The Coffee We Don’t Talk About

Coming from country where its coffee is one of the most sought after in the world, you would assume that Kenya would be buzzing in strong coffee culture. That would be tea. At least for the far majority.

The most common beverage of choice, the one served at nearly every table, in every home, is tea. Rich, milky, sweet tea is the heartbeat of daily life. Breakfast is never complete without a thermos flask or tea pot full of hot steaming tea.

Coffee, on the other hand, not as common. The coastal region especially, where I spent most of my childhood. Coffee shops are almost non existent. If you want to find a proper cappuccino or sit in a space commited to the brew, you’d have to go inland, probably the capital Nairobi, where the the culture is abit more “modern”.

At home, though, when my mother wanted a break from her daily cup of tea, her coffee choice is always simple and obvious: instant coffee. No debate. Just hot water, a teaspoon, and that unmistakable aroma. Plus maybe hot milk to add to the taste.

This post is a small tribute to that cup. A quiet appreciation of this convenient masterpiece. The coffee we rarely talk about.

Instant coffee is everywhere. It’s in school staff rooms, hospital rooms, military bases, airport lounges, and kitchen shelves across the world. It comes in plastic containers, sachets, and refillable glass jars, often sitting quietly next to the sugar.

We drink it at 5 a.m. before work. After work. On night shifts, During winter seasons and in Summer. Have it with bread, cake or biscuits. Whether in silence or in motion. it’s always there. Convenient in all ways possible.

How It’s Made, and Why It’s Everywhere

Part of what makes instant coffee so widespread is its cost and practicality. It’s roasted in bulk, usually robusta beans. A variety that grows more easily with a stronger, bolder flavor than its cousin, arabica. Robusta is also cheaper to buy as a result of less maintenance needed to farm. It is less prone to pests and disease and grows well even at lower altitudes.

The roasted coffee is then dried into a powder or granules, through either spray drying or freeze drying, so it can be rehydrated later with hot water. That means no machines, no wait, no special skill required.

Robusta beans contain more caffeine, which gives instant coffee its sharp kick and bitter edge. But more importantly, they’re affordable and available. Grown across Asia, Africa, and South America. Instant coffee, because of this, became the greatest creation of the drink: cheap, shelf-stable, and scalable.

It was not made to be special. It was made to be enough.

Why We Don’t Talk About It

We live in an age where most products have been elevated ritualized, romanticized, even moralized. We post latte art on social media, talk about origin stories, the latest gadgets of making coffee and debate brew methods as coffee gurus . Coffee is now more about visual process, personality, and presentation.

In that world, instant coffee feels like an imposter. A compromise. It does not really fit in.

We don’t talk about it because it lacks theater. No slow pour, No instagramable presentation . doesn’t need the magic of a barista’s touch.

Just a teaspoon. A mug. And boiling water.

But maybe we don’t talk about it because it’s too direct. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more than it is: fuel. Warmth. A pause.

What Instant Coffee Actually Represents

If we really look, instant coffee tells a deeper story. one that’s not about taste, but about time.

It represents resilience. The single mother waking at dawn. The intern staying late. The guard keeping watch overnight.

It represents accessibility. It’s not priced in dollars or status. It lives in supermarket aisles, not specialty shops.

It represents origin stories. Many of us took our first sip of coffee from a chipped mug filled with water, sugar, and a spoonful of granules. We didn’t know it wasn’t the “real thing.” To us, it was enough. It was coffee.

It represents presence. The small moment in a big day. Something warm to hold. Something familiar to trust.

“The coffee we don’t talk about is often the one that carried us the furthest.”

A Quiet Kind of Reverence

So, no. it may not bloom with flavor. It may not win medals or inspire tasting wheels. But instant coffee has done something specialty coffee never could: it’s shown up in the unfiltered moments. The forgotten mornings. The lonely nights. The in-between spaces.