Backcountry Coffee Review
There is nothing quite like starting a cool morning in the backcountry with a cup of coffee. Coffee gets us warmed up and excited to set off for a summit or log some miles! However, carrying in a big coffee setup isn’t an option when backpacking. Instead, we take instant coffee or single-use pour-overs when we’re heading out on an adventure because they’re more compact. Today we’re going to test a bunch of different options and share the results with all of you!
Thank you to our friends over at REI for hooking us up with a bunch of instant or low-maintenance coffee options that they carry for this review. Without further ado here’s our review:
Though REI provided the coffee for this video and blog post, the opinions are entirely our own.
Please note: The links provided in this blog post are affiliate links. If you end up purchasing some of these pieces of gear we get a very small portion of the sales. Thank you as always for supporting us and our life on the road, it gives us the opportunity to share so extensively with you all!
The Backcountry Cook setup
Before we dive into the tests I wanted to introduce you to our cooking setup that we always carry with us for making coffee and meals in the backcountry!
We’ve been using the MSR Wind Pro II stove for the last few years and picked it up just before hiking the John Muir Trail. We like this little guy because it packs down really small, it’s efficient on fuel, and it gives you great control over the size of the flame.
After saying all of that, it seems the Wind Pro is hard to come by these days for some reason. So instead I’d recommend the MSR pocket rocket because it’s the even more minimal version of the Wind Pro. I’ve never met anyone who owned the pocket rocket and didn’t love it!
We use the Evernew Titanium Non-Stick set. We purchased this pot for cooking and heating water for three to four people. This is a little overkill for the two of us, but we still use it because we love backpacking with friends. With this, they don't have to bring excess gear since this pot can cook for four! The titanium construction makes it lightweight. The pan also serves as the lid and our stove nests into the pot, taking up even less space in my pack!
This set too seems to not be available anymore so we’d suggest TOAKS Titanium Pot & Pan set which is essentially the same thing but is a nice compact size.
When we’re wanting to travel with a smaller cooking setup, we’ll use this jet boil. The flash cooking system also has a handy little color-changing panel to let you know when your water is up to boiling temperature!
We use the GSI Infinity Backpacker Mug. The mug weighs just 3.5 ounces and is made up of a plastic cup insert, an insulated sleeve with a handle, and a sealable lid. The cup insert also gives measurements in cups, ounces, and milliliters! We love that detail because we can precisely measure out the water we’re boiling for drinks and backpacker meals!
Pro-tip, do not clip this mug to the outside of your pack. The insulated sleeve doesn’t have a tight enough grip on the cup and thus we’ve lost one on trail in the past!
Test Subjects
Instant Coffee
Pour Overs
The results
After doing a side-by-side taste test, here are Owen’s and my favorites in order of best to worst. Spoiler alert: they were all far better than what we’ve been carrying into the backcountry for the last few years. There wasn’t a bad one in the bunch!
MAK’s Picks:
Kuju Pour-Over: Papua New Guinea
Kuju Pour-Over: Ethiopia
Laird Instafuel
Alpine Start Instant Coffee
Kuju Pour-Over: Basecamp Blend
Owen’s Picks:
Kuju Pour-Over: Papua New Guinea
Kuju Pour-Over: Ethiopia
Laird Instafuel
Alpine Start Instant Coffee
Kuju Pour-Over: Basecamp Blend
Something to consider
When you’re planning for your backpacking trip you need to keep in mind the amount of trash each cup of joe will make. We touch on this concept briefly in the video but I wanted to elaborate on it a little. The single-use pour-over kits make the best cup of coffee hands down, but if you’re heading out for a week, that is seven pour-overs you’ll need to haul out. Space and weight are such precious commodities that need to be considered. Even though the Alpine Start was ranked 4th by both of us, if we were heading out for three or more days, Alpine Start would be the coffee we’d carry with us into the backcountry because of how little waste is created making it! Food for thought… Or should I say coffee for thought?!
We hope you enjoyed this little taste test/review! It was a blast to put together! We’ll see you next time with a coffee brewer review with a focus on car camping/overlanding/vanlife… you know whatever you call that type of camping and traveling!
Love, MAK & Owen