What's your favourite? How do you like to make it? Any short cuts the rest of us can try?

Carnation Creamy hot chocolate is a must for me. When it comes to marshmellows, I can take them or leave them but I like tiny. The big ones are for the campfire. Kaluha is my favourite addition if I'm not out with my Scouts.

I really like hot chocolate but I need coffee in the morning. Starbucks Via Columbian is my favorite instant, but I really prefer fresh brewed. If you're in Canada Timmies is probably a staple in the pantry, but every year I start with a fresh ground vacuum-pack from Second Cup, often a Columbian, just for my brew kit.

My go-to way to make it is to put a couple of scoops of grinds into a patch of bandana or t-shirt, tie it off with a little pararcord, and the let it sit in your hot water (I like my old fashioned enamel camp mug best) and steep like a tea bag. I hate grinds in my coffee if I can avoid it. Cowboy coffee works, as does a metal tea ball, but a bandana keeps all the grinds out. it's also lightweight, reusable, and takes up no room in a pack.

Starbucks Via for me, Tea for DW.
I carry a Pocket Rocket and small pot for a quick boil-up.

I take the Via black; DW carries milk for her tea.

My smallest trail tea rig is a Sierra cup, lump of esbit, and a small titanium holder, plus some foil for a windscreen. I can usually get the water hot enough on about 1/2 of an esbit. Works great on day hikes.

Simple tea for me. "Tea - Earl Grey - hot!"

Other likables are hot apple cider, mulled wine, hot chocolate and the old standby - coffee.

I won a new GSI Halulite kettle in the fall that I loved instantly. I'm sure that I'm going to carry it regularly. It's ultra light and holds about 2 cups, so just right for a quick brew-up. It's also got a pretty wide opening so I can store some stuff inside. A pocket esbit stove, a couple extra esbit tabs, lighter/matches, bandana and a collapsable cup fit in nicely, so you can make a nice little brew kit out of it.

GSI Halulite Kettle

The honest truth, though, is that I'm not picky. I'm just as likely to use an old spaghetti sauce can to boil my water in. I do always carry a water bottle & SS mug or my canteen kit as my primary kit.

Mostly Nestle coffee 3-in-1, or some sort of Cup-A-Soup. I mix a few together like ( little French Onion + little Mushroom + Vegetable + Lentils ) . Makes very tasty and fullflilling mix.

For boiling water I use a homemade Esbit, and pour the water and stuff in an insulated mug.

On the trail: Starbucks Via, Yorkshire Gold, etc (Whatever I feel like that day)

In camp: French press or cone filter. Hot chocolate with medium size marshmallows

Very nice,bookmarked it.What in particular do you like about it?

Anybody own any other halulite gear?

it's small, lightweight and nestable - three things I liked right away. It seems pretty durable too but I haven't had it long enough to know for sure. It's a good base for a brew kit, along with a bottle of water and my trusty camp mug, everything I need for a brew up for a couple of people can fit inside. It boils pretty quickly too.

Princess Auto (sort of a non-military surplus store that sometimes carries military surplus too.) Is carrying a knock-off (Fire Maple brand, I believe,) for $15. Have to admit that i'm tempted.

I wonder if you can cook with it....

mostly hot tea for me, although I also bring instant coffee with me.

Not Haulite specifically, but I have GSI Pinnacle Soloist that I really like. It gives me pretty much everything I need for cooking in one relatively compact package (including stove & fuel). I have a brief write-up on it here: Snow Peak Gigapower & GSI Soloist

The only drawback to the system is that the rubber handle and plastic lid make it a stove-only pot for me and GSI doesn't seem to make a stainless version of the Soloist yet (they have introduced stainless versions of the ketalist and a few other systems that are campfire friendly).

As for the original question, I don't normally do hot drinks unless I'm overnighting. I've recently quit coffee, but Cup-a-Soups are really nice at the end of the day as is hot chocolate, the latter primarily in winter for the extra calories at night. Various herbal teas are now on the menu for breakfast.

A silver bullet thermos is nice. Esbit or small cannister stove. I heat the water in a metal cup (about 26 oz capacity) I bought in the dollar aisle of of super market. I like tea and cup o soup. Ph yeah cocoa too, but no marshmallows for me. I like it with creamer, sometimes vanilla extract, and when camping in cold weather, a shot Seagrams before I crawl in my sleeping bag.

Fire bans break my heart sometimes, Izzy. I'm still on the hunt for a good smallish thermos to keep drinks hot a long while. I've got a couple big ones that do an awesome job of keeping stuff hot, but they're too big for my liking. I have a couple of those tall thin Thermos brand ones but they don't last long on those really cold days we get. I think I might give up and just make a cozy for the ones I do have.

I recently purchased a Vango PowerEx 0.9L Hard Anodised Kettle.

http://www.outdoormegastore.co.uk/vango-powerex-kettle.html

It will boil 0.5 Litres of Water from a temperature of 4-6C to Boiling in around 2 minutes and 15 seconds, when used in conjunction with a Coleman F1 Power Stove (7KW output) even with a virtually empty gas cartridge. It is very lightweight (around 130 grams), fast and fuel efficient, saving around 30% fuel due to the heat exchanger base.

Tea, coffee, hot chocolate and soup such as Mug Shot noodles. It nice to have a choice.

Lets see,camping I like coffee,and a quick cup o soup is surprisingly good camping.

Mrs says mostly coffee,tea and water.We do drink soda pops,something we never do at home.Which is odd since I have Coca Cola stock (and thats a great stock,pays dividends in a DEPRESSION)yet I hardly drink the stuff.

Mm.. vanilla extract sounds great. I'm thinking vanilla bean a leak-proof alternative...

The reason I like carnation creamy hot chocolate is because it doesn't need milk or cream, IMO, as long as you get your powder to water ration right. I use 2 envelopes in my big camp mug. Of course, if you add enough booze... LOL!

I craved Lipton chicken noodle cup-a-soup for the first four or five months of my recent pregnancy. Definitely overdid it. Might never be able to stomach it again. Such a shame cause I loved it on the trail. Thank goodness that same didn't happen to the ramen noodles I craved for the entire nine months.

Coke and camping work well for me too. I don't often pack it but it the summer, I almost always get an icy one as soon as we leave the parking lot.

That looks cool, Liath. I've been oogling Jetboil systems, but they're out of my price range. This could be a good alternative. Thanks!

GSI Kettle on Esbit pocket stove:



Bandana coffee:



Esbit coffee:

Has anyone ever made dandelion root tea? I'd like to try it and I'm looking for tips and tricks, please, if you have any to share.

I have wondered about that concoction too. I am feeling generous this morning - you are welcome to my dandelion roots (they are thriving0.

Mocha Pot: I've been eyeing one of these in the local second-hand store. If it was a 2 - 4 cupper, I'd probably jump at it, but I'm not likely to carry it into the bush because if it's small size vs high weight. These things make a wickedly good cuppa though. Maybe for car camping when it's just me and boy...

http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F#/watch?v=qDhZ-1wkw5w&feature=g-high-lik

Any users out there?

Here is a 3 Cup Version (realistically for 1 person use) for around $20 USD.

Here's a quick way to get a hot drink very quickly with no heat source required: carry a small can of Cayenne Pepper with you. Pour the drink into a cup and add generous amounts of the Cayenne Pepper.

You'll never have worms! !

IS that what they call Cajun Coffee?

No! That's what they call "me showing my butt"!!

LOL!