lightweight coffee

[patrick walsh]

What is the lightest weight way to make coffee on the trail. I am not looking to carry a stove for the purpose of cooking food and am willing to eat dry or dehydrated food to not carry a stove. The moe i think about a caffeine pill as apposed to a cup of coffee though the more i am thinking i need to figure a way to make a couple cups of coffee in the morning.

[Nate Davis]

If you hike in places where it's okay to build a small fire, you could do that. Starbucks Via is about as light as it gets and it tastes great. One of the best pieces of ultralight backpacking gear to come out in the last couple of years, in my opinion. ;)

You'll still need a mug, but a Snowpeak 600 only weighs 2.8 oz.

If you don't want to build fires, or can't due to regulations, a homemade alcohol stove and enough fuel for a couple cups of coffee will only cost you another 4-5 oz or so.

Is coffee worth 7-8 oz? I think it is. Plus, the fuel weight goes down as you use it. However, I do skip it on fastpacking trips.

I just bought a Backcountry Boiler. It's 8 oz, plus another 1.5 oz if I want to carry the stopper and insulated sleeve. I'll also have to carry a small cup to go along with it, for a total of 9-10.5 oz. Slightly heavier than the alcohol setup on an overnight when I plan to cook both dinner and make coffee, but on longer trips, it's a pretty good weight savings. On top of that, it's safer, less hassle, and more efficient. Can't wait to get it!

[Heath Pitts]

Personally I carry Starbucks Via coffee but those should probably be used with hot water. I imagine that you could carry a small esbit or similar stove to warm up some water when you wanted a cup. The Via packs weigh .1 oz per packet. I have also used espresso flavored gels for caffeine. They aren't bad but definitely are not a substitute for a real cup of coffee.

Edit: Nate beat me to it :)

[patrick walsh]

I drink two French presses of coffee in the am before i even leave the house. Well i take teh dogs out to the bathroom but that's about it. I have a pretty good caffeine addiction going if you can imagine. I was thinking those where my answers/options. Looks like i can add another 7-8 ounces to that base weight.

All the more reason to get that Tarp ehy?

[Will Webster]

I've been told that you can make Via with cold water, but I've never tried it. Their Italian roast is pretty good for instant.

[Dale Wambaugh]

For my lightest stove setup I use a titanium Esbit wing stove, a 400ml ti mug with a foil lid, and a MYOG windscreen from aluminum flashing. I use Starbucks Via for coffee with it. The rig allows making hot drinks, instant soups and single serving dehydrated meals and weighs about 4oz.

[Thomas Burns]

>I've been told that you can make Via with cold water, but I've never tried it. Their Italian roast is pretty good for instant.

Heck, I regularly eat the coffee right out of the little packet. I spoonful of nonfat, dried milk as a chaser makes it a complete meal.

Note: the Folgers version of the little packets are a lot cheaper and deliver the same bolt of instant energy. They are also crunchier since they are crystals and not micro-ground.

I've also done the same thing in cold water. The milk and Starbucks dissolve well. The Folgers needs hot (or at least warm) water.

Eating instant coffee sounds disgusting, I know. I got into the habit driving home from all-night stargazing sessions after no sleep for sometimes 2.5 days. As my wife likes to say, "There's a bridge abutment out there with your name on it."

Stargazer

[HkNewman]

Cold coffee can be pretty rough. Instant can be good cold depending on the brand. I remember mixing instant Tasters Choice with instant creamer and sweetener for a coffee paste used on breakfast cookies. Then again, I like mushy grits and mushy rice, so take my recommendation with a grain of salt.

If water supply will be an issue and you will need to carry coffee anyways, I just take a Starbucks canned double espresso or Rockstar's coffee energy drink, which worked out well on my May backpack. Need to carry the water anyways and, though coffee is a diuretic, the canned drinks provide some water.

Not sure about coffee concentrates. Haven't used on yet that doesn't avoid the acidity of old, standing coffee. Like the concept though.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Does it have to be coffee? You could make tea. You could also eat shot blocks or something like that. I once found energy gummy bears at a gas station. Flew up the hills after eating them.

[Thomas Burns]

Good point. Come to think of it Peanut Butter Toffee Buzz Cliff bars have quite a caffeine kick to them.

Stargazer

[patrick walsh]

If i just wanted caffeine though i would just take caffeine pills. I try my best to eat all non precessed foods and no refined sugars. I am also dairy free so i am very limited to what i will eat. Jells Cliff blocks and all that are outa the question. So are energy drinks and those canned Starsucks pre maid cofffe drinks.

I think 5 oz for a cup of real coffee sound like a pretty good deal. Now if i could just figure out a SULW French press as apposed to the JetBoil one. If i could figure that out i would be in heaven as no way in hell i am gonna carry a JetBoil for three season running. Now winter climbing and camping is a whole different story. I can;t wait to get that New Ti jet boil in the French press when and if they ever come out with it?

[Aaron Benson]

Have you considered making coffee the ol' Cowboy method? Can't get much lighter than that!

