yes...it's interesting that it doesn't need to be "that bad" (swill)... Many don't realise (or consider) that if you line up 10 people and give them the same jar of instant, jug and water, but a selection of differing cups/mugs and a selection of spoons, you will still end up with 10 different results in the cup because there too, you need a degree of standardisation in the way the cuppa is made. Its just hot brown water, but it can be made to taste pretty aweful by anyone's individual technique or flavour preference...and yet, it should be so simple. Take a look on the side of a can in nescafe...haven't had a look for a long time but there used to be a legend somewhere in the fine print that advised there were so many "standard" cups in the can or some such thing. To get down to the nitty gritty, you need a standard measured dose, and a standard volume coffee cup. Somewhere in all the miriad interpretations of anyone's particular favourite instant coffee, is a "STANDARD CUP", which will have a totally different flavour to something made using entirely different proportions. Meaning...it doesn't need to be that bad, if it (like everything else) is made with care. Food (coffee) for thought ^-^. And....in my travels I really have had cups of brewed coffee that would be better called poison, and where a well made instant would have been better.
