It’s pretty much a golden age for camp coffee. We’ve used just about everything here at AJ gear/camping food HQ. Our latest find is Steeped, like a tea bag for coffee that tastes far better than expected. Kinda ideal for backpacking. But we also love Starbucks Via packets. Then again, Maxim instant is just as good. And cheaper. Equator coffee, in Northern California, is making instant coffee too now, and jeez, it’s like bringing a barista into camp.
Single-use pour-over packets are everywhere now, as well. Copper Cow makes great coffee. Kuju does too. Libra Pourtables are awesome. There are probably 15 other new brands we haven’t even tried yet. These setups are a bit on the finicky side, but you get a great brew. If you have your own backcountry friendly pour-over cone (we love the Sea to Summit X-Brew), you don’t need to deal with the extra trash of a paper single-use pour-over bag either.
Current favorite: French press with MSR’s superb Windburner cooking pot setup.
Wanna nerd out and bring an Aeropress into the backcountry? We’ve done that too. Even bringing a hand-cranked burr grinder that fits in the Aeropress’s syringe-like body. There’s nothing quite like fresh-ground coffee at camp, but there’s also nothing like just dumping a packet of instant in some boiling water and being done with it. Heck, we’re not above a little cowboy coffee too, in a pinch, like when forgetting the Aeropress but bringing ground coffee. If it worked for our grandparents, it’s good enough for us. Kinda.
Camp coffee can be a touchy subject when out there with friends. Some people will drink pretty much any hot, vaguely brown beverage in the morning, others will carefully weigh to the gram the amount of coffee they pack for a cafe-like pour-over tentside.
What about you? What’s your camp coffee jam?
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Pour over with coffee ground at home stored in simple plastic bag.
agreed. simple and easy!
The coffee rocket from GSI is a low profile, easy to pack unit that makes a solid brew.
Bingo!
Depends on the trip. Starbucks Via if I need to care about weight and space in my pack, French press if I don’t.
I’m a big fan of the Kuju pour-over packs. One of these days though I want to get an aeropress and try it out.
Aeropress are very, very nice. I’ve owned one for over 10 years now and genuinely love it for a convenient, espresso-strength, coffee. I usually dilute the shot to make an Americano. I would caution though that, in no way, is the Aeropress really a packable solution… maybe when compared to something like a Bialetti or that Atomic monstrosity mentioned in another response.
I usually only drink espresso (Cuban style, which is a cup of sugar with a little bit of espresso added). I’ve had good luck with the Nanopresso, where you add your hot water and hand pump for pressure. It works with either loose ground or Nespresso pods. I know the pods are pricier and hard to recycle, but they make packing and measuring the coffee so much easier.
Choice number two would be a Bialetti-style moka pot over a fire. The advantage of that is you can get a bigger one and make enough for the whole crew in one go.
French press for sure. Multiple cups are made at once with no packaging waste.
Aeropress, all day, everyday.
Yeah, nothing makes espresso out in the wilds as well as an aeropress.
I got a hand grinder too, but dang that things is slow, so we generally bring ground coffee on trips
+1 for Josh above. Via if I’m concerned about space and weight, my GSI hand grinder and French press if not.
Backpacking? the kind that’s coffee-based and piping hot and prevents headaches.
Car camping? Full-on Chemex brew with some fresh-ground quality beans – you brought a car, after all.
GSI ultralight pour over. Coffee is ground at home & brought in a ziplock. If it’s not a pack-in / pack-out type of trip, I’m disposing of the used grounds on top of my “waste” that goes in a cat hole. Not sure if it’s bad practice but I can’t imagine it’s worse than what my body is putting into the ground? Would love to know if that goes against LNT re: cat holes.
https://gsioutdoors.com/ultralight-java-drip.html
Voila instant coffee, in their new compostable packages. Windburner to heat the water.
They do great work.
Agreed, just finished a bikepacking tour with a few Voilas and while the packet I tried at home was slightly underwhelming, it was incredibly satisfying, easy, and lightweight in the woods. Not cheap, but totally worth it for a few days to a week long trip. I hate Via. I’d rather drink anything else, including chewing raw beans, as long as they weren’t Starbucks. I had some other inoffensive instant coffee to cover the extra days, and found it was best with a tablespoon of cocoa included as a mocha. That’s probably the best cheap workaround for me. Now I just need to figure out the best milk option. Nido was great in my muesli, but smelled off in my coffee.
