how to cut coffee weight

[Rick M]

del

[Larry De La Briandais]

I don't know if anyone else posted this, but I use one of these with a melita paper filter in it.

VIA is okay, but it takes two packages to make a cup for me so it gets expensive quick.

[Link .]

Shug

[John Holmes]

If I can heat water, I use Via. Tastes great in the woods :)

For fast and light, I take Dark Chocolate covered Espresso Beans!
Pros
– Dual purpose (caffeine AND energy boost)
– No waiting
– Eat while hiking
Cons
– Depending on the brand you get (I like Trader Joe's) can get gummy in the heat.

Honestly…if you can get over not having that gorgeous hot liquid in the morning, they may actually be better than coffee.

[Phillip Asby]

I like my coffee – a lot. On the trail it remains critical toy happiness. Tried a couple instants including via and never been happy with that totally. Have an rei press mug that works well but is super heavy (all metal construction double walled etc – not a backpacking design).

So I picked up a snow peak to press and it works pretty well – but just tried an aeropress and I'm trying to figure out why they aren't more popular on the trail. Pretty compact overall and fairly lightweight – plus great tasting coffee quickly. Super easy cleanup. I'm taking mine on the next trip to give it a real road test.

It seems like the most convenient quality cup…

[Derek M.]

I had a professor in college tell me a story about a backpacking trip she took in Arizona. To save weight and lessen her water demands in the dry environment, she decided to leave her coffee making setup at home and just bring a bag of coarsely ground coffee beans…

…Beans that she intended to just chew on, straight, just like chewing tobacco, to get her caffeine fix.

After waking up the first morning in camp and loading her mouth with coffee grounds, she said she took a moment to consider what she was doing. A bit of coffee spittle oozed out of her mouth and she became appalled with herself, spit it all out, and immediately dumped her baggie of coffee grounds.

Needless to say, the lecture she was giving that day in class was on addiction.

…Of course, the lecture took place many years after the story, and she was giving it while drinking a strong cup of coffee…

I am not a coffee drinker myself so I can't really answer the OP's question. My wife has taken starbucks via on trips before and has liked it.

Of course, as a non-coffee drinker, I would suggest simply going without, as a few others have, but that's not going to be a popular solution to any coffee drinkers (i.e. the people who actually care about the answers on this thread).

[Daryl and Daryl]

I put a spoonful of cheapo instant coffee in my granola each morning when backpacking and at home. Works for me.

[Delmar O’Donnell]

Coffee flavored granola? I should reject this craziness out of hand, but I'm inexplicably attracted to the idea.

[Jerry Adams]

If you ate your granola with coffee without heating it, you wouldn't need a stove which would save some weight

[Robin Luger]

For short trips, I've made coffee concentrate, then carried a small plastic drink bottle full (two ounces a day maybe) and add it to some hot water in a titanium mug. Real coffee!! And very simple (with no cream and sugar).

Also, you can just sip one swallow of the concentrate for a mid-hike jolt. The flavor holds for several days.

There's lots of opinions on the best ways to make concentrate but here's a few:
http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/08/26/cold-brewed-coffee

Guess you could also make it on the trip-don't know how the jostling during the day would affect it.

[Doug Green]

I am an admitted coffee snob…unfortunately made that way a few years ago by my son. I buy unroasted beans and fresh roast every week at home with my own roaster. I grind the beans right before using them. Roasted whole beans start loosing flavor after a week or two, and ground coffee looses much of its flavor within 12 hours. The beans I prefer are sourced either from my favorite region in Guatemala (HueHue) preferably from two or three farms in the Agua Dulce region (I have spent time on several occasions on a coffee farm in that region), or from Ethiopia from the Yirgacheffe region, preferably grade 1. My point is…I've become extremely picky about my coffee.

So…why in the world would I drink instant VIA CRAP coffee when on the trail? Same reason I eat dehydrated food and sleep on a one inch mattress. Because weight matters when I am trying to enjoy the HIKE, and there is no way I carry even a lightweight version of my pour over system, french press, or even my aero press. And, I find that crap instant coffee and dehydrated food taste good on the trail because I AM OUTSIDE DOING WHAT I LOVE TO DO!

Just one mans opinion, not right or wrong. Feel free to make fun of me for carrying a 3 ounce knife :)

[Anonymous]

"So…why in the world would I drink instant VIA CRAP coffee when on the trail? Same reason I eat dehydrated food and sleep on a one inch mattress. Because weight matters when I am trying to enjoy the HIKE, and there is no way I carry even a lightweight version of my pour over system, french press, or even my aero press. And, I find that crap instant coffee and dehydrated food taste good on the trail because I AM OUTSIDE DOING WHAT I LOVE TO DO!"

+1 Finally, a kindred spirit. Somehow I now feel just a little less alone in this cold, cold world. ;0)

"Just one mans opinion, not right or wrong."

Uh, make that two.

"Feel free to make fun of me for carrying a 3 ounce knife :)"

Just couldn't quit while you were ahead, could ya? ;0)

[Glenn S]

I wouldn't consider myself a snob, but I hate instant coffee. Never tried that Via stuff, but not a Starbucks fan, as I prefer Caribou. Just the Folgers brew bags if I'm doing the beer can cook kit. If I'm woodstoving it with the Bushbuddy, then it's cowboy Folgers or Caribou, then poured through the GSI strainer. I've done the cold water trick for cowboy coffee, and tapping the mug, and pouring slowly, and for 12 grams, the strainer is just so much easier.

