From the BBC
It's UK coffee week, but despite years of cafe proliferation, instant coffee still dominates at home. Why do the British drink so much more instant than anyone else, asks Denise Winterman.
"It's like orange squash and orange juice, they're both called orange but that's pretty much where the similarities end," says Paul Meikle-Janney, managing director of coffee consultancy, Coffee Community. "Instant coffee and fresh coffee are different products. Each has its own place in the market but that place is narrowing when it comes to instant and that is as it should be."
But instant still accounts for 77% of the coffee Brits buy to drink at home, according to market research specialists Mintel. In Italy it accounts for just 1%, in France 4% and 7% in the US. The UK market for coffee at home is growing and is now worth in excess of £1bn annually. Instant has lost market share recently but still dominates over the likes of ground coffee and beans.
The reason is simple - we generally drink tea, which means that everywhere has kettles. Even in houses that drink coffee, people have kettles because they were raised having a kettle and making instant coffee.
It's the first thing you notice when you enter a house in France, either rented or staying with someone - they don't have a kettle, and no house in the UK would be without one.
