My Sister-in-Law Still Thinks Instant Coffee Is Terrible
"Sometimes the opinions we carry the longest are simply the ones we've never thought to revisit."
Not long ago I found myself talking to my sister-in-law about coffee.
It wasn't a serious discussion.
Not this time.
At some point the subject of instant coffee came up and she smiled.
"I already know what that's going to taste like."
It wasn't said unkindly.
It was simply certainty.
The conversation moved on, but her comment stayed with me.
Not because I wanted to change her mind.
Because it reminded me how easily all of us carry old experiences into new conversations.
Most of us do it every day.
A restaurant we visited years ago.
A car we once owned.
A holiday destination that disappointed us.
A film everyone else seemed to enjoy.
We quietly decide.
We file the experience away.
Then we rarely return to question it.
Coffee is no different.
For many people, instant coffee means one thing.
Cheap.
Bitter.
Functional.
Something you drink because there's nothing else available.
For years, that reputation was often deserved.
But time has a habit of moving on.
Processes improve.
Ingredients improve.
Expectations improve.
Sometimes our opinions don't.
I wasn't interested in convincing my sister she was wrong.
Instead, I asked a simple question.
"When was the last time you actually tried one?"
She paused.
Neither of us knew the answer.
Perhaps years.
Perhaps much longer.
That silence interested me far more than the conversation itself.
How many opinions do we all hold that belong to another decade?
Not just about coffee.
About people.
Technology.
Business.
Ourselves.
The older I become, the more I realise that curiosity ages far better than certainty.
Curiosity leaves the door open.
Certainty quietly closes it.
That doesn't mean every new idea deserves our approval.
It simply deserves a fair hearing.
Coffee has taught me that.
So has business.
Some of the best ideas I've ever encountered were dismissed when they first appeared.
Not because they lacked value.
Because they challenged comfortable assumptions.
Perhaps that's why I enjoy explaining things more than selling them.
Once people understand how something has been made...
Why certain choices were made...
Why quality sometimes looks different from expectation...
They begin reaching their own conclusions.
Those conclusions are usually stronger because they belong to them, not to me.
I've never believed the loudest voice wins.
The clearest explanation usually does.
And perhaps that's the lesson my sister unknowingly reminded me of.
Sometimes changing a mind doesn't begin with an answer.
It begins with a better question.
"When was the last time you looked again?"
It turns out that's a useful question in coffee.
It's an even better one in life.
The Velare Journal
Thoughts on coffee.
Thoughts on life.
Thoughts worth sharing.