Morning ☕️ when there is none to be had

[El Cascayal]

Needing to gas up the tank before walking? What do you do when there is no café to be had? When you need your morning coffee and cannot carry extra weight?

Just got these. Ultralight, coffee, sugar and cream. The color seems right. The aroma, what aroma?Tastes better than the vending machine stuff.

Most albergues will have hot-ish water to just pull these off in an emergency. Perhaps on those days when nothing is available it may just get me walking to the next town with an open bar.

 

[Friend from Barquinha]

There is also this kind of thing...

Drip Coffee

É um café de filtro descartável, servido em doses individuais, que tem vindo a revelar-se um sucesso em alguns países asiáticos, principalmente no Japão e Coreia.Para o consumidor, que terá naturalmente de ser apreciador de bom café, o formato é direcionado a determinados momentos de consumo...

www.deltacafes.pt

Probably only available in bigger cities, in large supermarkets.

(This is in Portugal, where Delta is a big brand. I would guess there are similar products in Spain.)

Also "soluble coffee" (translated appropriately) seems to be the term for instant coffee.

Researched by someone who MUST have coffee in the morning

 

[sillydoll]

Take an immersion heater and cup. You'll be the most popular person in places with no kitchens to boil water

 

[LTfit]

Take an immersion heater and cup. You'll be the most popular person in places with no kitchens to boil waterView attachment 123649

Took one of these on the Levante where cafés were few and far between and when there was one they didn't open until at least 10.00 a.m.

Many even smaller supermarkets in Spain sell packs of Nescafé, some with added creamer and sugar or decaf. These days you also find packets of cappuccino etc. Not close to the real thing but better than nothing at all.

 

[Barbara]

Tiny burner running on alcohol. The saucepan is also a cup. Ground coffee and a plastic filter. There will usually be a few cups around to use the filter. Lighter than a coil though you will end up leaving some meths as you won't want to carry a litre of it.
Works for soup and tea, as well.

 

[El Cascayal]

Take an immersion heater and cup. You'll be the most popular person in places with no kitchens to boil waterView attachment 123649

Have been thinking of an immersion coil like this. I will experiment with a paper coffee cup and hope it doesn’t . This would solve problem of keeping it lightweight without need for a filter & paper, just add instant coffee like @LTfit suggests.
@ Barbara I will check out your suggestion, lighter than a coil? Is it allowed on airplanes and RENFE? Gracias.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Tiny burner running on alcohol. The saucepan is also a cup. Ground coffee and a plastic filter. There will usually be a few cups around to use the filter. Lighter than a coil though you will end up leaving some meths as you won't want to carry a litre of it.
Works for soup and tea, as well.

Look in the cleaning material section of any supermarket in Spain and you are bound to find small (100ml) bottles of alcohol.

 

[Katherine Radeka]

I've been experimenting and I've decided on a simple system to make my own cold brew coffee so that I always have it (and enough of it! Bebo mucho cafe en mi vida ordinaria!) It comes out weaker than normal because it doesn't steep for as long, but that just means it doesn't have to be diluted as much.

I bought a simple coffee sock on Amazon that works perfectly in a 1 liter wide-mouth bottle. I'm drinking last night's batch right now. It's not hot unless I microwave it, which ruins the taste a bit, but I don't mind drinking it room temperature or even cold.

 

[Friend from Barquinha]

Café Bustelo Roast & Ground Coffee

¡La rica tradición se combina con la conveniencia actual! With Café Bustelo Café con Leche artificially flavored beverage mix in the form of K-cup pods, your classic sweet and creamy coffee drink could be just a few moments away. Café Bustelo K-Cup pods work with your Keurig coffee machine to...

www.instacart.com

Tasty-looking, but the K-cup pods are the ones that go in Keurig electric coffeemakers. Really common in Iberia in households, but in albergues? Don't know.

 

[t2andreo]

Needing to gas up the tank before walking? What do you do when there is no café to be had? When you need your morning coffee and cannot carry extra weight?

Just got these. Ultralight, coffee, sugar and cream. The color seems right. The aroma, what aroma?Tastes better than the vending machine stuff.

Most albergues will have hot-ish water to just pull these off in an emergency. Perhaps on those days when nothing is available it may just get me walking to the next town with an open bar.

I usually pack a supply of single serve instant coffee packets, tubes, sachets (whatever). In the morning, I fill a water bottle with hot tap water, then add one or two singles.

Yes, of course it is tepid and not piping hot. But, it has enough caffeine to jump start my motor and propel me to the first open cafe making real coffee.

Once used, the morning walker's coffee bottle is recycled as a water bottle for the rest of the day. Alternatively, once the coffee is gone, I will mix a powdered electrolyte drink - same single serve concept - in the same bottle for later on once it gets warmer.

Either the coffee singles or electrolyte powder envelops weigh virtually nothing - truly - weigh them on a postal scale. I carry enough for a week or so from home, and refill along the way. You can get the electrolyte powders in a farmacia if the local supermercado does not carry them. Most tiendas sell some version of a coffee single packet.

Hope this helps.

Tom

 

[peregrina2000]

Most albergues will have hot-ish water to just pull these off in an emergency. Perhaps on those days when nothing is available it may just get me walking to the next town with an open bar.

