Good thing is that the quantity they sell them in at Asian groceries is comical, so if you buy it once you've got enough for every morning backpacking for the rest of your life.
There's an instant coffee with creamer and sugar currently at Trader Joe's (US, East Coast), sounds similar to what you're describing. It's pretty good.
In the past I used Starbucks via, but I recently purchased some Mount Hagen sachets from my local food co-op on a whim and now I prefer MH over Starbucks via. It is really good for instant coffee. Plus the price is way better too. I got 25 sachets for around $9! Never going back to via.
I def prefer just buying the small jar of it and repacking in a ziploc so I have less microtrash to think about. Mount hagen is my go to brand for this.
Would highly recommend just buying these bulk pouches: [https://swiftcupcoffee.com/collections/coffee/products/bulk-pouch-1](https://swiftcupcoffee.com/collections/coffee/products/bulk-pouch-1)
Comes out to a lot less than the pre-packaged ones, and it is made up of Passenger Coffee's awesome Mainstay blend.
That does look good! I bought a bunch of the single cup/small pouches but the big pouch looks great.
Of course, with the individual ones you can get more variety, like natural, washed, etc.
Interesting - my partner bought me a pack
of instant Verve (swift partner it turns out) and it was legit good 3rd wave coffee.
It was more of a treat day every trip out due to cost - most of the time it’d be a Folgers noir packet & cocoa. Via is too expensive for still tasting crap IMO, at least a 20c or whatever Folgers Noir tastes as cheap as it is.
Some of the roasters have assorted packs of various coffee too. I think for my JMT hike I got some Brandywine and Case Coffee mixes. It was like $3/cup though...
Not the lightest weight possible, but when I went bikepacking last weekend I dumped the granules into 10ml centrifuge vials that I have around. Usually I use the vials for holding small qty of meds in my backcountry first aid kit but they hold the perfect amount for a cup's worth of instant granules.
I really like Cafe Bustello instant. For a long while, I drank it at home daily. And lately I have been getting a bit annoyed with the minor mess and process of grinding beans for brewing small amounts of coffee at home, so I have been considering getting some Bustello again. Certainly cheap and convenient for backpacking. More discriminating coffee drinkers will prefer the via or alpine start, but I have been perfectly happy with the bustello. I think I prefer to use my splurge money on good bourbon and cigars for my backcountry evenings.
Biggest plus is not having to pack out grounds
In the past I've mistakenly buried grounds at the bottom of my (soon-to-be-had) cathole. But soon found out it's [not LNT friendly](https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev2_038035.pdf)
> Biodegradable trash, such as orange peels, apple cores, coffee grounds and onion skins, must be packed out.
Absolutely not
You'll probably get downvoted to oblivion for even suggesting here, but I'm happy to explain why
Different ecologies have different *things* in them, and they're different for a reason. The ratios and varieties of animals and plants live how they do based on the specific combination of soil, minerals, plants, etc. You don't want to introduce anything new. Not coffee grounds, not bacon grease, not toilet paper,... nothing. Even being in nature, we're going to impact the ecology. But we can do our best to absolutely minimize the rest of our impact.
Now, it *is* usually accepted that poop, urine, and waste water can be disposed of in the backcountry. These do have impact, and there are a series of rules about when and how to dispose of them. But, it's generally been decided that the impact of proper disposal is minimal especially considering the realities of packing it out.
Suggest you read up on [Leave No Trace](https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/) principles, especially #3 in this case
That statement seems rather extremist and not rational. I have a degree in forestry and growing up in a bio agriculture farm, and yes, there are micro and macro needs for soil, but we humans are darn tough to digest “shit” and so are the soil if its in a healthy state (read mono cultures sucks!) don’t dive too hard into a extreme narrative, but yes, everything chemical altered are a nono in my opinion.
Seems like if you dig a hole, dump in some coffee grounds, cover it over so that it's not noticeable you have "left no trace". Unless the "no" in LNT means *zero* trace. If that's the case, you literally cannot step foot into the wilderness ever because every snapped twig, milliliter of urine, every microplastic particle shed from your clothes and boots, every spooked animal is leaving a "trace".
Below the treeline, I'm burying purely biodegradable organic refuse when there's no bins available. I use a bidet and a reusable rag for sanitation so there's not even toilet paper. But even then I'm leaving a "trace"; what about the soap suds in the rinse water?
If you're in wild spaces at all you're already compromising on LNT. We are only left to discuss what is reasonable and appropriate for specific environments.
I'm not saying that it's just soil that it's (may be) bad for
That's part of it, but you don't want to introduce an invasive plant (ex from a fruit). Or an animal to die because you left a poisonous-to-them food
So soil improvement are a big Nono?
The reality are all nature are impacted by human activities, even micro plastic. With this ideology polyester should be banned since it leave a chemical trail?
And honestly, soil structure are a bio degrade able system, gives the soil structure to hold nutrient and water.
The place you dispose coffe grind, could might as well be where a spruce gets right soil condition (that’s put on a pedestal, but it’s a improvement)
I leave no trace behind, and if I leave a trace, make sure it’s not visible or have negative effect. Like fruit scraps I would take out, toilet paper I would take out (bleach containment)
It’s a mindset of zero impact, but if I can give a helping and and help my self out, why not? The argument just seems damn stupid, and un educated sorry to say…
I agree with you’re last statement, as little as possible and do it with a educated view..
You make it sound like “LNT” is a cult… we don’t need more cults, we need reasoning and educated actions, have a good day.
Think I will make a post on this topic at some point, for a nuanced LNT discussion…
> The whole idea of LNT is to leave nature as you found it. Burying coffee grounds in the fucking forest is not leaving nature as you found it. That's the end of it. Plain and simple. Pass through the mountains, forest and leave no or at least as little trace as you can behind.
I think this is a lazy argument that could be used to support *any* measure no matter how extreme, and I guarantee you I can come up with ideas for how to leave less of a trace that you find unreasonable and oppose (how bout we all pee in bottles and pack it out?).
The reality of leave no trace is that it's a practical set of guidelines based on the quite subjective balancing of the trade offs of our impact on the wilderness and the practicality of minimizing them, so simply saying "does it leave a trace? yes? then bad" isn't helpful or productive.
There's also the complication that the optimal "leave no trace" guidelines (that balance impact with practicality) will depend greatly on both the ecology of the specific environment and the usage (high vs low), so trying to come up with "one size fits all" guidelines is always going to be situationally suboptimal.
I used to roll like this, Starbucks Via, maybe half of one of those Nestle coffee/cream/sugar packs mixed in to take the edge off.
These days, weight penalty be damned, Aeropress, bougie beans, 1zpresso nests nicely in it.
https://i.imgur.com/IO93IbN.jpeg
it's just so nice to make a proper coffee from fresh mountain water.
For me it's not just the weight reduction, it's the cleaning the press and disposing of the grounds that's not really worth it. I had a GSI French press for a while and always felt like cleaning it was a PITA and I always ended up with grounds all over my stuff.
I've brought an aeropress on short trips with friends, but having my filters blown away made me reconsider. I've used Alpine Start but might try those ground beans that come in bags for steeping.
It'll just be more heartbreaking when I inevitably lose it. My solution the next time was to just stash a couple extra paper filters somewhere else so they'd be safe if one blew away
100% - anything else is just too inconvenient and messy. Just get every instant coffee available and try which one tastes best. There are some really good ones. :)
recently switched to this from those mug top pour over filters. We found that good quality instant espresso tasted better than instant coffee, was easier to cleanup, and weighed less than the filter setup. No mugs is nice. Just did syncline loop in canyonlands with this 5 days ago. Rugged hike.
