Thermos Coffee Carried Cold
Coffee brewed at the stove in the morning and drunk hours later from an insulated bottle.
- calories
- 180
- weight
- 1.4 oz
- cal / oz
- 129
- protein
- 2 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 6 min
- total time
- 8 min
- water
- 470 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
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Day hike
- Winter / snow
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant coffee | 2 tbsp | a dark roast holds up better once it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered whole milk | 3 tbsp | shelf-stable, no cooler needed |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt | a pinch | cuts the flat taste instant coffee gets when it cools |
Method
- Boil roughly 470 ml of water, enough to fill a 470 ml insulated bottle with a little headroom.
- Put the dry mix in the bottle first. Coffee powder clumps if you pour it onto standing water.
- Add about 100 ml of the boiling water and stir or swirl until the powder is fully wet and smooth.
- Top off with the rest of the water, cap it, and shake once. Leave the last inch empty so it does not spit when you open it.
- Drink some now. The rest stays hot for most of the day and is still worth drinking cold after that.
An insulated bottle is a stove you already paid for. One boil in the morning covers coffee at the trailhead, coffee at the first long break, and something to hold at lunch when it is too cold to sit still. The only cost is carrying the bottle, and you were carrying water anyway.
The milk powder and the pinch of salt exist because instant coffee tastes thin once it drops below scalding. Fat and salt give it body at drinking temperature instead of boiling temperature, which is the temperature you will actually meet it at. Wetting the powder with a small splash before filling the bottle keeps it from setting into a lump at the bottom that no amount of shaking fixes.
Packing
Measure coffee, milk powder, sugar, and salt into one small bag per day. In camp it is one pour, not four measurements. A 350 ml bottle takes about three quarters of this.
Variations
- Skip the milk powder and double the sugar for a sweeter black coffee that survives a full day.
- Swap the coffee for two tea bags and pull them at ten minutes, or the whole bottle turns bitter by noon.
- In freezing weather, fill the bottle with plain boiling water first, dump it, then brew. A cold bottle steals most of your heat.
https://instacuppastore.com/products/instacuppa-vacuum-insulated-coffee-tea-travel-mug-with-sipper-lid-with-filter-silicon-grip-black