I occasionally drink Nescafe - and it's not great, it's pretty sh*t actually but what are you gonna do?.... so is Starbucks.

Yeah I've actually acquired a taste for the little packs with sugar and "milk" added.
Though I try to cut it out as I'm fat as fatass these days...so I stick to the black nescafe stuff and it's generally rotten.

I went from exclusively drinking black coffee before I came here to drinking powdered milk/coffee/sugar crap.
I would definitely lose some mianzi if my family could see me.

i'm a turkish coffee freak.
i usually bring 3-5k's back with me from any trip i go to.

i can't stand instant. filtered is weak. nescafe is nocafe.
espresso is fine. no matter how shitty it can get to be in beijing,
any couple of double espressos will do fine for an afternoon.

can't help with what to do at work but maybe a thermos of filter coffee?
i do it sometime when i'm out of turkish...

sometimes, if i see them, i like the green nescafe cans.
it tastes strong at least. like maybe it could be real coffee.

Why don't you get one of these and make coffee at home in the morning? That's what I do and I'm awesome.

I tend to get the ground coffee from 711. I'm sure there's much better out there but with coffee you tend to get an absolutely miniscule improvement in quality for the expensive stuff.

@nana,

yep, exactly. centuries old tradition.

the turkish coffee is pretty much omnipresent in east/southeast europe/balkans.
the turkish delight is just awesome. it's real name is lokum. my favorite are rose and pistachio.
well ok, the roasted pistachio/coconut is not bad either.
the classic lemon is always welcomed, of course.
the newer kinds (all classic tastes covered in chocolate) are just amazing too!
i believe the turkish word for the 'tureen' is jezve.
i love bosnian people. must be one of the nicest nations.
also, their 'boorek' or whatever they call their home made pastry pie...OMG! f-ing delicious stuff!

> mornings are just completely out of my league CZ. i can barely walk or breathe in the morning let alone make coffee.

I thought you said you'd knocked the booze on the head and leap out of bed each morning with the enthusiasm and vitality of a spring lamb?

What happened to that?

Instant coffee tastes better with milk rather than water.

Put a couple of spoonfulls into a jar, add a small amount of boiling water to melt it. Top up with milk and a couple of ice cubes, put the lid on and shake it.

The milk makes it easier to make it stronger so you can have get a real caffeine buzz going

Sanyuanli market has Nescafe black coffee big bags for less than 70 rmb... compared to a local Chinese supermarket selling same size cans for 150 rmb at the best...

Introduce coffee fan a brand: Bencafe, brazil flavor and three in one. I think it tastes OK! Adapt to Those can't afford everyday consumption in Starbuck.

And green tea is also a good choice.

Or a mixturer. Coffee flavor milky tea.

I use these things called 'geocafe' from certain 7/11 stores. They are little filter bags with fresh coffee in. You tear the top, pull the card tabs open so it can hang over the cup and add water a few times. Once i started drinking these i couldnt go back to the Nescafe instant sachets, which are little more than caffeine + sugar+ coffee flavour. Poison. The geocafe sachets come with powdered milk too. I think they are taiwanese. They are about 20 kuai for a box of 5.

This weird little place has sachets of various types of coffee for sale.

http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/venue/Bars__Clubs-Bars__Clubs/11635/Waitin...

I tried the unsweetened cappuccino. It wasn't too bad actually - for instant. And something a bit different.

That's such a good tip

I hate to admit it but J-Lo came up trumps with the unsweetened cap they sell at Waiting for Godot, the canny tart.

Me: I hate you, Jenny Lou!
Her: And I hate you too customer! See you next week?
Me: Yeah...