nescafe

no.  it's not coffee.  not really.
nescafe.
it can try and trick us all it wants with its fancy labels and descriptions, "bold and brilliant'  hmf!
what Chileans lovingly refer to as coffee, it's not really coffee.
it's crap.
crystalized freeze dried grains of nescaca....not cacao.  poopola!  I mean seriously, if you look at it and smell it straight up...if the shoe fits!

If you order a coffee in Chile and you want the real deal, you have to say, "Cafe, cafe".  RIGHT!  Twice!  As in saying, "I'd like the COFFEE coffee please!"  If you ask for "cafe" you get Nescafe!  Which is ALWAYS on the menu for those poor lost souls included in its cult following.

Here's what I don't get.  Totally mystified.
In many other countries, drinking crap-o coffee makes sense, perhaps because it's hard to get access to fresh foods, or people tend to prefer other local beverages...silkworm poo tea for example. (Louang Probang Laos)
But Chile?
Chileans drink a lot of coffee!
We're talking perhaps 5-10 cups a day!  They love it!  It's a coffee culture!
- pre work day cup
- coffee break at work cup
- pre lunch cup
- after lunch cup
- after work with "once" cup
- after dinner cup

It's a part of almost every social interaction here!

You would think that a culture so set around drinking a certain beverage would want that beverage to be really good.....
*you can find good coffee here, generally a small shot of espresso being the way to go when it comes to the real stuff in a nice restaurant or cafe, but when it comes to an "American" style cup of Joe?  No percolators in sight!  SOLO NESCAFE!

But what's really disturbing me?
After what, 2 months only?  I'M DOING IT TOO!!!
I went from only having one cup of coffee in the morning, to drinking Nescafe all day long!
I now connect studying Spanish, finishing a meal, surfing the internet (in reality Facebook) all with sipping Nescafe!

When did this happen?!?!?
You know what I think?  Drugs.  Lots of em.  Brain training drugs to stimulate the impulse to love crappy coffee laced right in there.

The perfect corporate world domination take over!  I'm on to you Nescafe!!!  (sip)