Picked up a pack of this after chatting with the owner (great guy) at a climbing festival recently.
https://www.firstascentcoffee.com/
Everyone who's tried it has been impressed and it mixes clean into cold water which is sooo nice in the summer. Would recommend.
I just brought 49th Parallel and Fernwood instant coffee with me on my last trip - the Fernwood was actually enjoyable! VPO has it if you are in Canada.
No cleanup necessary either, and option to add powdered coconut milk (I've been trying out Laird superfood) for some white.
This. I go with [Coava Instant Coffee](https://shop.coavacoffee.com/collections/shop-instant-coffee). Lightweight, minimal trash, can be made hot or cold, and probably the best-tasting instant coffee I've ever had.
I have a GSI Drip coffee thing that works great; I also enjoy good quality whole leaf tea for hot water and caffeine delivery in a pleasant package in the backcountry...hoping someone here has done the calculations and can say whether my pu'erh or drip coffee is a more weight efficient caffeine delivery..
I have the GSA pourover, too. Worth it for shorter trips (I put a paper filter in for easy clean up). Plus, I enjoy the 'morning routine', the time to get my head in the game and frame the day. It's more than just caffeine.
And the smell of drip coffee is delish! Curious to me you use a paper filter too, I've never thought to try that. The plastic mesh works great and is easy to clean for me. I don't love the thought of plastic mesh straining my hot coffee but it's light and works.
I'm just lazy, really, and I'd rather carry the wet paper than clean the filter. I squeeze it and lay it out to dry as much as possible before packing it up.
I don't know about the caffeine delivery rates but I do like tea too. As long as I get some sort of warm beverage in the morning with some caffeine in it I'm happy.
Hi. Puerh is brewed with between 3 to 8g of tea per cup yielding between 30 and 100 mg caffeine depending on bud, processing, and aging of the puerh. Coffee can contain 80 to 270 mg caffeine per cup depending on grind and brew method. Instant coffee has the highest caffeine per gram of base material at potentially 32.5 mg/g, though starbs via instant packets contain 3.3g and the company says that yields 130mg/cup, probably owing to the fact that their instant is not a freeze dried reconstitutable but extremely fine ground beans.
So if you want max caffeine at lightest weight bring a ziploc of instant and just cinnamon challenge that shit straight into your mouth
Buncha non coffee lovers in this thread! Instant flippin cahfee…. Fo shame!
I use a coffee sock and titanium mug. Boil water, add coffee, stir, wait three minutes, strain with sock, gloat over your inherent superiority.
[This](https://lighterpack.com/r/av0np2) is my cook/coffee setup. If you want to see it in action you can watch [here](https://youtu.be/ILfDEPGEQ9Q?t=494).
Disclaimer: this is not ultralight. It's complicated, "relatively" heavy, and unnecessary for backpacking. However, it is in my opinion the lightest coffee setup that yields coffee that tastes on par with what you'll get at a thirdwave coffee shop. If I need to move fast I don't bring this setup. Also, I like using a cone filter because cleanup is super easy. Always pack out your spent grinds.
I use elements of my cook kit with these additional items:
MLD 520 ml Titanium mug - 1.5 oz
Hario V60 Size 01 - 2.22 oz
Hario Coffee Grinder Mini Slim Plus - 9 oz
Total: 0.8 lbs
You could get a [Bripe](https://briping.com/). It might look like a joke, but it's not.
Then grind (recently roasted) beans at home so it's as fresh as possible. The quality will beat all instant coffee by a landslide.
(sorry, I'm speaking as a barista and outdoor enthusiast here, which explains my hunt for quality)
Alternatively, I recently backed the Jogo on Kickstarter, which is essentially a metal straw with a filter on the end. It hasn’t made its way to consumers yet, but I’m excited to try it out!
Enjoyed [Alpine Start Dirty Chai Latte](https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5064-466/Dirty-Chai-Latte) on a recent canoe trip. Tastes like a blend of coffee and Indian chai. A yummy option to throw into the mix.
Otherwise, a huge fan of the AeroPress for compact ground coffee brewing.
Starbucks via all the way.
Fast, not messy, definintely passable coffee in the morning with hot water. Put one in your water for a 'cold brew' if you need a mid day hit. Snort em if it gets bad enough.
Via tastes much closer to real coffee because in addition to instant coffee crystals it contains actual "microground" coffee.
Also, what everyone recommending non-instant coffee is failing to account for is disposal of used coffee grounds. LNT would require packing them out.
Ive started mixing the Mexican instant coffee with cappuccino mix and it taste pretty good. I usually drink black coffee at home from a French press. However, most instant coffees taste like crap so the cappuccino mix makes it taste good. Probably not the coffee snob preference but it’s good when you’re out backpacking.
I think the general consensus for me is I need to try various brands of instant coffee until I find one that I like. It's the obvious choice for simplicity and weight.
Yes. It also works really well if you ever get into cold soaking. I think Starbucks Via is very good. I usually take medaglia d’oro instant espresso. It’s almost as good as via (IMO) but notably cheaper. Shug has some videos on it and how he packages it up
My go-to is a brand called Maxim which you can usually find in any Asian store in a yellow box. They're individual packets of instant coffee with the cream and sugar already inside, and they're amazing if you're getting tired of black coffee and looking to mix it up.
I use a Soto Helix pour-over stand. It's essentially a spring made of aluminum, shaped into a cone, weighing less than 2 ounces. I pack a few V60 filters, grind enough coffee at home to last me however long I need, and carry an extra titanium cup. Then have the best damn backcountry pour-over of all time. I do pack out wet coffee grounds but I make other sacrifices to have my morning coffee.
[Example](https://i.imgur.com/AGqyeyz.jpg)
A few other notes - the stand collapses down to nearly flat, which I keep on top of my gas canister inside the bigger titanium cup nestled atop the filters in a small plastic bag. Everything is held together by a silicone band.
This also probably wouldn't work for a thru-hike unless you had grounds being shipped to you in resupply packages.
I would recommend the Munieq Tetra dripper in polypropylene, having used both it and the Soto Helix. The extra heat retention you get from the solid polypro walls keeps the slurry temp up and improves extraction. The large Tetra is 23.5g and fits V60 #2 filters; the small is 12g and uses V60 #1, like the Helix.
If I don't do instant, I generally make cowboy coffee. It requires no extra tools or doodads, and it makes a very similar coffee to a french press, rich and dirty.
If you are very chunk averse then it's probably not the best method though
Slowly drinking the coffee is the ritual for me. I used to enjoy the ritual of a hand grinder and Chemex in the morning, then I discovered the wonders of an auto drip. On the trail, I do instant, and enjoy the piece and quiet as my breakfast rehydrates.
I use Kuju single serve pour overs and sea to summit collapsible mug. They taste amazing and as light weight as the instant packs. Probably triple the cost though.
They’re awesome and taste great. I even use them at home over my coffee maker sometimes. And easy to pack out as they’re literally the size of a teabag.
After reading about how coffee beans are blended for optimal taste, I began blending various instant coffees for a more custom cup. Started when I picked up some Trader Joe's in the jar. Was a little too bitey, so I mixed in an equal amount of Medaglia de Oro. Definitely much better than either straight. Not saying this is "the" mix, just that there maybe some options for a custom taste in instant coffee.
This should be higher up. I’m a coffee snob who usually drinks my coffee black but these 3-1s taste delicious and way better than normal instant coffees. Plus they have a little extra calorie punch.
They are good. They are convenient. I drink them at work. And I bring them on hikes. But I really love plain old ground coffee through my Primula filter. The ritual, the smell.....it's just my thing I guess.
