Buying coffee in Spain

So a few days ago I ran out of instant coffee. Now I couldn't be bothered driving into town so I walked down to the local supermarket which is about the size of a living room, probably was one at some point, and only having a few coins in my pocket bought the cheapest coffee I could find. I'm a bit stingy at times. The jar you see in the photo is the exact one I bought, and at only 2.25€ I thought it would be alright, its Nestle after all.

I discovered that Saturday mornings in sleepy Spanish villages are not so sleepy after all, especially when all the old ladies from the village are buying their meat for the family lunches or dinners. Spanish people are still really big on family lunches at the weekend. After 30mins standing in the supermarket the guy behind the counter must have taken pity and let me pay so I could leave.

This was a joy to me, I was the only guiri in the shop, I was dressed like a guiri, obviously didn't understand all of the banter flying around, and I was way too polite and tried to keep out of everyone's way. BTW, if you're in Spain and you wear flip flops, jeans, a t-shirt and sunglasses, and you don't have olive skin, you're a guiri. Being a guiri isn't bad, most Spaniards are quite friendly, and it means I can pretend I didn't understand the conversation when they start talking about the polite guiri standing patiently in the corner.

Getting home I hastily boiled the jug (that's a kettle to you), ripped the foil off the top of the jar, loaded up the teaspoon with brown gold and waited. My first sip was like paradise, I think my mind was playing tricks on me since I hadn't had a coffee for at least 90 minutes and I'd started having withdrawals and in situations like that any coffee is good coffee.

Sadly the second sip hit home how terrible the stuff was. And if you read the jar you might be able to guess why. The powder looks like instant coffee, but look at those words, "cebada malta centeno", and "cereales para beber". Yup, even an idiot can see that coffee or cafe appears nowhere in the description.

do you want to know what I bought, and what I've been drinking these last few days? A malt, barley and rye cereal drink, just add hot water or milk. I cannot believe this stuff was right next to the coffee and tea, it should have been way over the other side away from anywhere an innocent guiri could accidentally pick it up. I guess that's why I seemed to be the object of some amusement, somebody should have said something!