Ultralight Coffee Options

[Daniel Sweeney]

cowboy tea. doesn't quite have the same ring to it as cowboy coffee :) just take the kettle off the heat… toss leaves in. wait a couple of minutes and then pour off into mug. i reuse leaves 2-3 times. i like to drink high mountain nepali and indian teas, or oolong. usually the leaves are large enough to manage easily.

[David J Dye]

My first post.

The Mug Mate sells for $12 to $15 but you can find generic brand versions (it is the same thing) occasionally at drug and dollar stores for much less. I purchased two for less than 3 Euros at a Ross's drugstore in Germany and have seen the same product stateside.

[Randy Laurent]

To @Sidney Pow,

I used exactly that this year on section hike Appalachian Trail, works great, taste
great! Folgers Coffee Singles Are Single-Serving Coffee Bags Made W/Mountain Grown 100 Percent Pure Coffee. They're Specially Designed So the Coffee Actually Brews Right in Your Cup and Each Coffee Bag Is Individually Wrapped to Help Keep the Coffee inside Full of Flavor. Folgers Coffee Singles. Mountain Grown Coffee Brewed One Cup At A Time.

I boiled 2 cups of water for 1 coffee bag! This way It's light, simple and clean.
The downside is having to haul the used coffee bag out, which I used a ziplock bag for
trash. Walmart sells them, 38 to a box.

[Jeffs Eleven]

Then you have sodden coffee bags to carry around and make your trash a bit funkier.

@Nick B… After your long journey through the coffee backroads we'll meet you at the Via on the coffee aisle! Cheers!

[Ben F]

Claiming something's crap and then posting a Folgers product as an alternative…

[Gaute Lote]

The Mountbell coffee filters are lightweight, my compact dripper 2 weighs 4 grams for the filter and 2 grams for the storage sack
http://www.montbell.us/products/disp.php?p_id=1124510

[Cameron Habib]

Though I'm a fan of the Starbucks VIA (mostly because I'm not a huge coffee drinker and this satisfies my periodic craving) you could always grind them at home, put it in to a disposable tea baggy and vacuum seal each in a little bag. The tea bag would keep the coffee grinds contained, and the vacuum seal would keep it fairly fresh. That said, the solution may still be heaver than that GSI option posted earlier, though it would have a bit less cleanup involved.

[Jim C]

Nick,

I recently asked the same thing about disposing tea leaves, and it applies to coffee grounds, as well. A few people chimed in, and you may be interested in their thoughts.

[Steofan M]

Really big +1 to Daniel S!
I'll drink about any brand of coffee at home, at work, or while driving. In camp, nothing tastes better to me than lapsang souchong smoked tea. It must be the "smoked" that does it for my taste buds. Use the same leaves up to 4 times with no loss to the black tea caffeine hit.
But then, always good advice and great ideas at BPL… just keep an open mind.

[Daniel Sweeney]

"I know its not fresh ground. Deal with it. You are up in the hills. Everything is good up there." +1

Also, as one of the guiding principles of BPL; only brings what you need – I'll second the grind at home, cowboy coffee pour off method. weighs…. nothing! costs…. nothing! takes up no space.

[John Eyles]

>> I'm a pretty hardcore coffee snob but in truth there's just no compelling reason to use anything other than Via.

Same here. Coffee snob, and find VIA satisfying. If I wanted to improve my coffee, I'd concentrate on a better way of doing creamer (than Nido, mixed the night before, that I mention above).

>> Except that Via is expensive instant coffee in annoying individual-use packets.

Indivdual-use packets =(IMHO) Perfect for backpacking. Less than $10 for a 5-night trip, with girlfriend, is not gonna break the bank (roughly the price of one freeze-dried dinner).

>> I have tried the Starbucks crap and its…crap.

Nonsense. It is, by far, the best instant coffee you can get (ok, than I've tried).

[Ben Wortman]

I have settled Trader Joe's instant coffee. It is single serve packets with sugar and sweetener included. Just dump it in a hot cup of water, stir and you are finished.