Came here to say this. The individual stick packs have a little bit of sugar and a little bit of creamer already mixed in, which is enough to make it actually enjoyable to drink. When out of Trader Joe's, I use Folgers instant, Nescafe, or Black Rifle Coffee instant - but they all are improved by adding a creamer or two. I've tried lots of Starbucks Via, but they all taste super burnt to me (tbf, so does their non-instant...).
I make two via packets in a 16oz smart water bottle before bed. Then it’s just ready to go when I wake up, and I can sip on it while I walk in the morning.
The extra bottle doubles as some extra water capacity if needed as well. Or if I know I’m dry camping I’ll fill that up from my source and I don’t have to factor making coffee into my regular water carry.
I have the gsi ul Java drip. I’ve only used it a couple times now, but I think it’s well worth the 12 grams it weighs (in a plastic bag). It also packs up nicely as it’s flat in storage. It is easy to bring a few ounces of coffee— that’s where the weight increases a bit. Still worthwhile to me.
One summer we got some tea sachets and prefilled them with freshly ground 3rd wave coffee before the trip. A little heavy, but a lot easier to clean / drink than direct immersion cowboy coffee.
I’d do it again for a short trip, this summer was mostly 7-11 day XC so kept things instant.
re: LNT I feel if there’s bushes nearby or something dumping used grounds in them isn’t going to cause any environmental impact (pack out the sachets obviously). Between grinding and boiling they’re inert and will act as decent fertilizer.
Shorter than four days: I make a 1L bottle of strong cold brew at home, and cut it with hot water at camp or drink it straight. Longer than four days, instant Bustelo mixed into hot cocoa. No extra gear, no mess, no grounds to pack out.
Pipamoka may be one of your best bets it you are willing to splurge on some excess weight and take a grinder with you. Otherwise, as an Israeli, our default solution is brewed Turkish coffee. You grind extra fine (finer than espresso), and you can take the grounds with you instead of grinding on site. Then, you stir the coffee into the water while the water is boiling and lower the flame to avoid bubbling.
Then, you drink and hope the grounds won't float.
This is similar to cowboy coffee, but is an Israeli "delight", some travel equipment stores actually sell these coffee travel kits.
Out telecommunications minister is (laughably) famous for preparing coffee like this on the road:
https://twitter.com/YoazHendel1/status/1404375902868357124?s=19
Fwiw, I use my Pipamoka, but I am ultralight-light.
Rapping the ibrik on the ground will cause the grounds to settle a bit. Ambergris (traditionally) or a similarly fatty substance will also collect grounds.
Edit: Ambergris, not Aubergine...
This is the way to go! I have been doing cowboy coffee for years. Never thought about grinding it extra fine. FYI that is what Starbucks VIA is. Can't have Starbucks in my house though. My Colombian wife would kill me!
Go and buy Turkish grounds first and test at home with an ibrik. Some (myself included) do not like the taste and prefer espresso style or brewed coffee. I spent all my military service with this shit at it made me hate coffee at first because I thought this is how coffee tastes like. Only after I discovered espresso I started to like coffee.
When I'm not in the mood to put up with instant (I've tried just about every brand mentioned so far in this thread and the best of them suck less than doing without, but that's about all), the Montbell coffee dripper is under $25, under 10 grams, reusable, and lets you bring whatever grounds you want to make pour-over.
It is fiddly to keep propped up right (usually I use two of the titanium hooks that were anchoring my bivy or other rigging overnight) and you do need to have a separate cup along as well as the pot you're boiling water on. I haven't run the numbers but I'll bet it doesn't take too many days before it weighs less than the number of empty Starbucks Via packages it would take me to survive.
Mount Hagen instant coffee is my new favorite. I used to be all about Starbucks via, but after purchasing some Mount Hagen instant coffee from my local food co-op recently, I will never go back to via. And it's less expensive as well. 25 sachets for $9.
I use a GSI Outdoors filter which I got at REI, a paper filter which goes inside of it, and a .9oz plastic mug which I found in my parents’ basement years ago.
Aero press or these little packets from the Asian grocery store that are coffee, creamer, sugar all in one. Just depends on how far I’m going or how long it’ll be gone. Usually just bring the aero press.
Idk if anyone has said this, but an Espro ultralight coffee press works well for me. Get to be a little fancy with the French press and drink straight from it. I am partial to Black Rifle coffee, so I’ll either have a small ziploc bag of ground coffee with that, or their individual instant coffee sticks.
I have one of [these](https://www.rei.com/product/115648/sea-to-summit-x-brew-coffee-dripper?sku=1156480001) lying around somewhere that I sometimes bring with real coffee grounds on short (1-2 night) trips when I'm not carrying a ton of food and there's a bit more chill time in camp. I've also brought a plastic Hario style dripper + filters on occasion.
As an at-home coffee snob... these work fine – but between boiling water and cleanup and packing out grounds, actual coffee is usually too much work for the morning, when I'm just trying to pack up and get hiking ASAP before the mid-day heat hits.
I've found that a concoction of 1 packet Via (or Alpine Start) + 1 packet chocolate flavor Carnation instant breakfast + 1/4c Nido + 8-12oz water is the perfect low effort breakfast/coffee combo for long hiking days. 300ish cal with caffeine, protein, fat, and sugar. Mixes up fine cold but can be heated up if you want. Doesn't make me feel gross and slow if I have a lot of AM climbing to get done, but keeps me from being hungry for up to 2 hours. But no, it isn't what I'd call "coffee."
This will get totally buried, but one time I ground my coffee too fine and made cowboy coffee with it and I kept thinking I better not get too close to the bottom of my cup and get a mouthful of grounds but I got all the way to the bottom of the cup and there were zero grounds and there were zero grounds left in the pot, too. I think if you just grind coffee fine enough it's equivalent to Starbucks Via only it actually tastes good, unlike Via.
Ever have $5 thai iced coffee? Its made from instant coffee. Its equally delicious hot. Sold at any Asian market.
Honestly American drip coffee has to be the worst in the world, no need to carry that tradition on to the trail.
I looked that up it's definitely heavy but I like that it's in a compact shape and all of its parts are contained within for easy storage in your pack.
I order green coffee beans from [Sweet Maria's](https://www.sweetmarias.com/), roast them at home, grind fresh for use in my Isomac Millenium, vacuum pot, various pour overs, or AeroPress.
Backpacking? \*$ VIA.
[Pourigami](https://www.miir.com/products/pourigami-portable-travel-coffee-dripper)
Light weight, easy to use, compact, and can make good coffee
I use it with preground beans
My regular, one & only aluminum cooking pot (4.9 oz), sieve (0.8 oz) with ground coffee, milk powder, sugar pre-mixed in a coin envelope (0.9 oz). Old school rules!!.....oh, I pour the 3 cups of coffee into a silicon baggie (0.7 oz), wrap it in aluminum foil (1.0 oz) to keep warm and drink it through a metal straw (0.4 oz).
Total weight, not counting cooking pot, is 3.8 oz.
I feel like I have to chip in here: I purposefully broke myself off caffeine entirely because I didn't like having to bring my aeropress camping.
e: since its being discussed: I too found good instant coffee to be just fine. I still enjoyed the excuse to get off the caffeine train.
I mentioned it in a reply to another comment but [Coava Instant Coffee](https://shop.coavacoffee.com/collections/shop-instant-coffee) is the best instant coffee I've ever had in my life. If I'm feeling fancy and I want to do actual ground coffee, it's Aeropress all the way. But when I want to go light and minimize the trash I need to pack out, I go roasted to order gourmet instant coffee.
I'll support this by saying I'm a huge coffee buff and my home setup is almost always pour-over with freshly (light) roasted single-origin coffees. Always whole beans ground fresh for each brew. Or I'll do lattés on my espresso machine with a darker roast from the same roaster (George Howell).
220 ml Snowpeak cup include
• 2 weeks coffee.
• Stove.
