Irate customer. “Waiter! This coffee tastes like mud.”
Snooty waiter. “Hardly surprising madam, it was only just ground this morning.”
The above joke has got absolutely nothing to do with the Nescafé or any other brand. It is just a joke.
I have never been a coffee drinker of any note because in my childhood during the war, real coffee just didn’t exist except on the black market. People had to make do with a concoction made from chicory. Then when the war ended and foodstuff got back to normal I was in my teens haunting the local coffee bars chatting up the girls and listening to the jukebox. There we drank coffee but it was that frothy stuff which was quite nice. I was further spoiled for drinking coffee by being introduced to the real stuff that was ground and percolated. This was real coffee that tasted like coffee.
When Nescafé original came on the scene and became affordable to most people, it was very much like the old ground and percolated coffee but took just a few seconds to make. Made by the Swiss firm Nestlé the original coffee was good value and very tasty.
Over the years it has got harsher and harsher until today it bears no resemblance to the product of old. However made with very hot milk and no water, today’s Nescafé does bring back memories of the real stuff that we drank in days gone by. It isn’t quite the same but is just about drinkable. But then you have to watch that the milk doesn’t boil over and there is the saucepan to wash up afterwards so making a nice cup of coffee becomes a chore rather than a pleasure.
I know that there are various types of Nescafé like Gold Blend, Fine Blend and Mild etc. but none of these matches the real thing of ground and percolated coffee.
So I cannot recommend Nescafé to anyone although I know that millions like it, which is why I keep a jar of Nescafé for guests if that’s what they want.
I would point out that in the original review I had stated that Nestlé was a French company and my error was pointed out to me, quite rightly, by . I plead insanity, old age, and anything else that I can think of and as punishment I have stood in the corner of the room for two hours wearing a dunce’s cap and have just finished two hundred lines:
Nestlé is a Swiss company and not French.
Many apologies to everyone.