Chewable coffee??!!!

I noticed the product sometime last summer, and was instantly turned off by the high sugar contents (12 g in a 22 g serving).

Any sugar (or any sort of sweetener) would make my coffee undrinkable. I have not had a sweetened coffee since October ‘1978 and would not consider trying any coffee offering in solid or liquid form if it is sweetened.

I’m not foreign to culinary experiments, and rather enjoy them, but my coffee intake is off-limits!

Artificial color and flavors – no thanks. For a quick caffeine start, why not pour a packet of Starbucks Via into a water bottle, shake, and sip while hiking? You can add some evaporated cane juice to sweeten if you like. A personal favorite is to pour the Via powder into a packet of Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter, then squirt the mixture into your mouth.

A personal favorite is to pour the Via powder into a packet of Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter, then squirt the mixture into your mouth.

That’s the second awesome tip I have learned from Lester in the last 10 minutes.

Like Lester, when I’m in a hurry to get hiking, I just pour my coffee into my cold water, and sip along the way.  That worked perfectly for me on the CT and JMT.

But if you don’t like cold coffee, there are several types of caffeinated products that you could substitute:

Energy gels 

Energy drinks 

Or Energy beans 

When you get by Wally World, look for Coffee Thins in the coffee section. They come in a box of three for about a dollar. It’s like thin chocolate wafer, but there is no chocolate, just coffee. And sugar, number one on the ingredient list, but most of the calories are from fat. They aren’t bad, but I’m not drawn to them like I am to chocolate. The package doesn’t say anything about caffeine. They are small and in foil packs, so I’ll probably throw a few in the kit, but they are no substitute for coffee. You can also get chocolate covered coffee beans, but not at Walmart. I’ve tried to make them, but they didn’t turn out well. The beans were just too hard to chew. The store bought variety are probably better, but they are expensive and no one around here carries them.

+1 on cold instant.  You can also add Nido powdered milk, but you have to shake it a lot more.

If Via is too expensive Target has Café Bustelo for about half the price.  Or you can get Mt. Hagen at organic food stores.  Both are good, Mt. Hagen is a lighter roast.

Walt

Ok I got some of these and I have to say I don’t like the flavor. I don’t mind sugar in my coffee but the coffee flavor is quite sour.

i’m trying these again right now and they are just terrible tasting to me.

i’m trying these again right now and they are just terrible tasting to me.

Which items are you referring to in the above two posts?

Question, do you need a coffee fix or just some caffeine?  If the latter, you may want to try matcha.  My one and only experience with it is thanks to a green tea thread I started a year or so ago, and was suggested to me along the way.  You just mix and go.  I just drink it as tea but some lazy searching on the interwebs will reveal that people will mix it with anything, including smoothies and ice cream.

This is the only brand I have any experience with.  It comes in single serve packets which is really convenient for backpacking.

What I’ve come to appreciate about tea vs coffee is that the caffeine ride is a gradual rise and drop in energy.  With coffee, I get more of a crash later in the day.

I will caution you that if you try any of the other caffeinated products listed above, especially the Crystal Lite, try it out on a day hike before committing to it on a longer backpacking trip.  I tried the Crystal Lite with caffeine on my seven devils hike last year and found that it made me jittery.  I very much doubt that it had more caffeine than the 20 oz Americanos I was drinking every day at that time, but I was jittery nonetheless.

Jenn…

I remembered this thread at Target today. Saw this you might be interested in:

ProBar Base Protein Bar “Coffee Crunch”

220 calories, 15 grams of protein

But only 40mg of caffeine which is about half a typical cup..

Haven’t tried it yet, but ProBars are usually pretty good.

Billy

Which items are you referring to in the above two posts?

The Go Cubes from the OP.

Matt, if your email is to me I don’t understand what you are asking… I only posted once and am not responding to any other products.. just pointing out this one to Jenn’s OP

b

Billy I was responding to Ben.

Responding to Ben? Last post I see for him is March 23rd… And two posts between then and now.

I suggest you address to whom you are writing… would make things more clear… especially if you’re waiting weeks to respond..

billy