The Instant Coffee Jars Kamala Harris' Family Kept Spices In

In a video shared on her official YouTube channel, Kamala Harris visits Mindy Kaling's home to cook Indian recipes. Immediately upon entering Kaling's kitchen, the then-senator notices spices and dried goods in labeled glass jars. Dried red chillies, chana dal, and urid dal are labeled with clear print taped onto the containers. "This is how my mother kept all of her stuff!" Harris exclaims, excitedly observing the actor-comedian's collection of neatly organized spices while speculating on the likelihood of other families storing dried goods in the same way.  

In the video, Kaling admits to Harris that her father brought the spices over to her home in the labeled Taster's Choice jars. "I didn't know it was an actual thing," Harris remarks. The shared storage hack becomes a quick point of commonality between the entertainer and the politician as they recall memories of South Indian dishes like rice and yogurt and idli. While the thrifty organizational move continues to surprise Harris — she comments on the jars several times during the filming — companies like Nescafé encourage coffee lovers to reuse empty jars for decorating purposes, like packing empty containers with flowers or turning an empty coffee jar into a makeshift piggy bank. 

Harris recounts her mother drinking Taster's Choice coffee every morning and seeing repurposed jars in the kitchen. The two are not alone. Indeed, one user on X, formerly known as Twitter, proudly displayed an entire cabinet of various spices stored in reused Taster's Choice jars, to which Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, comments that he shared the photo to his thrilled and approving wife. In addition to kitchen organization hacks such as storing spices, pasta, rice, and other dried goods, the jars can be used to separate and store household objects, like paperclips, buttons, or odds-and-ends items. Labels can be placed onto each jar to create an even more cohesive look.

Taster's Choice coffee jars comes in glass containers with both metal screw-off and -on lids and plastic pop-off lids. Though we can't promise an influential personality will wander through your home with a camera crew, a well-organized kitchen cabinet filled with neatly labeled see-through containers is sure to garner appreciative glances from visitors and friends, as your upcycling resourcefulness turns trash into treasure.