For time when coffee or soda is too heavy/ distant, what do you use?
Gum? Tabs? other?

These are pretty good.

I always carry the little half-pencil sized tubes of instant coffee too.

Starbucks Via. But really, coffee is required carry.

I generally do without. But I have, at least one, chewed coffee beans.

Why not try and get off caffeine? Blasphemy to americans I know; but it would be better not to be craving it in a survival situation.
For one thing it spoils your aim if you are shooting (your hand shakes slightly).
I was always amused by the people recounting spending fortunes on guns and gear with a coffee in their hands.

By the way is it true disgruntled american employees volunteer to make the office coffee; then alternate monthly between decaff and espresso? :-)
qjs

Starbucks Via or preferably some nice black tea. Both weigh next to nothing and can be stashed in your EDC, laptop bag, backpack, etc. And don't forget the cream and sugar. Never underestimate the positive physchological effects of a nice cup of coffee/tea.

+1. Nothing like a Nice Cup of Tea to mellow out a situation.

Yaupon holly leaves. They are all over the place here in my part of Texas.
-Blast

+1 on coffee being required carry.

+1 also on trying to get off the juice. We ran out at camp in the fall and I wasn't sure I was going to make it. Someone found a can of decaf but it just didn't cut it. That being said, the addiction is just too strong. (She says sipping her Timmies double double.) I'll never group camp again without bringing my own!

LOL@ Joey and the digruntled employee. LOVE that idea, as long as I've got my strong cuppa joe in hand.

Tablets are more portable, won't spill/leak, and the taste isn't important.

Sue

Darn right, infidel, you are indeed blasphemous! True believers regard caffeine ingestion as a sacred rite and obligation. Caffeine has several beneficial effects that would be handy in a survival situation, basically increasing athletic performance. Marathon runners generally load up on moderate quantities of caffeine on race day. It seems to work for them.

On night searches, if I had the time, I would brew up a Nice Thermos of Tea, laced with sugar. I was in the party that found the object of our search, that person got first dibs; if not, the savory tea was consumed by a deserving searcher.

The trick is to not overdose, just like any drug. That is the reason I scaled back from about six cups of coffee to about three cups of tea some years ago. If for some reason, I can't get tea, there are no overt jitters or withdrawal symptoms.

The best days start with a nice quiet cup of tea...

Very true. I recently transitioned from 3-4 cups of coffee a day to 1 cup coffee (or black tea) in the morning and 1 cup of black tea in afternoon. It took a week for my body to adjust to the lower caffeine intake but I feel and sleep a heck of a lot better.

What sort of scenario do you have in mind? A sachet of instant coffee and milk powder isn't very heavy. If you don't carry or have access to water to make it with, what's going on?

I'm British. If you can't settle down and make a brew while you figure out what to do next, then I'm afraid you can no longer be considered civilised.

Jolt gum

Scho-ka-Kola...a Germany dark chocolate nibble,it comes in small triangles of 100 grams,with a strong cup of coffee worth of caffeine.the round tin which is about 3 1/2 inch across and 1 deep is better than a Altoids tin for a survival kit.hard to find of course but check German grocery stores in the US that have sites on the web.during WW2 the German Army put benzedrine in it.

People would have saved themselves a lot of aggravation and hassle if they would have done exactly that in many situations. Fiddle with the stove, get the water on, and sip. It gives the brain time to get organized.

Actually, you Brits often have some very good ideas......

>Darn right, infidel, you are indeed blasphemous!

Well I'm glad to see we are keeping this impersonal :-)
But if you must persist in the foul perversion of coffee drinking (I don't wonder why the USA is the only superpower, it's simple; caffeine has got you all moving 10% faster than the rest of the planet).
Let me give you the best advise you will ever hear:
tiramasu flavoured coffee.
qjs

I like the single-use, four cup filter packs given out at hotels but I just ran out.

So now I rely on my bodum mug, which rocks!
[url=]Bodum Travel Mug[/url]

Ok gang, here's your million dollar idea: mini cans of java. Take the little packages of coffee grinds and put them in a tin. (The Scouter in me needs the packaging to be environmentally friendly and reusable, and metal cans seem to be infinately more reusable than glass or plastic, and eons better than that vaccuum sealed stuff. Although you have to give it to the screw top lids on glass bottles.)

Starbucks Viva is good instant coffee but @ $8ish for 6 -vs- $4 to $5 for regular filter coffee?! (Still cheap compared to buying readymade in the store, I know, but I'm on a very limited budget.) I got a small plastic tub of Folgers for $4. It was amoung the average of the cheapest ($4-$5) coffees, both filter and instant, at the grocery store, and a known tolerable tasting coffee, and in a non-breakable container with the most secure lid.

Does anyone know of a mini metal can of coffee with secure lid? Enough for a three to five day trip, perhaps a little more.

Not a metal can, but uses ground coffee or coffee pods instead.

http://www.handpresso.com/

Coffee is purchased bulk from an established business (1884) James Aimer Ltd.

http://www.jamesaimer.co.uk

I wondered about those Liath. I think I'm going to experiment this weekend. Thanks for the tip!!

I'm on my iPhoneso cant do a better post but illy coffee has small metal cans w/ lids for packaging. Do a google image search for 'illy coffee container'. Should work

Thanks Comms! I'll check it out.

I saw Lily in can at the grocery store I was at last night. It was an average-sized can but a really small store so not much selection.

I'm going to check out the coffee shops too, they sometimes have gift-basket-sized cans.

Good call NightHiker! Thanks!

I use empty pill (Ibuprofen,Tylenol, vitamin etc) bottles.These bottles are tough, bomb proof and with a bit of saran wrap under the lid for extra waterproofing insurance, make for excellent coffee containers and also very useful for other things such as drink crystals, sugar etc.

Thanks Teslinhiker!

I knew I came to the right people for advice. Have I mentioned how much I love the creativity of ETSers?

As an aside, and I don't drink coffee so I can't vouch for this either --

There used to be two types of coffee in the MREs, type I and type II. Those that had to have their coffee daily swore that Type II had more kick. These were the guys who would "dip" it like snuff. They'd also make sludge, barely enough water to make it drinkable, add a load of sugar and creamers and pound it down. (Gahhhh if you ask me)

So if you absolutely have to have coffee, see if you can find the TypeII packets.

Personally, I take my caffiene cold or in tea, also preferably iced.

Than JBMat and NightHiker! I don't think I'll be doing the sludge but any excuse to visit the army surplus store is welcome!

>So now I rely on my bodum mug, which rocks!

Bodums also sell an all steel caffettier/travel mug. So it's good for a travel mug, travel coffee maker and even home coffee maker.
In the UK larger branches of Whittards sell them.
qjs

Thanks Joey. I've got a stainless steel travel mug version with rubber handle that makes about 2 cups, and a larger glass version that makes about 4 cups. They're fantastic. The only downside is that I have to boil the water seperatly. I could probably do it in the travel mug but I don't want to melt the handle. My old-style aluminum percorlator beats them on this aspect. (It's tougher than glass too.)

Bacpac:

Today I found these instant coffee packets in the local grocery store. A box of 6 was $1.77. I just sampled one and the coffee is not all that bad for an instant type. I have already added the remaining 5 packets to the hiking kit.

Next time we go shopping, a couple more boxes will be added to the cart.

I saw those today too Teslinhiker and I wondered. Thanks for the recommendation!!