My dad was an inveterate instant coffee drinker; preferred it to the real stuff. But then the "real stuff" in those days was mostly pretty lame, sort of the Wonder Bread of ground-bean beverages, minus the vitamins to build 12 bodies or whatever... My early experiences with coffee were with instant (not sure what brand), but I never acquired a taste for it. If I have to have instant, I tend towards one of the ones with chicory added. The best (of a poor lot) was Sunrise (a Nestlé product, I think) that has been discontinued at least in the Seattle market. The best remaining appears to be Mountain Blend, also by Nestlé. And BTW, to borrow a march from the NRA, baby formula made with unsanitary water doesn't kill babies, people kill babies... (Sorry) My roommate is a Mountain Blend drinker (former Sunrise drinker) which is how I happen to have any experience in the matter. My personal preference is for any of several of the Bargreen's coffees (e.g. their Breakfast Roast, or their French Roast with a little Kenya Super Select added), but those are not instant, hence off topic. I used to really like Starbuck's Ethiopian Yergacheff back in the days when Starbucks was not yet a household curse word even in Seattle, and I love Caffè Appassionato's Celebes (or maybe they call it, in politically correct orthography, Sulawesi?). Also not instant.
I do like a good stiff cup of not-too-hot Lipton's Instant Tea with little saccharin tablets and milk. 2%. But I don't fool myself into calling it "tea".
My roommate tends to run out of Mountain Blend and go spend three times as much on a per unit weight basis for a 2 oz. thing of Folger's crystals, which he can't stand and complains about constantly till they're gone. I get tired of hearing it. So that was my Christmas present to him this time around: a perpetually replaced jar of Mountain Blend.