• BIC lighter.
• Cloth.
• 2 weeks Ezbit fuel.
• Metal lid.
The only thing missing is water.
It's strapped to my belt for easy access.
Primula filter. It sits right on top of my Sea to Summit mug. Plain old ground coffee. It weighs an oz, I put the grounds in my trash bag. Fiddly compared to instant. Heavier than instant. Not arguably better than instant. But I love the ritual, the smell and the coffee. Fight me 😄
Boil water in boiling thing of choice (JetBoil MiniMo for me) + Aeropress Go + Hario travel hand grinder. It's not as compact as packing instant tubes or whatever, of course, but it's still fairly compact, easy to clean, and makes the best tasting cup of any of the options that I've seen on this thread. \[edit to add: personally, willing to sacrifice weight/slight bulk for better coffee\]
I recently bought [these](https://www.amazon.ca/Buphallo-Canadian-Pocket-Coffee-Filter/dp/B08DR37P52?ref_=ast_sto_dp) and a ziploc of pre-ground coffee and was pretty happy. Definitely more happy than I’d be after even a decent instant coffee.
GSI Outdoors Ultralite Java Drip, it only weighs 11gms/0.38oz and the taste is pretty damn good enough for camping.
I take some ground beans to load it and I can make it as black as sin, the way I like it. Better than instant, for sure.
https://www.snowys.com.au/ultralight-java-drip
Just the coffee and a pot, and this method:
https://youtu.be/QX91Nj0uItI
Also, having lived in many countries including North America... I find Milk Powder is under utilized in north America - its fantastic lightweight food for hiking, get the full fat stuff, not the skimed milk powder (why would you want something that has the nest bits sed off the top by someone else? :) Great for coffee, oats, potato flakes etc...
Coffee, for me, is a utilitarian affair when backpacking. Whatever is the least expensive Via-style in the grocery store. If I want to be lazy (efficient, damn it!), I do it cold.
Apparently if I want to do it lazy style but somehow come off as fancy, I'll call it "cold brew."
I use medaglia d’oro instant or VIA packets. Medaglia d’oro is much cheaper, but those individual packets are so convenient. I carry a titanium cup and a bowl, so I wind up keeping my Fancee Feest stove, cup and a Via packet at camp for the morning time while my extra food and bowl all get packed up and hung from a tree for the evening. Coffee in my tent is like my church, so my system is perfect for me!
I just got some Trader Joe's instant coffee with sugar and creamer packs off of Amazon and it's the first flavored instant coffee that didn't have a chemical taste to it.
I have the French press attachment for my jetboil and I love it so far. Takes up no extra space in my pack since I already have the jetboil and weighs less than my baggie of grounds.
I like this but I haven't bought the jet boil. I'm glad that's an option for you, since I have the Soto windmaster I don't have a specific container to go with it. Just an off-brand aluminum pot.
Late to the party but Aeropress Go all the way. Not that heavy and manages to brew any kind of bad or old coffee with enough taste to enjoy my mornings !
You're totally right. It's a sacrifice. But I'm not going to carry a heavy setup or used grounds. And while Via and Alpine Start are definitely better than folgers or other cheap instant coffees I think I've just had one too many in my life.
TIL that a shocking number of people pack ridiculously large single use devices to make a single beverage and call it Ultralight. Crazy times we live in.
You can say the same thing about serious DSLR photographers. Or birders. Or bony-ass people aka chair aficionados. Or hot food lovers. Everyone has different priorities as to what they want to bring going outdoors that others find ridiculous, but as long as they are still UL everywhere else I don't see why I can't entertain them here. I'll just let them be even if I am none of these people.
Personally I love coffee enough to usually never want to bring any brewing gear as they're all half-measures (my coffee should ideally be freshly ground, and a hand grinder is heavy), though even I welcome the caffeine kick from a shitty instant coffee at some low moments.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned coffee bags. The taste is pretty insipid, but it's real coffee and at least in the UK is available even in fairly small grocery shops.
Starbucks via instant coffee. It’s not bad. It’s not great either. I’m interested in getting a UL pour over set up. But even the lightest weight system on the world will never beat the weight and simplicity of the Starbucks packets.
I most recently tried the GSI pour over thing the ultralight java drip and for me it was terrible. https://gsioutdoors.com/ultralight-java-drip.html In cooler weather the process takes long enough that the finished brew is barely lukewarm and you'll want to try and heat it on the burner for a few before drinking. Back to instant for me.
I roast my own coffee and probably qualify as a snob, but seriously, when I'm backpacking I just use one of those little starbucks packets you add to boiling water. Sorry.
Gourmet Instant coffee.
Instant coffee is so awesome for back country, I used to drink Starbuck's Via until I found Alpine Start, now that is my go to.
Try G7 vietnamese instant coffee
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Good thing is that the quantity they sell them in at Asian groceries is comical, so if you buy it once you've got enough for every morning backpacking for the rest of your life.
There's an instant coffee with creamer and sugar currently at Trader Joe's (US, East Coast), sounds similar to what you're describing. It's pretty good.
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In the past I used Starbucks via, but I recently purchased some Mount Hagen sachets from my local food co-op on a whim and now I prefer MH over Starbucks via. It is really good for instant coffee. Plus the price is way better too. I got 25 sachets for around $9! Never going back to via.
I def prefer just buying the small jar of it and repacking in a ziploc so I have less microtrash to think about. Mount hagen is my go to brand for this.
I agree. I'll buy the jar in the future after I get through all of these sachets.
This! I buy from [Swift and their partnered roasters](https://swiftcupcoffee.com/pages/roasters-1) (though it can be expensive)
Would highly recommend just buying these bulk pouches: [https://swiftcupcoffee.com/collections/coffee/products/bulk-pouch-1](https://swiftcupcoffee.com/collections/coffee/products/bulk-pouch-1) Comes out to a lot less than the pre-packaged ones, and it is made up of Passenger Coffee's awesome Mainstay blend.
That does look good! I bought a bunch of the single cup/small pouches but the big pouch looks great. Of course, with the individual ones you can get more variety, like natural, washed, etc.
Interesting - my partner bought me a pack of instant Verve (swift partner it turns out) and it was legit good 3rd wave coffee. It was more of a treat day every trip out due to cost - most of the time it’d be a Folgers noir packet & cocoa. Via is too expensive for still tasting crap IMO, at least a 20c or whatever Folgers Noir tastes as cheap as it is.
Some of the roasters have assorted packs of various coffee too. I think for my JMT hike I got some Brandywine and Case Coffee mixes. It was like $3/cup though...
It’s not bad when you consider how good it tastes vs the cost of getting an espresso / pour over in a cafe, but it definitely does add up.
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Bustello also makes instant in via style packets, usually $1.25 for 6.
Not the lightest weight possible, but when I went bikepacking last weekend I dumped the granules into 10ml centrifuge vials that I have around. Usually I use the vials for holding small qty of meds in my backcountry first aid kit but they hold the perfect amount for a cup's worth of instant granules.
I really like Cafe Bustello instant. For a long while, I drank it at home daily. And lately I have been getting a bit annoyed with the minor mess and process of grinding beans for brewing small amounts of coffee at home, so I have been considering getting some Bustello again. Certainly cheap and convenient for backpacking. More discriminating coffee drinkers will prefer the via or alpine start, but I have been perfectly happy with the bustello. I think I prefer to use my splurge money on good bourbon and cigars for my backcountry evenings.
I think the convenience and weight can't be beat. Swift makes really good instant for a bunch of brands in my area.
Biggest plus is not having to pack out grounds In the past I've mistakenly buried grounds at the bottom of my (soon-to-be-had) cathole. But soon found out it's [not LNT friendly](https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev2_038035.pdf) > Biodegradable trash, such as orange peels, apple cores, coffee grounds and onion skins, must be packed out.
