The Strength of Coffee

 Earlier today, I was making a cup of instant coffee.

I toiled hard and long over it, only to discover later that, alas, it was mostly tasteless.

Therefore, like any sane person should do, I texted my coffee-learning sensei to figure out where, exactly, had my beautiful drink gone wrong. 

These are her words, slightly edited for grammatical accuracy, should you dear readers be experiencing the same thing:

"...it all depends on how much instant coffee you put.... (or coffee grounds if you make it that way.) I don't have any experience with instant, but I think you should put more to make it stronger, then add milk to make it [...] taste less bitter. Next time add more, and experiment until you get the perfect cup."