Outdoor Coffee: Common-Sense Lightweight Solutions

Choose wisely what you carry in the outdoors, because you can’t carry everything! A coffee kit needs to be lightweight and multipurpose if you are a backpacker or a wilderness tripper. We offer thoughts on a few coffee options and suggest solutions based on our experience and products.

-The lighter solutions?

If you are counting grams look at instant coffee or maybe coffee in single-serving bags. Of course, you still need a cup, or pot, to boil water and make coffee, but other than that it is the lightest coffee kit you could carry. Ideally, you can prepare in advance the number of doses you are going to use. That minimalist approach pays off dividends for the health of you back on the trail. Of course instant coffee does not have the greatest taste. But get over it! It is good enough on the trail and for your caffeine fix. And by the way, we find the taste of instant coffee has improved a lot in the past few years. Another lightweight brewing solution you could consider is cowboy coffee! It is easy to make and taste OK. Sure, it can be a bit messy and you may swallow a few coffee grounds, but if you don’t mind roughing it up a little, go for it. Reusable coffee filters and light drip coffee makers are reasonable choice for the backpackers, because, although not multiuse, they remain lightweight.

-The bulky solutions. 

No judgment here, if you like coffee made a certain way, we understand, and it may justify bringing heavier items. The old percolator may make sense especially for group travel since the added weight can be spread among more people. A percolator is not multiuse, besides boiling water, and is a bulky item. And so is a Moka Pot by the way! Percolators and Moka pots are sometimes offered as more compact units, which make them a bit easier to transport. Aeropress devices make fantastic coffee, and we are using one of those, but at home. Does it make sense to carry a bulky, plastic, single-purpose item in the wilderness? Maybe all those heavier options are OK if you will be making a base camp, or if you are carrying gear in a canoe, or other vehicles. But if the gear is carried on your back, forget them.

-The common-sense methods and tools. 

Two of the very best methods to brew coffee in the outdoors are the French Press method and the Pour-Over method, because they require very little equipment and produce great-tasting coffee.

The French Press method only requires a cup and a plunger. Cook’n’Escape offers that option in a multipurpose titanium cup, that will serve you adequately for many years. Just let the coffee brew for 4 minutes in hot water, press, and voilà!

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The Pour-Over method can easily be used in our multiuse “Polar Night caffeine kit,” super compact, and ultralight, it can cover your caffeine needs, whether you prefer coffee or tea, all the kit fits into a unique kettle with fast boil performance.

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Read more:

The benefits of caffeine in the wilderness