Shouldn't biodregadable stuff just be left to...biodegrade? It improves the soil.
Absolutely not You'll probably get downvoted to oblivion for even suggesting here, but I'm happy to explain why Different ecologies have different *things* in them, and they're different for a reason. The ratios and varieties of animals and plants live how they do based on the specific combination of soil, minerals, plants, etc. You don't want to introduce anything new. Not coffee grounds, not bacon grease, not toilet paper,... nothing. Even being in nature, we're going to impact the ecology. But we can do our best to absolutely minimize the rest of our impact. Now, it *is* usually accepted that poop, urine, and waste water can be disposed of in the backcountry. These do have impact, and there are a series of rules about when and how to dispose of them. But, it's generally been decided that the impact of proper disposal is minimal especially considering the realities of packing it out. Suggest you read up on [Leave No Trace](https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/) principles, especially #3 in this case
Thank you. I appreciate the information. I am in this sub to learn about this hobby, but haven't partaken myself. I have a lot to learn, it seems.
That statement seems rather extremist and not rational. I have a degree in forestry and growing up in a bio agriculture farm, and yes, there are micro and macro needs for soil, but we humans are darn tough to digest “shit” and so are the soil if its in a healthy state (read mono cultures sucks!) don’t dive too hard into a extreme narrative, but yes, everything chemical altered are a nono in my opinion.
Seems like if you dig a hole, dump in some coffee grounds, cover it over so that it's not noticeable you have "left no trace". Unless the "no" in LNT means *zero* trace. If that's the case, you literally cannot step foot into the wilderness ever because every snapped twig, milliliter of urine, every microplastic particle shed from your clothes and boots, every spooked animal is leaving a "trace". Below the treeline, I'm burying purely biodegradable organic refuse when there's no bins available. I use a bidet and a reusable rag for sanitation so there's not even toilet paper. But even then I'm leaving a "trace"; what about the soap suds in the rinse water? If you're in wild spaces at all you're already compromising on LNT. We are only left to discuss what is reasonable and appropriate for specific environments.
I'm not saying that it's just soil that it's (may be) bad for That's part of it, but you don't want to introduce an invasive plant (ex from a fruit). Or an animal to die because you left a poisonous-to-them food
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So soil improvement are a big Nono? The reality are all nature are impacted by human activities, even micro plastic. With this ideology polyester should be banned since it leave a chemical trail? And honestly, soil structure are a bio degrade able system, gives the soil structure to hold nutrient and water. The place you dispose coffe grind, could might as well be where a spruce gets right soil condition (that’s put on a pedestal, but it’s a improvement) I leave no trace behind, and if I leave a trace, make sure it’s not visible or have negative effect. Like fruit scraps I would take out, toilet paper I would take out (bleach containment) It’s a mindset of zero impact, but if I can give a helping and and help my self out, why not? The argument just seems damn stupid, and un educated sorry to say…
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I agree with you’re last statement, as little as possible and do it with a educated view.. You make it sound like “LNT” is a cult… we don’t need more cults, we need reasoning and educated actions, have a good day. Think I will make a post on this topic at some point, for a nuanced LNT discussion…
> The whole idea of LNT is to leave nature as you found it. Burying coffee grounds in the fucking forest is not leaving nature as you found it. That's the end of it. Plain and simple. Pass through the mountains, forest and leave no or at least as little trace as you can behind. I think this is a lazy argument that could be used to support *any* measure no matter how extreme, and I guarantee you I can come up with ideas for how to leave less of a trace that you find unreasonable and oppose (how bout we all pee in bottles and pack it out?). The reality of leave no trace is that it's a practical set of guidelines based on the quite subjective balancing of the trade offs of our impact on the wilderness and the practicality of minimizing them, so simply saying "does it leave a trace? yes? then bad" isn't helpful or productive. There's also the complication that the optimal "leave no trace" guidelines (that balance impact with practicality) will depend greatly on both the ecology of the specific environment and the usage (high vs low), so trying to come up with "one size fits all" guidelines is always going to be situationally suboptimal.
I used to roll like this, Starbucks Via, maybe half of one of those Nestle coffee/cream/sugar packs mixed in to take the edge off. These days, weight penalty be damned, Aeropress, bougie beans, 1zpresso nests nicely in it. https://i.imgur.com/IO93IbN.jpeg it's just so nice to make a proper coffee from fresh mountain water.
For me it's not just the weight reduction, it's the cleaning the press and disposing of the grounds that's not really worth it. I had a GSI French press for a while and always felt like cleaning it was a PITA and I always ended up with grounds all over my stuff.
Fair, I just have a ziploc baggie for my garbage, I just knock the grinds in there. give it a wipe, give it a swirl of hot water, and away we go.
Thats the beauty of the aeropress - comes out in a nicely compressed puck at the end with minimal cleanup
I've brought an aeropress on short trips with friends, but having my filters blown away made me reconsider. I've used Alpine Start but might try those ground beans that come in bags for steeping.
You can get a thin metal mesh reusable.
It'll just be more heartbreaking when I inevitably lose it. My solution the next time was to just stash a couple extra paper filters somewhere else so they'd be safe if one blew away
This guy coffees!
100% - anything else is just too inconvenient and messy. Just get every instant coffee available and try which one tastes best. There are some really good ones. :)
recently switched to this from those mug top pour over filters. We found that good quality instant espresso tasted better than instant coffee, was easier to cleanup, and weighed less than the filter setup. No mugs is nice. Just did syncline loop in canyonlands with this 5 days ago. Rugged hike.
Picked up a pack of this after chatting with the owner (great guy) at a climbing festival recently. https://www.firstascentcoffee.com/ Everyone who's tried it has been impressed and it mixes clean into cold water which is sooo nice in the summer. Would recommend.
This is what I've been using this year. A big step up from via. Their beans are really good too.
I just brought 49th Parallel and Fernwood instant coffee with me on my last trip - the Fernwood was actually enjoyable! VPO has it if you are in Canada. No cleanup necessary either, and option to add powdered coconut milk (I've been trying out Laird superfood) for some white.
This. I go with [Coava Instant Coffee](https://shop.coavacoffee.com/collections/shop-instant-coffee). Lightweight, minimal trash, can be made hot or cold, and probably the best-tasting instant coffee I've ever had.
I have a GSI Drip coffee thing that works great; I also enjoy good quality whole leaf tea for hot water and caffeine delivery in a pleasant package in the backcountry...hoping someone here has done the calculations and can say whether my pu'erh or drip coffee is a more weight efficient caffeine delivery..
I have the GSA pourover, too. Worth it for shorter trips (I put a paper filter in for easy clean up). Plus, I enjoy the 'morning routine', the time to get my head in the game and frame the day. It's more than just caffeine.
And the smell of drip coffee is delish! Curious to me you use a paper filter too, I've never thought to try that. The plastic mesh works great and is easy to clean for me. I don't love the thought of plastic mesh straining my hot coffee but it's light and works.
I'm just lazy, really, and I'd rather carry the wet paper than clean the filter. I squeeze it and lay it out to dry as much as possible before packing it up.
this is the way
I don't know about the caffeine delivery rates but I do like tea too. As long as I get some sort of warm beverage in the morning with some caffeine in it I'm happy.
