ASDA - England's Walmart

Alright audience, we both knew this was coming. It was really only a matter of time before I came across a bad "Cup of Joe". While frantically trying to buy groceries on the third day after arrival, for three people, in a completely foreign store and also trying to check out before the bus left for campus, Sam (my friend from Michigan State University) and I decided that we needed some liquid energy! We went to the cafe on the far end of ASDA and each bought a cup of brewed coffee for 95 pence. Unfortunately, American brewed coffee is NOT the same as English brewed coffee. The English usually either use "instant coffee (and I am not talking about Starbucks' VIA instant coffee) or a they use a french press to make coffee. The coffee Sam and I bought was instant coffee that came out of a machine and it just was not coffee. Also, as my lovely housemates pointed out to me, any store that is part of the Walmart family is probably not going to be known for their coffee so I'm still very optimistic about my future coffee adventures!

Before I could blog about this experience, I felt that I should try to make brewed coffee myself to see if I could do any better without a coffee pot. Long story short, instant coffee = BAD, french press coffee = GOOD. Because we are human, we tend to be a creatures of habit so I still believe that a coffee pot is the best way to go. However, Sam does make a mean cup of french press coffee and is sweet enough to save me some! She says it takes a lot of grounds in order to make it strong enough ("strong enough" for us may be a little stronger than most people like) so we will definitely have to keep an eye out for how quickly we go through coffee bags. Because none of us thought to bring our coffee pot along, it looks like we'll be using the french press while we are here. And who knows, maybe our habits will change and we'll start using french presses when we get home!