I'm not a coffee drinker at all, but my suspicion is that the people who look down upon instant coffee are ones who like to make an experience out of it.
The other thing that separates packaged from fresh things are those fleeting smells you get when make something hot-- think of the smell of fresh-popped popcorn. Even the freshest of bagged corn can't replicate the smell of all the volatiles that vanish within seconds of making it. Mmm.
At that little birthday-ish shindig we had for Ksenia last night that FoSO references in the sidebar, FoSO read this and said too that the instant coffees can be very acid-y and harsh on the stomache, which may be why I noticed a few brands at the supermarket earlier yesterday that advertised their reduced acid or alkaline nature or something.
Anyway, I stuck with "regular" coffee grounds.
The current issue of "Make" has a DIY coffee bean roaster. My college mentor/friend Gowen, who introduced me to beer drinking, and a bit of beer snobbery (not in a haughty way, but enough that he was intho homebrew) has now turned his own "snobbish" attentions to coffee, including that kind of roasting...
It's probably because beer and wine-making supplies and coffee-roasting supplies come in the same catalog:
http://www.williamsbrewing.com
Since I'm not a regular coffee drinker at home, I find it's easier to have instant around for the few times when a guest is a coffee drinker or when I really get that craving.