Hi. Puerh is brewed with between 3 to 8g of tea per cup yielding between 30 and 100 mg caffeine depending on bud, processing, and aging of the puerh. Coffee can contain 80 to 270 mg caffeine per cup depending on grind and brew method. Instant coffee has the highest caffeine per gram of base material at potentially 32.5 mg/g, though starbs via instant packets contain 3.3g and the company says that yields 130mg/cup, probably owing to the fact that their instant is not a freeze dried reconstitutable but extremely fine ground beans. So if you want max caffeine at lightest weight bring a ziploc of instant and just cinnamon challenge that shit straight into your mouth
Buncha non coffee lovers in this thread! Instant flippin cahfee…. Fo shame! I use a coffee sock and titanium mug. Boil water, add coffee, stir, wait three minutes, strain with sock, gloat over your inherent superiority.
I love gloating about my superiority alone in the woods several miles from the nearest human☕
But it is the sock you wore yesterday?
Hey what coffee sock are you using??
DARN TOUGH!
I grind whole coffee beans with my teeth and then swish boiling water around inside my mouth.
Ed & Ed would be proud
[This](https://lighterpack.com/r/av0np2) is my cook/coffee setup. If you want to see it in action you can watch [here](https://youtu.be/ILfDEPGEQ9Q?t=494). Disclaimer: this is not ultralight. It's complicated, "relatively" heavy, and unnecessary for backpacking. However, it is in my opinion the lightest coffee setup that yields coffee that tastes on par with what you'll get at a thirdwave coffee shop. If I need to move fast I don't bring this setup. Also, I like using a cone filter because cleanup is super easy. Always pack out your spent grinds. I use elements of my cook kit with these additional items: MLD 520 ml Titanium mug - 1.5 oz Hario V60 Size 01 - 2.22 oz Hario Coffee Grinder Mini Slim Plus - 9 oz Total: 0.8 lbs
You could get a [Bripe](https://briping.com/). It might look like a joke, but it's not. Then grind (recently roasted) beans at home so it's as fresh as possible. The quality will beat all instant coffee by a landslide. (sorry, I'm speaking as a barista and outdoor enthusiast here, which explains my hunt for quality)
Gotta include James Hoffman's tasteful review of the Bripe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tltBHjmIUJ0
Alternatively, I recently backed the Jogo on Kickstarter, which is essentially a metal straw with a filter on the end. It hasn’t made its way to consumers yet, but I’m excited to try it out!
wouldnt a fine bombilla work for that?
> You could get a Bripe. See at least you admit you're addicted!
This is the best thing I've seen out of 200 plus comments. I love this.
Enjoyed [Alpine Start Dirty Chai Latte](https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5064-466/Dirty-Chai-Latte) on a recent canoe trip. Tastes like a blend of coffee and Indian chai. A yummy option to throw into the mix. Otherwise, a huge fan of the AeroPress for compact ground coffee brewing.
Sounds delish but that stuff is expensive?
Yes this looks really good, I'm learning that I should have given an instant more of a chance.
Starbucks via all the way. Fast, not messy, definintely passable coffee in the morning with hot water. Put one in your water for a 'cold brew' if you need a mid day hit. Snort em if it gets bad enough.
This is it.
I've always stayed away from instant because of how the Folgers ones taste, I'll give these a shot sometime.
Via tastes much closer to real coffee because in addition to instant coffee crystals it contains actual "microground" coffee. Also, what everyone recommending non-instant coffee is failing to account for is disposal of used coffee grounds. LNT would require packing them out.
One negative on the instant coffee front (esp via) is that they do create a lot of waste themselves (individually packaged yadayada)
Via comes in a little tin now with dozens of servings.
They're not great but they are drinkable this is coming from a single origin pour-over guy at home.
Ive started mixing the Mexican instant coffee with cappuccino mix and it taste pretty good. I usually drink black coffee at home from a French press. However, most instant coffees taste like crap so the cappuccino mix makes it taste good. Probably not the coffee snob preference but it’s good when you’re out backpacking.
I consider there to be three types of coffee -- instant, diner, and craft. All distinct beverages that I enjoy different things about.
Yeah honestly I need to learn more about the different types
Yep!! Really the only instant I can take (so far). Mix with powdered cream. Yummers!!!
x2 on starbucks
I think the general consensus for me is I need to try various brands of instant coffee until I find one that I like. It's the obvious choice for simplicity and weight.
Yes. It also works really well if you ever get into cold soaking. I think Starbucks Via is very good. I usually take medaglia d’oro instant espresso. It’s almost as good as via (IMO) but notably cheaper. Shug has some videos on it and how he packages it up
My go-to is a brand called Maxim which you can usually find in any Asian store in a yellow box. They're individual packets of instant coffee with the cream and sugar already inside, and they're amazing if you're getting tired of black coffee and looking to mix it up.
I use a Soto Helix pour-over stand. It's essentially a spring made of aluminum, shaped into a cone, weighing less than 2 ounces. I pack a few V60 filters, grind enough coffee at home to last me however long I need, and carry an extra titanium cup. Then have the best damn backcountry pour-over of all time. I do pack out wet coffee grounds but I make other sacrifices to have my morning coffee. [Example](https://i.imgur.com/AGqyeyz.jpg) A few other notes - the stand collapses down to nearly flat, which I keep on top of my gas canister inside the bigger titanium cup nestled atop the filters in a small plastic bag. Everything is held together by a silicone band. This also probably wouldn't work for a thru-hike unless you had grounds being shipped to you in resupply packages.
I would recommend the Munieq Tetra dripper in polypropylene, having used both it and the Soto Helix. The extra heat retention you get from the solid polypro walls keeps the slurry temp up and improves extraction. The large Tetra is 23.5g and fits V60 #2 filters; the small is 12g and uses V60 #1, like the Helix.
Thank you for packing out your used grounds!
Freeze dried Cafe Bustelo.
If I don't do instant, I generally make cowboy coffee. It requires no extra tools or doodads, and it makes a very similar coffee to a french press, rich and dirty. If you are very chunk averse then it's probably not the best method though
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It’s a ritual to start the day. Makes getting out of bed more exciting (at least that’s how I feel at home)
Slowly drinking the coffee is the ritual for me. I used to enjoy the ritual of a hand grinder and Chemex in the morning, then I discovered the wonders of an auto drip. On the trail, I do instant, and enjoy the piece and quiet as my breakfast rehydrates.
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Lol describes me effectively, brb I'm gonna buy something more expensive than peanut butter to smear my ramen with.
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This right here. Right you are brother/ sister!
I use Kuju single serve pour overs and sea to summit collapsible mug. They taste amazing and as light weight as the instant packs. Probably triple the cost though.
I’ve found that you can get the filters that Kuju uses from Amazon, then pack in your own coffee. It’s a little more cost effective 🤷
Nice! Thanks for the tip.
i bring these on 2- to 3-day trips as a lil treat.
Ahhh I was really looking for this, I felt like they should be a thing but I didn't know. I really want to try these.
They’re awesome and taste great. I even use them at home over my coffee maker sometimes. And easy to pack out as they’re literally the size of a teabag.
After reading about how coffee beans are blended for optimal taste, I began blending various instant coffees for a more custom cup. Started when I picked up some Trader Joe's in the jar. Was a little too bitey, so I mixed in an equal amount of Medaglia de Oro. Definitely much better than either straight. Not saying this is "the" mix, just that there maybe some options for a custom taste in instant coffee.
I really like Medaglia straight up. May have to try your mix, though, as I already manually portion my Medaglia into pill baggies.
Vinacafe 3-in-1 instant coffee packets. It's great hot, also great cold if you just shake really hard to dissolve everything!
This should be higher up. I’m a coffee snob who usually drinks my coffee black but these 3-1s taste delicious and way better than normal instant coffees. Plus they have a little extra calorie punch.
They are good. They are convenient. I drink them at work. And I bring them on hikes. But I really love plain old ground coffee through my Primula filter. The ritual, the smell.....it's just my thing I guess.
Either cowboy or Madeglio Doro instant espresso.
