Love this post! There’s nothing better than a great view with a hot cup of coffee. I was fortunate enough to do 800 PCT and 300 OCT miles this year and every day I looked forward to that brew. Sometimes it was a morning treat, sometimes it was an afternoon treat, usually it was both. What seems to work for me differed depending on how much time or what my specific goals were. But there was always coffee (they don’t call me “The Grind” for nuthin’ ;)
The beauty of the grind. My morning ritual off trail is usually fresh single-origin beans (those are beans from a single variety and location as opposed to the more common blends) brewed by pour over method: wave, v60, or Chemex. When I travel it’s often French press or Aeropress. So it seemed natural to take one of these brewers on trail. I’ve packed the Aeropress and a hand grinder and, while I love that at home, on trail it’s just too much work, too much weight, too much space, for me. The bulk of this comes from the grinder. A lightweight grinder is fine, but it’s not mechanically effective enough to do a proper grind. So now if I want to brew using one of these methods I prefer to pre-grind properly and just carry the plastic Kalita Wave and a few paper filters. These brewers don’t pack as nicely as the Snow Peak, but they can be lighter if you go with a plastic or even stainless. Obviously there’s some weight to pack out, and it’s slightly heavier than when you packed it in because after your brew there’s water in those grounds and filters.
But wait! There’s the pocket pour over. There are several companies now (Kuju and Tribo to name a couple) that give you pre-dosed coffee in a little paper pour over brewer. You simply pull out the packet, extend the brewer over your cup, and pour. Easy peezy. Except that all the ones I tried tasty pretty meh. If I need to pack out the weight, it should at least be worth it.
Like, instantly. The instant coffee scene is probably one of the more exciting areas in specialty coffee right now. Personally, I can’t stand Via, but I love Starbucks for really pushing the envelope here because it got a lot of other coffee lovers to start improving on instant coffee. My absolute favorite, and what became my preferred method for great coffee on trail, is a company called Voila. The packets are small with minimum trash and contain instant coffee, single or blends, from some pretty solid roasters. They aren’t cheap, but for my palette they are worth it. I love these so much that I usually carry a couple of packets with me when I travel just in case I get stuck and need a coffee.
Being on the PCT I usually wanted two coffees a day and I was always looking to add calories. For this, I packed a type of “Keto coffee” called Fat Fuel. This gave me some extra calories and this stuff just tastes good: like a creamy latte (…with some floaty chunks of powdered butter, but whatever).
Caffeine. For some, this is all that really matters. I’ve been there. When I really just want caffeine I don’t bother with the weight of coffee, I just carry caffeine pills. It’s easier, light weight, no pack out.
Ok, so that’s a really long reply. But I just got back from this little roaster I found and I’ve been drinking a lot of coffee.
May all your ugly mugs be warm!
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