[Jake S]

108g (3.8oz) for a GSI insulated mug and a GSI ultralight javadrip.

And in the summer I don't even heat it, I just let the grounds steep in my pot overnight (this does require more grounds), filter it in the morning into the mug and drink.

[Doug Green]

It's OK that we all have our own priorities. It's been said that if two people are exactly alike, one of them isn't necessary.

[Marko Botsaris]

Doug, I'm with you on that. I also roast my own beans, have an expensive espresso machine that I "can't live without", and completely buy into that the beans have to be roasted within 10 days, and ground withing a few minutes or something major is lost. So like you as a result, and after many contortions, I just use the best 3-in-1 instant I can find. If I have to drink swill might as well be light and convenient swill.

I will say that an areopress, using the permanent metal "porta filter" and not the paper filters (which are an abomination) does a very nice car camping mode simulation of an espresso. You even get a good head of crema. But again, if you don't grind the beans right before hand there is no point. My little Japanese porcelain head burr grinder fits neatly inside the aeropress handle so it is compact, but too heavy for more than an overnight backpacking trip.

Oh, and Sweet Maria's Espresso Monkey espresso blend is awesome!

http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/coffee/sweet-maria-s-espresso-monkey-blend.html

[Larry De La Briandais]

If all I had was instant I'd go without. And I have before. I just don't need the caffeine. I drink coffee for the taste. If it doesn't taste good then there is no point.

[Marko Botsaris]

Taste is a matter of taste, however.

Hope I cleared that up.

[Bob Moulder]

"Because weight matters when I am trying to enjoy the HIKE, and there is no way I carry even a lightweight version of my pour over system, french press, or even my aero press. And, I find that crap instant coffee and dehydrated food taste good on the trail because I AM OUTSIDE DOING WHAT I LOVE TO DO!"

+1!!

There are a lot more options when you're a mission-flexible all-weather daytime/nightime fighter/bomber.

I'm not a coffee snob, but I like a great cup when I can get it, although I am also perfectly happy with Taster's Choice on the trail. 10-day supply weighs about 4oz. One of the reasons I can wake up, fire up the Emberlit, have my coffee and instant oatmeal, pack up and be moving in 20 minutes or so.

[Wēb 2]

It's all I usually drink on the trail, during kayaking trips, and even at home except when my girlfriend brews me fancy stuff). She's a coffee connoisseur who wouldn't touch my Mount Hagen but she would drink it on the trail sometimes.

One day I made her the following iced late that she didn't realize was made with Mount Hagen:
Just a few ounces of hot water in a pint glass, enough to dissolve a heaping teaspoon of mount hagen. Add heaping teaspoon of mount hagen. Mix in a small amount of vanilla and some honey to dissolve. Fill to top with ice and top off with soy or regular milk (we prefer soy). She thought it was awesome (as do I) but not sure if she would have still felt that way had I started with "this was made with mount hagen."

She still wont drink the mt hagen plain but enjoys the lattes here and there.

Anyways, I'm a big fan of the mount hagen. I don't like strong/dark roast coffee and the Mt. Hagen has a lighter roast flavor to it. I drink a cup every day… It's perfect for a guy like me. Some might describe my style as lazy, I just like to think of it as maximizing my efficiency!

Derek

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Although I prefer VIA over other instant coffee I've found Taster's Choice freeze-dried to be 2nd best.

[Charles Vines]

I grind my favorite, measure it out for the amount i want to brew at a time. Usually 1 tablespoon per 12 oz. water. Tie it up in paper filter with string. Then heat water then dunk and brew like a tea bag.
Pack the little bags in zip lock.

[Daniel M]

Had to resurrect this thread… I use a 2.9 oz Vietnamese coffee filter. Brews some strong trail coffee.

Cheap and effective! As a coffee snob myself, it’s as much weight as I’m willing to carry. Otherwise it’s Medaglia D’oro instant espresso (better and cheaper than via).

Vietnamese Coffee Filter, X-Small 4 Ounce, Perfect for Espresso, Paperless https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AN1ONPS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_c.FVwbN7EMYVM

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Ian,

Trader Joe’s coffee? All I’ve ever seen there was ground coffee in cans. Do they have an instant?

BTW, I agree with the “VIA guys”. For backpacking I have not found anything lighter or even bit heavier that is better. Yeah, I used to pack my own ground coffee in paper tea bags but that got old – carrying out soggy bags of coffee, that is.

[D M]

Normally at home I’m strictly using Peet’s coffee. On trail Nescafé 3 in one packets, mostly cold mixed in a small Gatorade bottle first thing before I exit the sack in the morning so I can sip as I pack and start down the trail. Later in the day I might make some hot coffee if I do a hot meal for lunch if it’s cool weather. In hot weather I have zero interest in cooking anything. The last thru hike I did (AZT) was cold food for the most part as the fire dangers have been so bad so cold coffee was something I got used to. I’d like to find a good espresso bean, chocolate oatmeal cookie recipe for mornings and just combine my morning caffeine fix and roughage needs. :-)

[Author]

Posts