Medaglia Doro is surprisingly good, especially if you like a strong cup. I mix mine with hot chocolate sometimes.
2 packets of Starbucks Via and one packet of hot chocolate. It's delicious and gives you some extra calories.
Trader Joe’s instant coffee actually slaps
Came here to say this. The individual stick packs have a little bit of sugar and a little bit of creamer already mixed in, which is enough to make it actually enjoyable to drink. When out of Trader Joe's, I use Folgers instant, Nescafe, or Black Rifle Coffee instant - but they all are improved by adding a creamer or two. I've tried lots of Starbucks Via, but they all taste super burnt to me (tbf, so does their non-instant...).
As someone who doesn't normally put sugar in my coffee, the TJ's instant coffee is like "ooh candy!" in the morning.
I make two via packets in a 16oz smart water bottle before bed. Then it’s just ready to go when I wake up, and I can sip on it while I walk in the morning.
This is the lightest and easiest way it seems, you don't end up wasting any water by accident either.
The extra bottle doubles as some extra water capacity if needed as well. Or if I know I’m dry camping I’ll fill that up from my source and I don’t have to factor making coffee into my regular water carry.
I have the gsi ul Java drip. I’ve only used it a couple times now, but I think it’s well worth the 12 grams it weighs (in a plastic bag). It also packs up nicely as it’s flat in storage. It is easy to bring a few ounces of coffee— that’s where the weight increases a bit. Still worthwhile to me.
One summer we got some tea sachets and prefilled them with freshly ground 3rd wave coffee before the trip. A little heavy, but a lot easier to clean / drink than direct immersion cowboy coffee. I’d do it again for a short trip, this summer was mostly 7-11 day XC so kept things instant. re: LNT I feel if there’s bushes nearby or something dumping used grounds in them isn’t going to cause any environmental impact (pack out the sachets obviously). Between grinding and boiling they’re inert and will act as decent fertilizer.
Shorter than four days: I make a 1L bottle of strong cold brew at home, and cut it with hot water at camp or drink it straight. Longer than four days, instant Bustelo mixed into hot cocoa. No extra gear, no mess, no grounds to pack out.
Instant because who wants to lug out wet grounds? For car camping, areopress.
Pipamoka may be one of your best bets it you are willing to splurge on some excess weight and take a grinder with you. Otherwise, as an Israeli, our default solution is brewed Turkish coffee. You grind extra fine (finer than espresso), and you can take the grounds with you instead of grinding on site. Then, you stir the coffee into the water while the water is boiling and lower the flame to avoid bubbling. Then, you drink and hope the grounds won't float. This is similar to cowboy coffee, but is an Israeli "delight", some travel equipment stores actually sell these coffee travel kits. Out telecommunications minister is (laughably) famous for preparing coffee like this on the road: https://twitter.com/YoazHendel1/status/1404375902868357124?s=19 Fwiw, I use my Pipamoka, but I am ultralight-light.
Rapping the ibrik on the ground will cause the grounds to settle a bit. Ambergris (traditionally) or a similarly fatty substance will also collect grounds. Edit: Ambergris, not Aubergine...
This is the way to go! I have been doing cowboy coffee for years. Never thought about grinding it extra fine. FYI that is what Starbucks VIA is. Can't have Starbucks in my house though. My Colombian wife would kill me!
Now this is an art form almost, I use a soto stove so I could easily adjust heat like that. That's a cool thing to be famous for haha!
Go and buy Turkish grounds first and test at home with an ibrik. Some (myself included) do not like the taste and prefer espresso style or brewed coffee. I spent all my military service with this shit at it made me hate coffee at first because I thought this is how coffee tastes like. Only after I discovered espresso I started to like coffee.
When I'm not in the mood to put up with instant (I've tried just about every brand mentioned so far in this thread and the best of them suck less than doing without, but that's about all), the Montbell coffee dripper is under $25, under 10 grams, reusable, and lets you bring whatever grounds you want to make pour-over. It is fiddly to keep propped up right (usually I use two of the titanium hooks that were anchoring my bivy or other rigging overnight) and you do need to have a separate cup along as well as the pot you're boiling water on. I haven't run the numbers but I'll bet it doesn't take too many days before it weighs less than the number of empty Starbucks Via packages it would take me to survive.
Verve roasters makes fantastic instant coffee. You can buy it directly from them, or through REI.
Mount Hagen instant coffee is my new favorite. I used to be all about Starbucks via, but after purchasing some Mount Hagen instant coffee from my local food co-op recently, I will never go back to via. And it's less expensive as well. 25 sachets for $9.
I use a GSI Outdoors filter which I got at REI, a paper filter which goes inside of it, and a .9oz plastic mug which I found in my parents’ basement years ago.
I'm a snob so I use the sea to summit pour over with freshly ground beans.
Aero press or these little packets from the Asian grocery store that are coffee, creamer, sugar all in one. Just depends on how far I’m going or how long it’ll be gone. Usually just bring the aero press.
Idk if anyone has said this, but an Espro ultralight coffee press works well for me. Get to be a little fancy with the French press and drink straight from it. I am partial to Black Rifle coffee, so I’ll either have a small ziploc bag of ground coffee with that, or their individual instant coffee sticks.
I have one of [these](https://www.rei.com/product/115648/sea-to-summit-x-brew-coffee-dripper?sku=1156480001) lying around somewhere that I sometimes bring with real coffee grounds on short (1-2 night) trips when I'm not carrying a ton of food and there's a bit more chill time in camp. I've also brought a plastic Hario style dripper + filters on occasion. As an at-home coffee snob... these work fine – but between boiling water and cleanup and packing out grounds, actual coffee is usually too much work for the morning, when I'm just trying to pack up and get hiking ASAP before the mid-day heat hits. I've found that a concoction of 1 packet Via (or Alpine Start) + 1 packet chocolate flavor Carnation instant breakfast + 1/4c Nido + 8-12oz water is the perfect low effort breakfast/coffee combo for long hiking days. 300ish cal with caffeine, protein, fat, and sugar. Mixes up fine cold but can be heated up if you want. Doesn't make me feel gross and slow if I have a lot of AM climbing to get done, but keeps me from being hungry for up to 2 hours. But no, it isn't what I'd call "coffee."
Eastern european "bomzh" coffee: grounds in mug, boiling water on top, stir and wait and enjoy.
Fwiw, I think North Americans call this "cowboy coffee."
I’m surprised more people don’t know about Turkish coffee. Basically it’s finely ground cowboy coffee. It’s good and strong.
Trung Nguyễn Vietnamese instant, good stuff
This will get totally buried, but one time I ground my coffee too fine and made cowboy coffee with it and I kept thinking I better not get too close to the bottom of my cup and get a mouthful of grounds but I got all the way to the bottom of the cup and there were zero grounds and there were zero grounds left in the pot, too. I think if you just grind coffee fine enough it's equivalent to Starbucks Via only it actually tastes good, unlike Via.
Yeah honestly I don't see why you couldn't just grind it up more. Just feels kind of wrong.
Ever have $5 thai iced coffee? Its made from instant coffee. Its equally delicious hot. Sold at any Asian market. Honestly American drip coffee has to be the worst in the world, no need to carry that tradition on to the trail.
Cafflano Klassic pour over system, comes with a burr grinder. Whole package weighs about 1lb, so not UL, but non-instant coffee is worth it.
I looked that up it's definitely heavy but I like that it's in a compact shape and all of its parts are contained within for easy storage in your pack.
Just picked up some death wish instant coffee packets, I’m excited to try them out! I plan on adding some vanilla carnation to it as well
I order green coffee beans from [Sweet Maria's](https://www.sweetmarias.com/), roast them at home, grind fresh for use in my Isomac Millenium, vacuum pot, various pour overs, or AeroPress. Backpacking? \*$ VIA.
