and make a pot, and the Dunkin was better still. 

On our recent boundry waters trip, we accidentally packed instant coffee. I can't remember the brand, but it was mainstream and it was BAD. But it was the only caffeine we had. The only way to make it palatable was to mix in a pack of Swiss Miss hot chocolate. Mocha! I'm a coffee snob who mainly drinks black coffee or latte's, and was with 1 guy who doesn't drink coffee and 2 that are farmers/veterinarians/country folk who drink Maxwell house and are proud of the fact that they drink it black. By the end of the trip, I had all 3 of them drinking my "mocha". So apparently the best instant coffee is mixed with hot chocolate. 

At my old job I used to visit a vendor's office where they cut coffee from the budget for employees.  As a visitor they would let me have those Kuerig cups from the owner's stash but I ended up bringing instant to keep in the desk of the guy I visited.  It was a sign of solidarity!  

Anyway,  I tried a couple different brands but this won out as least offensive.   I find all instant has a wierd aftertaste to me but this worked.  Its cheap and easy to find.

I just drink whatever work offers me for free...

We have some sort of Starbucks on my floor and Roasterie on a floor above me; I prefer the Roasterie.

When it comes to the instant coffee packets, I'm not fancy in any sense. I just fill it with creamer and/or sugar. I could get by on Folger's.

John Welsh said:

If you like strong and have a hot water tap, I think the answer will be French Press or AeroPress

+1. And the AeroPress is easy to clean. 

I like the Four Sigmatic lions main and chaga mushroom coffee. Its a bit expensive but Amazon is cheaper than their own website.

The best instant I have ever had. And I went through a bunch of them before I found this one. 

Bustelo isn't bad. It winds up being about the same as a fresh cup of average dark roast brewed coffee when all is said and done.

My Granny used to pour a cup of whatever and then spike it with a tablespoon of instant.

Maybe Granny was on to something!

Brew your favorite Keurig, then supplement with a spoonful of instant.  Taa Daaaaah!

We like Mount Hagen, both caf and decaf.  Available at Whole Foods, among others.

All coffee sucks.

I tried.  I really tried to not troll the coffee people, but I just don't have the strength to resist.

alfadriver said:

John Welsh said:

If you like strong and have a hot water tap, I think the answer will be French Press or AeroPress

+1. And the AeroPress is easy to clean. 

I'm trying to get away from the time aspect, not to mention the time to clean up, and knowing my co-workers... I will need to clean out the dried, moldy grounds from last week before I can use it.

Streetwiseguy said:

All coffee sucks.

I tried.  I really tried to not troll the coffee people, but I just don't have the strength to resist.

I respect your opinion.  You're allowed to be utterly and comically wrong  

In reply to Curtis :

Couldn't you just get a small french press and keep it at your desk? So you use it, clean it, put it away, and your coworkers never get the chance to leave grounds in it? That's what I do with my little pour over at work.

Streetwiseguy said:

All coffee sucks.

I tried.  I really tried to not troll the coffee people, but I just don't have the strength to resist.

Yep. I love the smell of fresh brewing coffee....................the good stuff, not the horrible swill they serve people at work with the new vendor. 

But I can't get past the taste, unless you add a bunch of sugar and cream.........which at that point, just take a caffeine pill and not the hundreds of calories that come with each glass of doctored up go juice.

Via is the easy button here. It's not perfect, but in a world with seemingly endless examples of how people can screw up coffee, it's often better than the brewed alternatives. Since it's in single-serve packages, figure out how much water you need to get it to your preferred strength and you'll have a nice, consistent cup. It is expensive (obviously - Starbucks), but I'd rather pay than choke down swill when I can't brew my own.

shagles said:

In reply to Curtis :

Couldn't you just get a small french press and keep it at your desk? So you use it, clean it, put it away, and your coworkers never get the chance to leave grounds in it? That's what I do with my little pour over at work.

Yes, but until I walk to the kitchen across the complex, clean it, make it, take it back and clean it again....

Some days I want zero cups at work.  Some days I want 10.  Every day I'm stoopid busy for 12 hours.  There have been days when I made a pot of coffee and forgot I made it.  Other days I start making a pot and get called away and forget.  At least the Keurig is quick, but wasted plastics or a mess to clean up.  I'm talking about the need for beyond simple.  French press is three steps and a waiting period.  It needs to be pretty much as simple as grabbing a coke from the fridge.

Suffice it to say that we are a staff of 5 operating two large theaters.  The number of hats we wear is comical.  The squirrels we see are highly distracting.

I worked with a guy that was a self professed coffee snob, hated instant.  He would brew a pot of fresh on Sunday night, freeze 12oz. bullets and thaw them out one at a time every morning at work.

Seems easier to alter my pallet.

Curtis said:

alfadriver said:

John Welsh said:

If you like strong and have a hot water tap, I think the answer will be French Press or AeroPress

+1. And the AeroPress is easy to clean. 

I'm trying to get away from the time aspect, not to mention the time to clean up, and knowing my co-workers... I will need to clean out the dried, moldy grounds from last week before I can use it.

So this is for more than just you?

The AeroPress does not need steeping time, put in grounds, a little water, stir or swirl, fill rest, put in top/ filter, and press coffee out. Then to clean, take off cap and press out the remaining coffee puck. I actually clean it with soap and water maybe twice a month. 
But if you are looking for a solution for a group....  

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I can't stand the smell or taste of it, to be honest. The only coffee-based thing I ever liked is the chocolate and banana flavored frozen mocha at Sheetz. And then it gives me the E36 M3s. 

Honestly Curtis, I think your best bet is a coffee pot at home. Brew your coffee, throw it into a big thermos, bring it to work. At night take the 2 minutes it takes to throw out the old grounds (compost!) and set the timer to brew again tomorrow. This will probably be your most cost effective and overall convenient method if brewing a pot at work doesn't work. 

The second best option may be (GASP!) to grab a cup at whatever Dunkin/Gas Station/Coffee Shop/McDonalds/Etc. is on the way into work. Toss the paper cup when you're done.