Coffee question.....

[baquah]

Thanks for all the replies so far, especially that vid.... pretty cool. I wish I were satisfied with coffee & cream/sugar... sadly I'm an espresso guy. If I want to bring my little stove top deal it should be fine on shorter trips, but honestly for what I'll get out of it a couple of Starbucks "double shots" will take up about the same amount of space and I won't have to worry about the powdered milk deal. If I ever get out for longer trips, the instant stuff will have to do along with powdered milk. I bought some of the instant and have been playing around with it @ home. Once I get the correct ratio of instant to PM I can just premix and toss it in a ziplock.

Here's a thought: powdered lactose.  It's readily available at the homebrew store, and give a nice creamy sweetness that powdered milk doesn't have.  Might be worth trying to get the instant stuff moving.

[lost27]

So FB, did you ever get this sorted out?  Seems like training your palate to like regular drip or french press coffee might be the way to go.

[Fat Bob]

Lost,

Still in the works... for the short term, and since most of my rides will be relatively near by (s24o's) I'm just going to pack a couple of "Double Shot" drinks. They're lighter than my stovetop espresso maker and are an easy solution.

I did try Medaglia D'Oro with powdered milk (worked, but not exactly what I had in mind... kinda like imitation crab). I also tried Starbucks Via with non-dairy creamer... blah. As a control I tried both brands w/out the milk substitute and think if I ever do end up on a long adventure I'll just deal with the Medaglia or VIA sans milk... after all, this is supposed to be "roughing it" right?

If you're a drip kind of coffee person there are many more/better options out there for you. I just really like Espresso with Milk as my morning fix. So that leads to my next question.... any former "latte" or "Cafe O'le" types make the jump to drip coffee or a french press? That might be my easiest solution, plus it so much cheaper than a latte!

[Pair0dimes]

I am not anywhere near as big a coffee aficionado as some of the guys on here, but I have been using a french press for years.  I find it serves up the perfect amount every time and as you said, is very convenient.

If you really want a change of pace, make a Thai coffee.  The use evaporated milk which is both a sweetener and whitener.  It doesn't take much either.  You could likely setup a small squeeze bottle to fit in your pack if you were biking.  That stuff is pretty good if you like lattes.

Ken

[Fat Bob]

Ken,

Good idea on the sweetend condensed milk for a Thai Coffee/Tea.... now you've got me jones'n for some Madam Mam's and a Thai Iced Tea.....mmmm fat

[AntonioGG]

I can appreciate coffee brewed in any manner as long as it's not stale/old.  To me a lot of the instants taste like stale coffee.  I drink it French press every morning but if I run out of beans I always have some Turkish coffee in the freezer, or a vaccum sealed bag of Lavazza espresso, or some jasmine green teal pearls, etc.  I just have to have caffeine of some form in the morning and I can go for a week to 10 days without coffee.  If I were bike packing I would take tea with me, loose leaf of some type.

[lost27]

FB, for a long time I couldn't really drink coffee but what I've found is that as I started drinking better quality beans I can drink it black and actually now prefer it that way.  Try for a week or two of drinking nothing but black quality coffee and see if your palate can adapt.

[baquah]

FB, for a long time I couldn't really drink coffee but what I've found is that as I started drinking better quality beans I can drink it black and actually now prefer it that way.  Try for a week or two of drinking nothing but black quality coffee and see if your palate can adapt.

You can say the same thing about Scotch Whisky, cheese, dolmathes, or rutabaga (just kidding about rutabaga, not the dolmathes).
You should always travel with a Turkish hand-mill: http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.zas.php

[lost27]

There is also this thing: http://www.wholelattelove.com/Handpresso/handpressowild.cfm if you really want espresso on the trail.

[CBaron]

There is also this thing: http://www.wholelattelove.com/Handpresso/handpressowild.cfm if you really want espresso on the trail.

Now that thing is cool!
CJB

[Matt]

I threw one of those back last year at the REI garage sale. The whole setupt was wicked heavy. Not to mention the unknown fixability of the thing.

Why not get one of the stovetop espresso pots. Since you can boil water in them they can serve double duty.

[Fat Bob]

Lost,

It's strange, I love espresso... I can drink double, triple, quattro shots alone, just something about drip coffee. I'll have to investigate better quality beans... when I first got into espresso, I bought a nice burr grinder and used to get my beans from a few roasting places in town (used to live in DC so plenty of good places... not so much in small town USA... course, that's what the interwebs are for right?). Ideally I'd love to have some good beans and a nice french press and be done with it, but I suspect that after 14 years of espresso, I'll always crave it. Any suggestions on some good beans? I need a new grinder too, my old burr grinder bit the dust and I've been too lazy to pick up a new one.

I have a stove top espresso maker, too small to boil any amount of water for rehydrating food or cooking noodles, too heavy to be practical. Double shot in a can will suffice for s24o adventures.

[Matt]

Lost,

It's strange, I love espresso... I can drink double, triple, quattro shots alone, just something about drip coffee. I'll have to investigate better quality beans... when I first got into espresso, I bought a nice burr grinder and used to get my beans from a few roasting places in town (used to live in DC so plenty of good places... not so much in small town USA... course, that's what the interwebs are for right?). Ideally I'd love to have some good beans and a nice french press and be done with it, but I suspect that after 14 years of espresso, I'll always crave it. Any suggestions on some good beans? I need a new grinder too, my old burr grinder bit the dust and I've been too lazy to pick up a new one.

I have a stove top espresso maker, too small to boil any amount of water for rehydrating food or cooking noodles, too heavy to be practical. Double shot in a can will suffice for s24o adventures.

Oh well. Just drink a beer in the AM, you'll survive.