Best part is you get 10 packets for $2

Ben

[Rick Reno]

When we lived in Honduras we used what they called a coffee sock or coffee sack. A simple cloth bag hanging from a flimsy wire handle. Dump in some grounds, hold it over a cup, and pour the boiling water through. Dirt cheap and made great coffee fast. You should be able to find them in any Latino market. Here's an example, though this looks much heavier than what we used.
http://www.cubanfoodmarket.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CFM&Product_Code=COL40401&Category_Code=20302

[Cameron M]

Just use a #4 unbleached paper filter in a normal snow peak cup. It stands just tall enough to not spill the beans over into the cup. No equipment required or desired. No trip to REI needed. The bags dry out with grounds inside, there are no "wet bags". Then you carry it all out without all the messiness of transferring grounds. Yes, you CARRY IT ALL OUT.

[Hubert Wieland]

I've been playing with these for my coffee goodness, so far so good.

http://www.packitgourmet.com/TSac-Coffee-and-Tea-Bags.html

[Nick B]

Thanks for the link Jim, I tend to agree there. Although not knowing if they'd attract animals I feel cathole or pack out would be a good option for coffee.

[Anonymous]

"I have tried the Starbucks crap and its…crap."

So you switched to Folgers and you're happy??

[Nick B]

So I just bought the Hario Slim grinder. I'm going to see what just the upper bean hopper and ceramic grinder weigh, and I am going to attempt to turn my TOAKS Ti long handled spoon into a crank arm for the grinder. If that works and the weight is acceptable, I'll grind directly into my pot, forgoing the need for the bottom of the grinder.

If I'm successful then I'll decide on how to use the grinds!

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I think burying coffee grounds in your cathole would be fine, you know, done in non-sensitive areas. I work on a college campus and they actually use the coffee grounds and the coffee filters as mulch around the landscaping. Apparently it's beneficial for the plants plus it reduces campus waste.

[Billy Ray]

Coffee grounds are garbage. Do Not leave garbage in the backcountry please… Have we forgotten LNT ??? Pack it in, pack it out.

Of course those who are addicted to coffee will bend the rules to satisfy their addiction… same ole same ole

billy

[Billy Ray]

Nothing lighter than instant coffee.
If you can enjoy freeze dried food, you can enjoy instant coffee.
BPL… ya know…

billy

[Dave P]

I hated cowboy coffee until I had coffee in Poland and Czech. Then I learned the art of turecká káva and kawa po turecku. Sometimes it's served in Baltic as well.

But honestly, I think cowboy coffee is a skill, and way too many people don't practice it enough at home. If it becomes a daily ritual, like it is done in Arabic or Slavic worlds, then coffee will be very good.

Too bad instant coffee and espresso machines mean that the skills are not being passed on to younger generations. So, it won't be long before their coffee taste just as bad as our attempt of making it.

But mastering cowboy coffee should be a priority though. Nothing better than good cup of Turkish brew, but bloody they taste awful when an amateur does it.

[Cameron Habib]

Pack out coffee? I mean, if we're technically speaking, coffee is garbage in the same sense that every leaf, flower, and piece of fruit is. The coffee bean is a direct product of a plant. It's biodegradable, can't do anything to alter the vegetation of the area (not only because coffee trees can't grow most places but you've already ground and boiled everything to death), and if anything, is actually beneficial for soil. There's far far more harmful waste products in both your urine and feces – if you're a follower of LNT to the point of packing out your coffee, you should be packing out your urine and other bodily functions as well.

[Dave P]

Out of all the more harmful things people don't bother packing out, coffee is the worst sin?

I would love to see someone carrying a urine bottle and doggie bags on a 7-days hike.

[jimmer ultralight]

How much freakin coffee do you boil?

I admire the LNT ethos, but…

Compared to most backpackers horribly NON leave no trace toilet habits ,slinging a handful of soon to be bone dry coffee gounds out over the ground is nothing..Its not like little Coffee trees will start growing there..

It would make a great FARSIDE cartoon. 5 million years in.thefuture two Alien Earth Archeologists and ecamining a dample from the earths core from Yosemite..And the caprion reads

"Aha! Tbis core sample CLEARLY shows somwbody brewed a really AVERAGE cup of Kona Dark roast in 2015 and improperly diposed of the grounds"..Yes, a sad day for the Human race.

Also, TIP- if you cook over wood and are smart enough to rub the bottom.of your cookpot with bar soap to keep tar from setting up on it, a handfull if wet coffee grounds is JUST the right amount of natural abrasive to get the soot off the pot. Also works great for stuck on food inside the pot as well.

No potty trowel needed, either..lol.

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