Espresso made in a Bialetti machine on my camp stove. Just the smell of it makes my day!
+1 moka pots are great for camp coffee, too!
Trader Joe’s Instant Coffee. It comes with cream and sugar, is far cheaper than any other instant coffee, and tastes far better, too.
Usually I just pack a Via or Kuju (I prefer Kuju) but the odd time I will pack a hand grinder and the aeropress if I have the room.
We all drink tea…..w/honey !!
The Aeropress makes a great and idiot-proof, but the plastic body makes it a non-starter for me. I wish they did a glass model.
Plastic + boiling water = no bueno.
Aeropress usually or Alpine Start instant.. when it’s crunch time.
Medaglia D’Oro instant. Little weight, lots of flavor.
Costa Rican chorreador – a collapsable wooden frame with a washable cloth bag. The better the beans, the better the coffee but Trade Joe’s blend makes a very acceptable cup this way. Too heavy for backpacking but great for car camping.
Alpine Start makes a solid instant w/ coconut creamer (big plus for non-dairy folks). They call it a latte, but it’s more like a standard drip coffee + a good helping of half’n’half. I don’t like drinking my coffee black, so these are a huge help when backpacking or other times weight is an issue (no-cooler).
Though I love my coffee in the AM, I guess I’m lazy and not that huge of a coffee fanatic. For simplicity when camping, I’ll just do instant, though we use a French press when car camping.
While I am not a slave to the bean, my wife drinks coffee and I’ll have the odd afternoon cup when backpacking. Here in Colorado we’ve got Alpine Start instant, which is really good stuff, way better than corporate Starbucks.
Hula Girl instant coffee packets… it’s what the astronauts on the ISS drank before they went all high-brow and got an espresso machine.
If you aren’t packing raw beans to roast fresh over a flickering campfire, burr grinder with micron tolerances, and a silver moka pot, are you even camping? I’d ultralight but coffee.
Via mostly. But the last trip I went French press.
Much better.
Via if backpacking. Cowboy perc’ing over a fire if in the trailer. Nothing better than the smell of fresh percolating coffee in the morning when camping. Load coffee pot in the evening and just turn on the flames in the morning. We have a Jura Capresso superautomatic at home.
Instant, dark roast, done. Save the fancy stuff for off the trail.
Good old fashioned percolator for me if car camping. Collapsible pour over if backpacking.
Will be instant like Via next, or French press and a hand grinder. Last time, was stove top espresso.
A Cafe Bustelo instant packet dumped in about two ounces of hot water. Quick, light, and simple. Tastes just enough like coffee to make you think “huh, it would be kinda nice to have a cup of coffee right now.”
My now brother-in-law pulled out one of these to win over my sister on their first overnight hiking trip: https://www.atomiccoffeemachines.com.au/ + hand ground fresh beans + steamed milk from a thermos = LUX++
$595.00!!! That’s just utterly crazy for a stove-heated espresso…
Car Camping: French press
Backcountry: Packets or cowboy
Italian moka. Just as good as an espresso.
I can carry 3 weeks worth of Via for my wife and myself in one of our mugs, and space is usually at a premium, so Starbucks gets the nod.
We will take the Aeropress if we’re group camping with the truck,and the coffee is far superior, but compromises must sometime be made.
Mount Hagen instant coffee! It’s the best instant coffee I’ve tried, and organic to boot. They have individual packets an big jars for the budget-minded. And there’s decaf for the wimps.
Yurt/car: A Bodum
Backcountry: Bagged or cowboy tea
I can’t stand coffee so I go for the Twinings or Yorkie Gold when I need a proper cuppa in the trails. Different poison; similar prep.
The cowboys knew what they were doing
Aeropress or vias depending on how full my pack is.
Coffee is a crutch I use out here. When I’m in the woods I leave it at home. Don’t need it.
Same as at home, what you folks call cowboy coffee. It’s what I grew up on and it tastes the best. Nice and slow also.
Every now and then I splurge on some dark roasted goodness from this company https://www.lemmelkaffe.com/intesova/.
Never sleep.