I've been told my whole life that instant coffee was nastyville. And as a skeptic of all things powered and "just add water," I followed this condemnation of instant coffee like a lemming. I don't want processed, I want the real deal. Furthermore, American drip coffee is most of what I've always known. In my naïveté I told myself, isn't that how coffee is supposed to be made? My faith in cafe americano slipped, however, during my month abroad when I had the slightest glance of the shortcomings of American coffee. What other coffee lies have I been believing?
So I went to the annual Greek food festival in Cranston a few weeks ago and as a step of faith partook of a foamy cup of Nescafe. And it was pretty delish. I petitioned for a jar for my birthday (because, why not?) and my sister delivered. Because she's a boss. (Thanks Sarah!) Nescafe is perhaps the most dominate instant coffee brand on the market worldwide, and bonus, the label is entirely in Spanish.
I put a tablespoon of Nescafe, half a tablespoon of sugar, and a little bit of cocoa powder in the bottom of a travel mug. You're supposed to use water, and add milk after if you take milk in your coffee, but it was nighttime and I went all out. (This is apparently a non-Greek rendition, the way they make it in Denmark.) So I filled the travel mug halfway with milk, shook it up, and there was so much foam. I poured it over ice cubes, rinsed the remaining foam out of the mug with some water. Creamy, foamy, delicious iced coffee, original gangsta Greek-style.
It was particularly interesting because it continued to stay foamy until the last drop. I found this curious about the Greek frappé I had at the festival, too, that no matter how much I sipped or stirred, the foam would replenish itself. A little spooky. But apparently what makes Nescafe integral for making cold, foamy coffee drinks is its lower oil content than most American instant coffee brands. It has something to do with the viscosity and bubble size and other stuff. I'm not fluent enough to read the label.
So it's possible there might be something to this whole instant coffee thing.
