My former MIL switched to decaf. When we used to drive up there to visit, my first act, after saying hello and getting the luggage out of the car, was to drive to a nearby grocery store for caffeinated coffee and diet Coke.

The problem with instant is that not only does it taste terrible, it's also doesn't have much caffeine in it.

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The problem with instant is that not only does it taste terrible, it's also doesn't have much caffeine in it.

But it has flavor crystals in it!

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Insent to the Spectral Bovine, a little soapboxy, maybe. But I'm trying to pay stuff forward, despite having way better hair than HH in that movie.(Who doesn't?)

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I would say the definition of a true coffee addict IS someone who will, if they have no other option, drink shitty coffee.

Can't one be an addict and a snob? Because I get caffiene headaches the same as everyone else, but if the only coffee available is instant, I'm washing down an Excedrin with Coke.

Fair point. And I like to say I'm a coffee snob -- I mean, like with wine and sushi, I *prefer* the really good stuff -- but I'll drink instant if it's the only option.

(sorry, Jess, but I just don't like Starbucks)

Why apologize to me? I've always said their in-store drip coffee is crap. They use the cheapest beans and overextract it.

I didn't want to impugn your barrista past.

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But what if you're visiting friends in another state, and you didn't realize that they don't drink coffee and therefore don't even have a coffeemaker, because you assume that *everyone* drinks coffee, or at least owns a coffeemaker for dinner parties/guests?

Scott's brother and his wife have no coffee maker. Now, they're in state (maybe 20 miles away) but I hate the lack of coffee at their otherwise very nice parties, and we always hit Dunkin' Donuts on the way.

Then you force them to swing by the nearest place that has coffee, and sometimes it's swill like gas-station coffee or Starbucks (sorry, Jess, but I just don't like Starbucks), but you do what you gotta do to get that fix.

I hate Starbucks coffee (although I'll drink their cappuccino). I dislike it enough, that when my mother bought a pound of it for Scott, I went out and bought other coffee for me, but it's still a coffee I would drink, as are most of those convenient store/gas stations coffees, in case of coffee emergency. My undrinkable standards are pretty damned low (and I would drink instant if there were a coffee emergency, except those teabag-like thingies are much better, and even more handy). But the stuff from the vending machines (at least the ones I've tried)...I can't do it.

Now we always bring our own - and they make a point of reminding us, too, so you can tell it wasn't pretty.

Hee. If I knew someone like in Steph's example, I don't think I'd stay with them, or, I'd buy a coffee maker to leave there.

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I have a drip coffee maker, two French presses (one's an individual one), and one of those aluminum ones that perks coffee on the stove or over a fire. I have taken a French press camping. Once, when I woke up to discover that there was a water main break in front of my house and no water in my house, I melted the ice in the freezer for water for coffee. It was either that or walk a half mile to the minimart on the corner, since there were large yellow water-main-fixing machines in front of my driveway.

I like Starbucks expresso and related drinks. The drip coffee isn't much, though. Starbucks makes me happy, though, because the fact that there's a Starbucks on every corner means that I can almost always get coffee. There was a benighted era when this wasn't true.

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Nice work, P-C!

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Thanks, Robin! (Did you understand it? Did anyone understand it? This is a key issue here. My editor tried to cut down my use of big words as much as possible.)

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I have taken a French press camping.

I bought my present French press expressly to take camping. It's stainless steel. I had one made of Lexan that was designed for camping, but I used it as my home coffee maker for a year and it broke.

We had to finally get rid of the magical coffee maker with a timer that would actually grind the beans for me in the morning. It was lovely, but it was better at making larger amounts of coffe than smaller, and if I make a whole pot of coffee, I'm drinking it 'til it's gone. Stashed it in a fairly inaccessible cabinet for a long while, and pulled it out when we had houseguests. Imagine our horror when it completely failed to work even a little bit. I think I broke its poor little mechanical heart, putting it in that cupboard.

P-C, I think you know my stance vis-avis tags and the announcing thereof. Nice article, I feel more informed for having read it. (eta: I understood it as i was reading it, but I wouldn't pass a pop quiz)

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I think lori has (or showed me) a french press travel mug. Pretty sweet.

Or I could be hallucinating the whole thing.

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