NFR: Age Test - Folger's Crystals

[JayB]

The last time I was getting ready to go fishing I found myself mixing up one of those Starbucks instant coffee packs, and it made me remember the "Folger's Crystals" hidden camera commercials that I found entirely convincing as a kid *and* the epic Chris Farley SNL skit spoofing them that I thought was so hilarious a few years later. Both of which got me wondering what the age cut-off is for remembering the former and savoring the humor of the latter. I'm 49 and I think I'm at the lower limit. You might have to have been even older to have consumed Folger's Crystals on a regular basis.

Anyhow - all of that prompted me to look up the skit today and I thought it was funny enough to warrant sharing here for the folks who were old enough to remember these commercials but who may have missed it when it played on SNL a gajillion years ago.

 

[Brute]

40 years ago I did drink instant coffee while camping…30 years ago I got a Cabela’s percolator for camping…20 years ago I got a metal French press for camping, and still use one

 

[Old406Kid]

Just the mention of Folger's brings back memories of the jingle in these commercials.

 

[Matt B]

I’m a little younger than you and I remember those commercials. Missed the Farley spoof, though, good one.
As a kid I remember singing a version that went, “The best part of waking up/ is cat crap in yo-our cuuup.” Still makes me giggle.

 

[cody-]

40 years ago I did drink instant coffee while camping…30 years ago I got a Cabela’s percolator for camping…20 years ago I got a metal French press for camping, and still use one

I need to pick up a new French press. After our lady one broke we tried instant, and hated it. We went to caffeinated tea after that but it isn't the same.

 

[nwbobber]

I got an aero press for camping, I love it. Piece of cake to use, and clean. In fact I got another one for the house. I never had a French press that really worked right, the wire part always let grounds by. The coffee was good but I don't want to be walking around the woods with all these tweaker hunters with black stuff stuck in my teeth.

 

[Tom Butler]

The crystals were instant I believe. Nasty. Taste bad and left a funky ring in the cup. I'd drink burned percolator coffee from a midnight AA meeting before I'd drink that stuff.

 

[SilverFly]

Unfortunately I pass that age test with flying colors . . . and even now, decades later, that damned jingle is stuck in my head! Funny stuff though. We're a Chris Farley fan family for sure.

 

[Zak]

How about Sanka? You don't see that much any more.

 

[smc]

Folgers Sinkachinno: 1 heaping tablespoon of Folgers Crystals, add to cup and fill with hot water straight from the tap and stir vigorously. Breakfast of champions. Use Taster's Choice for the gourmet version. That's how I rolled, 40 years ago!

 

[JayB]

-I used to drink coffee with cream when I was in my late teens, right up until the point that I worked at a factory with one of those 1950's percolators that cranked out a couple of gallons of transluscent 1950's coffee. As you'd expect, the coffee wasn't particularly good (couldn't complain about the price, though) but what I described as "WWII surplus" creamer was so bad that I started drinking my coffee black and from then onwards.

-I also had a summer job at a country club and after getting "promoted" from Janitor/Handyman's assistant to the greens crew, I marvelled at the effect that the coffee had on the rest of the guys. Half of them rolled in looking like they'd just shut the bar down a couple of hours earlier, and then they'd materialize out of nowhere raking, mowing, etc with a fiendish intensity.

I was paired up with a 60+ year old ex-con that was whiling away his time there until Social Security kicked in, and the two of us would joke about what they were putting in their coffee. Sadly, the truth wasn't all that funny. I went off to college in the fall, and the next year I ran into a kid my age who was working at the club the following summer, and he said at least half the crew had descended into full-tilt meth addiction and had been fired for a variety of behaviors that tend to flare up after you've walked too far down that path....

 

[Islander]

How about Sanka? You don't see that much any more.

My parents drank Sanka………yes, I’m older than dirt.

 

[Old Man]

When I started drinking the gut rot stuff. I used sugar and cream also. One time coming home from Canada I was tired and almost home when I needed a pick me up. I pulled into an all night diner on 99 and got one black to go. I-5 wasn't even thought of then. It was 99 running North and South. That cafe isn't even anyplace in Smoky Point anymore. But I drank coffee black for over 30 years. I had decafe, instant, ground , and maybe those crystals. With cafeen and with out cafeen. It all upset my stomach. So just quit drinking that shit altogether. My stomach has been in great shape ever since.

This isn't much for coffee per se. But just wanted to point out that drinking coffee is for the birds.

 

[RCF]

Adding eggshells to instant coffee made it taste better. Not good but better than without them...

 

[Shad]

My God, Chris Farley was good at over-reaction humor. Best ever?

I'm aged about the same as the OP, so this resonates. Big fan of Farley; of instant coffee? Not so much, but I'll drink it in a pinch. I think all coffee drinkers will lower the bar when their preferred supply runs out, but it's definitely a compromise!

Anyone remember the Maxwell House ads with weird, synthesized percolating sound?

 

[smc]

 

[FinLuver]

-I used to drink coffee with cream when I was in my late teens, right up until the point that I worked at a factory with one of those 1950's percolators that cranked out a couple of gallons of transluscent 1950's coffee. As you'd expect, the coffee wasn't particularly good (couldn't complain about the price, though) but what I described as "WWII surplus" creamer was so bad that I started drinking my coffee black and from then onwards.

-I also had a summer job at a country club and after getting "promoted" from Janitor/Handyman's assistant to the greens crew, I marvelled at the effect that the coffee had on the rest of the guys. Half of them rolled in looking like they'd just shut the bar down a couple of hours earlier, and then they'd materialize out of nowhere raking, mowing, etc with a fiendish intensity.

I was paired up with a 60+ year old ex-con that was whiling away his time there until Social Security kicked in, and the two of us would joke about what they were putting in their coffee. Sadly, the truth wasn't all that funny. I went off to college in the fall, and the next year I ran into a kid my age who was working at the club the following summer, and he said at least half the crew had descended into full-tilt meth addiction and had been fired for a variety of behaviors that tend to flare up after you've walked too far down that path....

I’m thinkin’ those haggard co-workers may have sniffed the “powdered sugar”…if ya know what I mean.

 

[Guy Gregory]

I still use a percolater on my Coleman stove for coffee in camp.

There's something unamerican about a french press. Maybe if it was a "freedom press".

 

[Zak]

I still use a percolater on my Coleman stove for coffee in camp.

There's something unamerican about a french press. Maybe if it was a "freedom press".

I use a percolater for car camping, and like the coffee from it better than my Mr. Coffee at home.

We tried some instant cold brew coffee from Trader Joes and it wasn't bad, for instant. Which means it sucked.

 

[JayB]

I still use a percolater on my Coleman stove for coffee in camp.

There's something unamerican about a french press. Maybe if it was a "freedom press".