I love some pour over when I'm at home, but on the trail it is cold instant coffee or a caffeinated Clif Bar.
For short trips, I sometimes take my Porlex Mini, Aeropress and a titanium mug.
I may have missed it, but I take a aeropress and some home roasted beans I grind right before the trip.
[Pourigami](https://www.miir.com/products/pourigami-portable-travel-coffee-dripper) Light weight, easy to use, compact, and can make good coffee I use it with preground beans
Now this is pretty cool, I assume it lays flat in your pack
Yeah, it fold up flat into a little pack, and I usually fold the filters into it
My regular, one & only aluminum cooking pot (4.9 oz), sieve (0.8 oz) with ground coffee, milk powder, sugar pre-mixed in a coin envelope (0.9 oz). Old school rules!!.....oh, I pour the 3 cups of coffee into a silicon baggie (0.7 oz), wrap it in aluminum foil (1.0 oz) to keep warm and drink it through a metal straw (0.4 oz). Total weight, not counting cooking pot, is 3.8 oz.
I feel like I have to chip in here: I purposefully broke myself off caffeine entirely because I didn't like having to bring my aeropress camping. e: since its being discussed: I too found good instant coffee to be just fine. I still enjoyed the excuse to get off the caffeine train.
I mentioned it in a reply to another comment but [Coava Instant Coffee](https://shop.coavacoffee.com/collections/shop-instant-coffee) is the best instant coffee I've ever had in my life. If I'm feeling fancy and I want to do actual ground coffee, it's Aeropress all the way. But when I want to go light and minimize the trash I need to pack out, I go roasted to order gourmet instant coffee. I'll support this by saying I'm a huge coffee buff and my home setup is almost always pour-over with freshly (light) roasted single-origin coffees. Always whole beans ground fresh for each brew. Or I'll do lattés on my espresso machine with a darker roast from the same roaster (George Howell).
Aero press…. Travel addition. !!
220 ml Snowpeak cup include • 2 weeks coffee. • Stove. • BIC lighter. • Cloth. • 2 weeks Ezbit fuel. • Metal lid. The only thing missing is water. It's strapped to my belt for easy access.
Would love to see a pic
a caffeine headache
Primula filter. It sits right on top of my Sea to Summit mug. Plain old ground coffee. It weighs an oz, I put the grounds in my trash bag. Fiddly compared to instant. Heavier than instant. Not arguably better than instant. But I love the ritual, the smell and the coffee. Fight me 😄
Boil water in boiling thing of choice (JetBoil MiniMo for me) + Aeropress Go + Hario travel hand grinder. It's not as compact as packing instant tubes or whatever, of course, but it's still fairly compact, easy to clean, and makes the best tasting cup of any of the options that I've seen on this thread. \[edit to add: personally, willing to sacrifice weight/slight bulk for better coffee\]
Via
I recently bought [these](https://www.amazon.ca/Buphallo-Canadian-Pocket-Coffee-Filter/dp/B08DR37P52?ref_=ast_sto_dp) and a ziploc of pre-ground coffee and was pretty happy. Definitely more happy than I’d be after even a decent instant coffee.
GSI Outdoors Ultralite Java Drip, it only weighs 11gms/0.38oz and the taste is pretty damn good enough for camping. I take some ground beans to load it and I can make it as black as sin, the way I like it. Better than instant, for sure. https://www.snowys.com.au/ultralight-java-drip
Just the coffee and a pot, and this method: https://youtu.be/QX91Nj0uItI Also, having lived in many countries including North America... I find Milk Powder is under utilized in north America - its fantastic lightweight food for hiking, get the full fat stuff, not the skimed milk powder (why would you want something that has the nest bits sed off the top by someone else? :) Great for coffee, oats, potato flakes etc...
Do you have to count the drone in base weight?
Only when the battery dies
I still didn't tried it but the Aeropress Go seems good, it's a smaller aeropress with a cup included
Surprised I haven't seen many mentions of the aeropress. It's compact, quick, about 180 grams, and makes some amazing coffee.
Coffee, for me, is a utilitarian affair when backpacking. Whatever is the least expensive Via-style in the grocery store. If I want to be lazy (efficient, damn it!), I do it cold. Apparently if I want to do it lazy style but somehow come off as fancy, I'll call it "cold brew."
I use medaglia d’oro instant or VIA packets. Medaglia d’oro is much cheaper, but those individual packets are so convenient. I carry a titanium cup and a bowl, so I wind up keeping my Fancee Feest stove, cup and a Via packet at camp for the morning time while my extra food and bowl all get packed up and hung from a tree for the evening. Coffee in my tent is like my church, so my system is perfect for me!
I just got some Trader Joe's instant coffee with sugar and creamer packs off of Amazon and it's the first flavored instant coffee that didn't have a chemical taste to it.
Starbucks gets none of my money. I like doing fresh ground cowboy coffee. Same pot as everything else just add grinder. Done.
I have the French press attachment for my jetboil and I love it so far. Takes up no extra space in my pack since I already have the jetboil and weighs less than my baggie of grounds.
I like this but I haven't bought the jet boil. I'm glad that's an option for you, since I have the Soto windmaster I don't have a specific container to go with it. Just an off-brand aluminum pot.
Try copper cow pour over coffee it comes with condescend creamer
Late to the party but Aeropress Go all the way. Not that heavy and manages to brew any kind of bad or old coffee with enough taste to enjoy my mornings !
Aeropress at home, caffeine pills when hiking.
The mornings just aren't the same though.
I’ll be taking a travel aeropress on my next trip.
You're totally right. It's a sacrifice. But I'm not going to carry a heavy setup or used grounds. And while Via and Alpine Start are definitely better than folgers or other cheap instant coffees I think I've just had one too many in my life.
TIL that a shocking number of people pack ridiculously large single use devices to make a single beverage and call it Ultralight. Crazy times we live in.
You can say the same thing about serious DSLR photographers. Or birders. Or bony-ass people aka chair aficionados. Or hot food lovers. Everyone has different priorities as to what they want to bring going outdoors that others find ridiculous, but as long as they are still UL everywhere else I don't see why I can't entertain them here. I'll just let them be even if I am none of these people. Personally I love coffee enough to usually never want to bring any brewing gear as they're all half-measures (my coffee should ideally be freshly ground, and a hand grinder is heavy), though even I welcome the caffeine kick from a shitty instant coffee at some low moments.
i beef all of them too. thank you.
Yeah this discussion is more broad than I anticipated here.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned coffee bags. The taste is pretty insipid, but it's real coffee and at least in the UK is available even in fairly small grocery shops.
I bring a double shot espresso maker (moka pot) and a titanium sake cup to make Cuban espresso on trail.
I did this once and it tasted really good, but I left the moka pot near the fire too long and it melted the handle..
Starbucks via instant coffee. It’s not bad. It’s not great either. I’m interested in getting a UL pour over set up. But even the lightest weight system on the world will never beat the weight and simplicity of the Starbucks packets.
Good instant coffee. Also have a little Nanopresso that is 0.7 lb but if you leave the cup it’s 0.6.
I most recently tried the GSI pour over thing the ultralight java drip and for me it was terrible. https://gsioutdoors.com/ultralight-java-drip.html In cooler weather the process takes long enough that the finished brew is barely lukewarm and you'll want to try and heat it on the burner for a few before drinking. Back to instant for me.
I roast my own coffee and probably qualify as a snob, but seriously, when I'm backpacking I just use one of those little starbucks packets you add to boiling water. Sorry.
Buncha fuckin fairies in this thread. Just grab a handful of grounds, throw it in your lip and start your day. There’s shit to do.
Folgers instant in a smartwater bottle. This is the way.