Frothed Camp Latte
Instant coffee and whole milk powder, whipped with a battery frother until it stops tasting like instant coffee.
- calories
- 230
- weight
- 1.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 128
- protein
- 9 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 1 min
- cook
- 3 min
- total time
- 4 min
- water
- 300 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Drink
- Breakfast
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant coffee | 1 heaping tsp | freeze-dried dissolves better than spray-dried |
|---|---|---|
| Whole milk powder | 1/3 cup | whole, not nonfat, or there is no body |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp | optional, but it helps the foam hold |
| Cocoa powder | 1 tsp | optional, for a mocha |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Put the coffee, milk powder, sugar, and salt in your mug or pot.
- Add about 60 ml of boiling water and work it into a paste with the frother on low, or a spoon. Lumps that survive this stage never dissolve later.
- Add the rest of the water, roughly 240 ml, and run the frother for 20 to 30 seconds. Keep the whisk head under the surface or you will redecorate your tent.
- Let it sit 30 seconds so the foam separates and firms up, then drink it.
A frother is a luxury item that weighs about as much as a spare battery, and it earns the space by fixing the one thing wrong with camp coffee: milk powder does not dissolve. Stirred, it clumps and settles and leaves grit at the bottom. Whipped, it emulsifies, and the fat in whole milk powder holds air the way real milk does.
The paste step is the part people skip. Hydrating the powder in a small amount of water first breaks up the dry clumps while there is still enough friction to work against. Dump everything into a full mug at once and you get lumps no amount of whisking will save.
Packing
Premix the dry ingredients into a single-serving bag at home. The frother rides in its case with the batteries reversed so it cannot switch itself on in your pack.
Variations
- Skip the frother and shake everything in a sealed bottle with hot-but-not-boiling water. Vent it first.
- Swap the milk powder for coconut milk powder to make it dairy-free.
- A scoop of protein powder and cold water instead of coffee turns this into a recovery drink.
https://instacuppastore.com/products/coffee-beater-travel-casing-4-whisks-battery-operated