CS Instant Coffee Review

Aftrer trying many, including Via, Café Bustelo has become my backcountry instant coffee –

Bustelo

Comes out to $0.17 per packet, or $0.34 per 12 ounce cup.

Andrew,

Your “In Defense of Instant” section gets my sympathies.

I routinely drink hot, instant (OMG!) Lipton Unsweetened Iced Tea Mix with lots of milk (OMG! OMG!), morning, noon, and night – at home, on the road, and while backpacking.

OTOH, my wife has roughly 20 kinds of bagged tea, and switches through each day.

We all like what we like for different reasons.

— Rex

Because I am a cranky old hiker, I refuse to pay $2+ (in Canadalands) for a packet of any coffee powder no matter the perceived quality. Waaaay overpriced! However, I do have some taste scruples. Enter Nescafe Gold Espresso, eh? GK

I think pre-measured packets are the key to happiness.

Measuring by volume something so variable as instant coffee leads to wild swings in results.

For a while I ground my Classicó through a sieve to help with uniformity, but even then scooping was inconsistent when weighed on a 0.1 gram scale.

Packets resolved the issue.

I love the inevitable low-key fight people have over coffee any time it comes up on backpacking forums.

“I could agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong”

I agree. Oh wait …

— Rex

Greg, thanks for the tip about Bustelo instant. That’s what we drank at home for years, made in a Moka pot. I eventually had to switch to a lower acid coffee (and primarily get my caffeine from yerba mate), but my wife still drinks Bustelo daily and will be happy to know about Bustelo to go. I think it was here on BPL where I learned about Maxim coffee, a milk/sugar/instant coffee combo from Korea that’s priced similarly to Bustelo for those who like a sweeter and creamier cup. We brought a 100 pack on our cross country road trip.

[I love the inevitable low-key fight people have over coffee any time it comes up on backpacking forums.]

Or just about any other topic.

Greg – I’m a Maxim fan too but I actually prefer the one with a jet-setting couple standing in front of their helicopter. I don’t have any right now and can’t remember the name but we call it Helicopter Coffee.  :)

You can stop right there.

Instant Coffee isn’t… coffee, that is.  Coffee is a drink made from water or steam passing through ground coffee beans.

The proper nomenclature for the substance that you are referring to is Brown Drink.

”I have opinions of my own — strong opinions — but I don’t always agree with them.”

There is no good instant coffee, only good enough.  Which for me has to be inexpensive, because why top dollar for instant coffee? I would never pay over a dollar a cup. Just has to taste sort of coffee like and be strong enough to stop the sleepies.

DYOD (Drink Your Own Drink)

I’ll use a French press when car camping, but I don’t want to deal with the mess and hassle on trail.

I mean, people will cold soak Ramen noodles that are 90% sawdust but instant coffee isn’t good enough?

I didn’t state that Brown Drink isn’t good enough. I have no argument with whatever people wish to drink on the trail, or at any time.

But let’s not pretend that it is coffee.

Not pretending. It is coffee made from coffee beans.

… and then ruined through an industrial process that changes the flavour from coffee to Brown Drink ;)

‘Brown Drink’ – indeed.

Cheers

Anthonys instant organic coffee.

I like it cold.. But u can make it hot if you like.  Buy nice big bag on Amazon .

Tried CS Coffee, wanted to like it, was horrible. Had strange bitter chocolate taste. No where near as enjoyable as Via Italian Roast or Supreme Bustello instant coffee. Even Taster Choice 100% Columbian-the least expensive tolerable instant-was more smooth and had a great finish in comparison to the CS.

Campcraft Coffee is another cottage instant I have had. Pretty decent. Nothing offensive-a good mellow instant. None of them are worth multiple dollars per cup though.

Instant coffee — fine, but, what do you add to it for cream?  Powdered milk? Powdered Goat Milk Cream (has fat)?   Perfect Keto Chocolate MCT Powder? Primal Kitchen Vanilla Collagen packets?  Powdered butter?  I don’t add any sugar to my VIA coffee.  On Amazon I found packets from “Fat Fuel Coffee”.  Each packet has 22 grams of fat.  Ingredients are:  Grass Fed Butter powder, MCT Oil powder, Coconut Oil powder, instant coffee, and a bit of Himalayan salt.  Tastes OK.  Sometimes I add an additional VIA packet to it.  Not bad really.  Gives you some fat energy for your trekking.  Powder power.

@thomas51 I bought a small nalgene container 2oz capacity and I take grass fed butter for my coffee for day hikes/overnight. Longer trips I vacuum seal 1-2oz of butter packets and take those.

Speaking as a cook/chef and acknowledged caffeine addict all I can say is that I’d need at least 2 packets of that for each cup of coffee in the AM; possibly 3 and I normally drink 2 cups minimum. Enter Nescafe Gold Blend in 200g foil refill packs, one of those usually last me 5 to 7 days.

@moondog55 I see there is Nescafe Gold and Gold Blend? Are they both the same?

Also, where do you get yours?