Cali eh? I'm from Canadia!!! lol... let's see depends on how much you want to spend. What really started me on tasting coffe was liberally using my Mom's Nespresso. It's very good starting point as they have different strength's and they give you an explanation of what types of flavours you should taste/experience. Also helped me call our flavours and started to truely enjoy coffee for the flavour as opposed to 'staying awake'
It all depends on what you're going for... for example you can make most coffee's a mocha by adding a spoon of hot chocolate, some cream (or milk for you damn calorie counters) and sweeten to taste and voila! You have yourself a mocha =P (no i have never been a barista)
Here's my experience with franchises...
Starbucks => i prefer their blonde / pike or true north. They say they are mild but more on the medium to dark side. I also up-rate their advertised roast to avoid getting dark's. Their espresso is garbage though and they cover it up in their latte's with over the top flavours instead of having the flavours compliment the roast.
Second cup => I tend to go to their mild roasts as they also over-roast their beans. essentially the canadian version of starbucks.
Timothy's => they tend to be more on the acidic / fruity side of things and a tad over-roasted but not bad compared to SB/SC
Aroma => I believe they use arabic/turkish beans (in fact i'm sipping their coffee now)... pretty good company that's comparative to the starbucks chain. Their regular coffee is a medium/light blend haven't had a latte their so can't pass judgement on their espresso beans.
McD => Prior to their change it was crap.... now it's decent in a pinch and can easily be a daily drinker.
Tim Hortons => mild coffee (if you can call it that)... but they do have a darker roast which I have yet to try. It's okay once in awhile but I don't understand why people go gung-ho for this stuff up here
As for instant coffee... well... haven't had that in a long time so I cannot give you a good opinion aside from my experience in university
I used to use the nescafe instant espresso mix, added a bit of cream and sugar to have a make-shift latte during university. Worked well but that was before I started to go all crazy.
My suggestion is for instant coffee buy a small container and try it then when you find one you like, switch it then go back to see if you really like it or not! I personally am not the biggest fan of colombian beans as I find them a bit more bold in flavour. But if you like bold flavours then it may be a good starting point! I usually listen to my tongue when it comes to coffee so all the fancy names/flavours and what not are just gimmicks. Bottom line is.... Does it taste good?