Here's a good article that covers the basics and some options: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/coffee_beautiful_cup.html

[patrick walsh]

I will finished reading this later as the dogs need a walk before the heat of the day kicks in. But i am def a coffee snob of sorts so even those StarSucks home brew things don't really excite me tbh.

On the other hand i never did mind a few grounds of coffee in my mouth to chew on. Well so long as it was good coffee and not garbage ;)

Cowboy coffee it will be for me. I would just make a little fire and carry a small cup but many of the places i travel camp fires are not allowed. Ow well looks like i am gonna have to make a little alky stove :( I really really did not want to carry a stove!!!!!

[Aaron Benson]

>" looks like i am gonna have to make a little alky stove :( I really really did not want to carry a stove!<"

Perhaps you could carry a few Esbit tabs and use a few small rocks (or three Ti stakes stuck in the ground) as the "pot stand?"

[Thomas Burns]

Patrick,

Don't read this one. ;-)

For the rest of the coffee addicts (like me) out there:

Emile Zola used to compliment his late-night writing sessions by chewing and sucking on coffee beams kind of like one might use chewing tobacco. You get the pure coffee flavor in a totally natural way and then spit out the remnants. It's actually a good way of judging coffee in the store. (I've seen real coffee purists do it.)

[patrick walsh]

Wish you had never mentioned that as i am sure at some point i will now be compelled to load my cheek up with wad of grounds lol….

I like the metal stakes rocks and esbit idea. I wonder how that will fly when the National Park Service catches me in the act of that one?

[HkNewman]

In regards to chewing coffee grounds, why not try chocolate covered espresso beans?

Either way, wonder what the caffeine kick would be? Brewing would likely release more caffeine than grinding and chewing between teeth. Food for thought.

[Mark Ries]

Patrick the jet boil press also works with the SP700 pot/mug If you want to buy one I have two and I dont even drink coffee

[Mark Ries]

Snow peak 700 pot with foil lid 3.2 oz jetboil press 0.8 oz esbit tabs 0.6 oz each One of my old GFs was a starbucks freak…. or was she a freak who liked starbucks coffee

[Thomas Burns]

>why not try chocolate covered espresso beans

Oh, mama, what a good idea!

Addictedly,

Stargazer

P.S.On another matter, I'd want to hold the crushed beans under my lip a while to infuse the caffeine more directly into the bloodstream.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I was at a presentation last night for a local authors newest backpacking book and we were talking about our long love of choc covered beans. I missed eating them when I had braces. Crunchy and soooo good!

[patrick walsh]

I cant do it as i gave up all refined sugars a few months ago now. I have been slowly wading into the waters of an all organic zero processed foods diet.

I do eat meat so this is not like a vegan kinda thing as much as it is i am very mindful of my health and want no dairy, chemicals or artificial anything in my body. Like Zero if i can help it! I am still not at zero but i am dam close tbh.

I am really hung up on the weight thing with this coffee. As much as i love my coffee in lue of a sul pack i am willing to skip the coffee if i have to. However morning in the woods just will not be as sweet without my beloved coffee ritual.

I am gonna go the rock esbit tab titanium mug, tent stakes route for now. Tbh that just kinda sounds like me anyway and i am sure i will really get the hang of it in time and get a really sweet cup of coffee outa the deal.

So now whom makes the lightest mug that would get that job done. I like to drink say 3-4 8oz cups of strong coffee a day before i even consider talking to another person. Any input as to a mug? I think i have the rest covered.

[Anonymous]

"The moe i think about a caffeine pill as apposed to a cup of coffee though the more i am thinking i need to figure a way to make a couple cups of coffee in the morning."

If you don't mind warm, as opposed to hot, coffee, take a bottle of water to bed with you. It will be roughly body temperature by morning and you can use it with a couple of 4 gram Starbucks Via packets to make a decent, although not gourmet, cup or two of coffee. Light and saves using a stove without gritting your teeth and suffering through a cold cup of coffee. I've been doing this for several years when going stoveless, which is about half the time.

[Dale Wambaugh]

My lightest cook kit:

Evenew 400ml Ti cup with fixed handle: 1.9oz
Ti Esbit wing stove 0.4oz (lighter than stakes, heavier than found rocks)
Foil for lid and windscreen 0.5oz

Might as well have a utensil:

REI folding Ti spork 0.5oz (fits in cup)

You could do a beer can with a silicone wrist band and rocks. Light and CHEAP :)

[patrick walsh]

Bear canister with silicone wristband and rocks. I have noticed pictures of something that looked like it has a wrist band around it.

Tell me more about this setup. I know what a bear canister is but is this a metal one i can also cook in with just one of those Lance bands around the top? And if so can you suggest one that is good enough for me to make my coffee in and store my two days of "running trail snacks and one dinner and a few coffee grounds in?

Thanks guys i really love this place. I kinda missed it over the winter but i was way too busy playing outside and dorking out trying to figure out all the winter gear lol…

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