For a while now, I've been drinking instant coffee at home. Michele put our coffee maker up in a cupboard and replaced with a hot water dispenser. It's great for tea, but it leads to instant if you want coffee. I've tried various Japanese instants and those found in the regular supermarket from Folgers and Maxwell. They are OK, but nothing great.
When I was in Europe I found these small coffee packets that held instant coffee for one cup. I really enjoyed them and had horded a few that I brought home. When I started searching on the net for how to get them in the US, I bumped into Java Juice. I started reading the site and was intrigued. I bought some and awaited it's arrival to Cruft Manor.
I opened the box and was pleased with the package. Quite a departure from standard supermarket style, the canister had a good tactile feel and appears to be useful for other things once the coffee is gone.
The coffee is made from organic beans and is even kosher. They even mention that the benas are 'fair trade'.
The coffee extract comes in a packet. It's not powdered instant coffee, it's a liquid. The idea is that it is easily mixed into anything.
Java Juice pitches their coffee as a product for people on the go, that want high quality coffee whether they are camping or at the office.
I open the package and poured the black gold out. A strong, delightful coffee aroma filled the air. I'm not sure exactly how they make it, but this is some serious coffee extract.
I add the hot water from the kettle. (Michele tried to clean the hot water dispenser with vinegar. It cleaned off the calcium deposits great, but the dispenser died. So we are back to heating water with a tea kettle until Michele decides on the new hot water dispenser.)
A little sugar and a little milk and we are ready. The taste? Pretty damn good. Much better than any regular instant coffee I've tried in the past. It's strong and has a more 'thick' feel to it that some of the thin coffees you encounter.
Michele gave it a try and she liked it as well. It's been offically added to the house staples.
Java Juice is great, but it ain't cheap. A single serving is 75ยข to $1, depending on the quantity you buy. Like most things in life, you get what you pay for. I brought a packet to work today, added the hot water from the work kitchen and I had a great cup of coffee. Compared to my usual choice of crappy free machine coffee and expensive yucky Starbucks coffee, it's well worth the price.
Um, you know you have commited coffee blasphemy, right? Does it really hold up to fresh brewed, or are you being nice to make your "Michele" happy? I sure will give it a shot though, 'cuz sometimes, I just can't finish a whole pot o' coffee in one morning. Ok, most of the time I can.
Posted by: Keith Coogan [http://www.jersisalon.com/index1.html] on June 2, 2006 7:45 PMFlavor, schmavor!
What's the count, man?
How many mgs of caffeine/serving?
Where did you buy it from?
Posted by: michael [http://www.planomug.com] on June 2, 2006 11:19 PMGlad to hear the stuff's organic and fair trade, but seriously -- Instant? We need to get you a real coffee maker --
Posted by: green la girl [http://greenlagirl.com] on June 4, 2006 7:13 PMGet a plunger, and get some cafenation coffee ( www.cafenation.com.au )
Posted by: Lee [http://blog.cafenation.com.au/] on June 5, 2006 3:37 AMUsing a French Press would make good use of an instant hot water tap. I wonder if java juice would make a good frappe (greek style iced coffee).
Posted by: Joseph Pascoe [http://www.eng.buffalo.edu/~pascoe] on June 7, 2006 2:40 PMHello AND who the heck is Michael- and whooo are you?
I am A . Karno Queen of cups and yes, it makes killer frappe. JJ was created for travel and never meant to replace the joys of home brewed perfection.
We ought to know http://www.lacoffee.com
However, when you can't bring your French press to the mountains, 'rip it - sip it- and drip it'
is the closest you'll get to micro brewed coffee house quality ( not that burnt mermaid stuff) In addition JJ in cooking, tiramisu, ice creams, etc.
is THE best. You will never find a finer cooking ingredient.
join our contest! recipes@javajuiceextract.com
please write me and let me know who took these fantastic photos!
Posted by: a karno [http://www.javajuiceextract.com] on June 7, 2006 11:11 PMI dropped fussing with my grinder, the beans, the 'brown dust' the noise and the wait about 2 months ago - when we run out and have to break out the hardware, everyone is grumpy.
Nuke 8 oz of water and rip, drip and sip great coffee, period.
So, lets see if i can address a few of the above comments...
1. yes, it tastes great.
2. i will race anyone using any method anytime
on the i want coffee to ingestion time race track.
3.It is MUCH simpler and WAY less a mess.
4. it is NOT INSTANT - it is an EXTRACT.
5. Otito Gojito - pour some into JOLT if you don't care about flavor ! BTW - You don't measure how 'strong' coffee is flavor wise is using caffeine milligrams - Generally, dark roast coffee has less caffeine than lighter roasts since the roasting process reduces caffeine content of the bean. So, you want caffeine, get some pills - me, i want TASTE.
You want numbers, you need a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter or a Brix meter -
but, as you are probably saying "whatever" - just by some and try some - stop triipn' and start sippin'
Michael Jahn
Simi Valley, CA
you should try one of these:
http://www.quickspice.com/scstore/images/cookware-coffeefilter-onecup_lg.jpg
perfect for making a single cup of fresh-brewed, good, strong coffee. mmmm...
Posted by: sara [] on June 12, 2006 4:40 PM