[MadCapLaughs]

What does everyone do for their caffeine fix while backpacking? I drink multiple shots of espresso everyday, so any thoughts about how I can cope are appreciated. I've been drinking a black tea/mate mix, but that is a poor substitute. How about this thing? The reviews on REI are mixed, at best.

[seawallrunner]

MadCapsLaugh, I have one of these. It's good. It works fine. ...and that's a GREAT price!... *BUT* It's heavy. I use it for car camping - no way I'd bring this, and the ground beans, with me to the high country. A friend used something else from REI that he really liked - and he loves his coffee strong. There's a GU/Powergel type product that REI sells - it's called Java Juice (it's not on REI's site at the moment). He bought it at the REI in Bellingham in July. He really likes it. It was also available at the REI in Seattle. All he did was dissolve the contents of the gel-like packet into a Nalgene full of hot water. And there was his coffee. No muss, no fuss. He said it tasted good hot or cold.

[captain jack]

I need fresh steaming hot coffee in the morning, its an integral part of my day. I actually prefer the burnt smokey flavor of dark roasted coffee, perc'd on an open campfire, to anything Starbucks or Tullys makes, but the perc is a little big and bulky for backpacking, and can really only make coffee, so its not very practical. I bring a makeshift lightweight drip system instead. This consists of my four cup drip coffee filter holder, my GCI fairshare mug, and filters with premeasured amouts of freshly ground coffee. I heat water on my Snow Peak Ti cookset and slowly pour it in the filter basket, which is wedged in place high in the Fairshare mug. Takes a couple of minutes like any good drip coffee maker does, but its worth it. I also bring those small cans of condensed milk, one per day. Current favorite coffee would have to be a 50/50 blend of Sumatran and Peruvian high elevation beans, the Sumatran is deep and rich, and the Peruvian has some nice brght fresh tones, the two make a nice complex blend.

[seawallrunner]

another alternative is the french-press mug available from Starbucks as well as other fine coffee-drinking establishments. throw beans in the mug, pour boiling hot water on top, let sit, french-press down, add cream, sugar - and enjoy.

[HurlGurl]

Every so often I will do a cold brewed nalgene of coffee concentrate. Mostly I use a expensive sexy labeled instant with a packet of cocoa.

[Malachai Constant]

We used to make billy coffee in Oz, you just add a hand full of grounds to boiling water in a billy spin it over your head to settle the grounds and pour off the java.

[fjoro]

Get some coffee. Add it to some boiling water.

Strain through some mosquito netting, or maybe a dirty t-shirt. Watch out for bugs.

[seawallrunner]

Found it on Amazon, no less.

[Malachai Constant]

Uually we just carry some Melita filters and a cone or you can use a paper cup with holes in the bottom , stick a filter in it and use it above a cup. I grind up some beans before we leave.

[captain jack]

[Quark]

I grind beans before I leave, and at camp I hotten the water, add the joe to the water, let it seep a bit, then pour it though a screen into my cup. I add powdered cream and brown sugar; sometimes a packet of cocoa instead if I have any. I tried the Java Juice that Seawall speaks of - but I didn't care for it. I only tried it once, though, so perhaps it's not a fair assessment. I did Folgers coffee bags one summer, and it's alright, but it's not strong enough, and had to use 3 bags; which wasn't a big deal, but by the end of summer I didn't care for this system any longer. The Mudd brand of coffee bags aren't too bad, but I only tried 'em one weekend. I have a freind who brings that International Foods powered coffee stuff, so I tried it. Convenient as hell, but god, after a few trips you get sick of that stuff. I don't do instant. After trying several ways to make coffee while backpacking, the recipe I ended up with is best for me, and I've been using it for the last 5 years or so. I'm extremely lazy, and even I don't find it to be a hassle. If you mean to satisfy your joe jones several times a day, then maybe just take some chocolate flavored joe beans.

[Slide Alder Slayer]

Java Juice is a bit of an acquired taste but I use it because it is very quick and easy and I do get the java rush.

[MadCapLaughs]

Thanks . . . interesting suggestions. I have to admit, I have my own espresso maker, but I've never brewed a cup of plain ole coffee in my life, so I'm a little unclear how some of your homemade systems work. It only takes gravity? You just pour into the filter and let gravity draw it into the cup/mug/whatever? All this talk of coffee has me excited for tomorrow morning. Seawallrunner: that press I linked to is only 5oz. At least that's what REI says. That's not too heavy for me to pack if it promises to provide a decent cup.

[captain jack]

Both percolator and drip coffee systems use only gravity to extract the coffee from the grounds. The percolator uses a much coarser chunkier grind with a steel perforated basket. The hot water is forced up through a tube and washes back down through the grounds. Percolators recycle the water constantly through the grinds, so if left boiling for too long, the resulting coffee can taste really nasty and bitter. Timing is key. Drip coffee systems uses a paper, or mesh screen filter system, so the beans can be ground finer without leaving pasty residue in the cup. A drip coffee system only passes the water through the filter once, so the coffee is much smoother than that made with the percolator. I dont mess around with dainty little pinky cups, I use a 24 ounce Lexan mug, with a handle that stays cool. I use 20 ounces of water, poured slowly over 6 ounces of finely ground coffee, to make a nice morning cup. Use boiling hot water, not warm, to extract the maximum flavor in one pass. Even on the warmest of summer backpacking trips in the mountains here, there is nothing better to chase away the chill of the early morning dew outside, than a nice toasty cuppa joe.

[MLHSN]

My wife grounds coffee in advance and then wraps it up tight in a coffee filter; she then staples it shut and throws it in the boiling water. It's kind of like a teabag, but she boils until she get's it as strong as she wants. No problems with grounds leaking or anything. Kind of easy and lightweight.