Everything Old Is New Again - and Thus Began the 2009 Battle of the Instant Brew

I was walking to the train station last night and out of the dark, I heard, "Free Coffee!" What? Did someone say "free coffee?"

I immediately stopped in my tracks - thank goodness I was wearing rubber soled shoes - and made a 45 degree turn right into the face of a smiling young woman with a bright red apron holding two fists full of "Taster's Choice."


I'm no snob, but I am a bit skeptical about this whole new instant coffee craze. I tried the Starbucks Viva Instant a few weeks ago and it's good (for instant coffee), but would drinking this Taster's Choice Instant jeopardize my reputation as a coffee afficianado? I dropped the free packet into my tote and got onto my train.

This morning, I get off the train, exit the escalator and walk right into a guy in a red apron holding two fists full of "Taster's Choice."

Must be a sign, right?

We are in an economic downturn, and it was free, and hey "waste not, want not," right? No need to stop at Starbucks when I've just been handed FREE coffee.

So when I sat down at my desk this morning, I poured the crystals into my cup. The first thing I noticed is that they were not the fine crystals of the Starbucks Viva but crystals which looked a lot like - well, it looked like instant coffee.

However, this is not the Taster's Choice that our parents used to drink. This is "Taster's Choice Gourmet Coffee." The assortment included Columbian, Vanilla, Gourmet Roast, Original Gourmet (not to be confused with Gourmet) and Hazelnut.

I went to the kitchen and poured in hot water from the water machine (although, my preference would have been water boiled from the kettle). Stir, stir. Stir some more. Stir, stir. It looked rather light. Actually, it looked sort of "weak."

I let it sit for a full two minutes.

Sip. Hmmm. . .that was painless. Sip. That really was painless. Sip. Not bad. Sip. Pretty good instant coffee.

I wonder if the Nescafe lady will be at the train station tonight?

Good job, Taster's Choice. Not as good as Starbucks, but definitely worth a try.

TGIF!!!