@El Cascayal, take the plunge and join the Electric Coil Club.

 

[Ptermini]

Needing to gas up the tank before walking? What do you do when there is no café to be had? When you need your morning coffee and cannot carry extra weight?

Just got these. Ultralight, coffee, sugar and cream. The color seems right. The aroma, what aroma?Tastes better than the vending machine stuff.

Most albergues will have hot-ish water to just pull these off in an emergency. Perhaps on those days when nothing is available it may just get me walking to the next town with an open bar.

I carry small packs of instant and put it in my water bottle. A JOLT when I need it !

 

[MichelleElynHogan]

Look up the, "Tea to Go," thread. Lots of answers for you there.

 

[Barbara]

Have been thinking of an immersion coil like this. I will experiment with a paper coffee cup and hope it doesn’t . This would solve problem of keeping it lightweight without need for a filter & paper, just add instant coffee like @LTfit suggests.
@ Barbara I will check out your suggestion, lighter than a coil? Is it allowed on airplanes and RENFE? Gracias.

The stove is allowed but not the fuel. But you can buy burning alcohol anywhere.
Look for a titanium stove for the lightest possible one.

 

[Barbara]

Look in the cleaning material section of any supermarket in Spain and you are bound to find small (100ml) bottles of alcohol.

That's where I buy from but I hadn't noticed any that small. Thank you.

 

[El Cascayal]

@El Cascayal, take the plunge and join the Electric Coil Club.

Where do I sign up? This seems like the safest approach in the early morning when the caffeine serum levels are running on fumes.

 

[El Cascayal]

Tasty-looking, but the K-cup pods are the ones that go in Keurig electric coffeemakers. Really common in Iberia in households, but in albergues? Don't know.

Funny you should highlight Bustelo. Here’s the story of Bustelo’s origin. Spain with Cuban influences. It was roasted up the block when I was a kid. Other popular one is Pilón. They were both bought out by I think by Smuckers several years ago. Never been the same. Still better than the vending machines. They both have single instant packets.

CAFÉ BUSTELO HISTORY​

Nearly a century ago, a young, ambitious Gregorio Bustelo arrived in East Harlem, New York from Spain. A man consumed by wanderlust, Gregorio visited many Latin American cities throughout his lifetime, including the cultural capital of Havana, Cuba. He went on to be known for his espresso-style coffee and became one of the most prominent names within the Latin coffee community.
INSPIRED BY DEEP LATIN ROOTS, BORN IN EAST HARLEM IN 1928
Gregorio built the foundation of his business on three things: his love for delicious Latin coffee, supporting his community and bringing people together. Using a secret blend of coffee beans, Gregorio crafted the beloved, rich flavors that consumers now recognize as Café Bustelo, an authentically Latin, espresso-style coffee.
In the beginning, he sold his hand-ground coffee to local East Harlem theater patrons, with the hopes of running his own roaster someday. Using the money Gregorio had saved while working at the restaurant in Hotel Pennsylvania, he opened a New York City storefront in 1928 on 5th Avenue called Bustelo Coffee Roasters. It was one of the first coffee roasters to cater to all Latino communities. In the 1930's, Gregorio began selling Café Bustelo coffee to Latino-owned bodegas and independent supermarkets, going door-to-door to build his business while also maintaining close friendships with owners whom he considered family.

LATIN-INSPIRED COFFEE FROM THE BARRIO TO COFFEE CUPS EVERYWHERE​

After falling in love and marrying his wife Angelina, the couple grew the business into a thriving coffee company. Their dedication to brewing high-quality, espresso-style coffee with bold flavor propelled Café Bustelo from East Harlem and Miami to bodegas and coffee pots across America. While its distribution has grown significantly over the years, Café Bustelo coffee is still coveted by Café Bustelo loyalists today.

 

[BeTheChange]

Order a takeaway coffee the night before, pop it in the fridge overnight, heat it up in the morning, voila! Obviously requires a few appliances, but it's an option!

 

[Friend from Barquinha]

Order a takeaway coffee the night before, pop it in the fridge overnight, heat it up in the morning, voila! Obviously requires a few appliances, but it's an option!

In Iberia, takeaway coffees are not quite the thing they are in North America, northern Europe/UK, and Australia/NZ (this one is my assumption).

Most small town/village cafés are not even set up for takeway, in Portugal, anyway, and if they are, it's for a thimbleful of extraordinarily strong coffee (come to think of it, got this in Vigo, too, so at least part of Spain is the same.) Unless you find a Starbucks or similar, it's really not part of the local café culture.

Thus the need for these instant-ish alternatives!

 

[Carlos Santiago]

Take an immersion heater and cup. You'll be the most popular person in places with no kitchens to boil waterView attachment 123649

You can heat bath water with that too (assuming there is no hot water and there's a pail).

 

[Anniesantiago]

Joe and I bought a tiny featherweight coffee machine at a China store. 17 Euros. The double walled cups feel like they are made of titanium. No wait at all. And no weight at all. We are using backpack transport this Camino so no problem. Nice hot coffee every morning before we even get dressed.

It reminds me of that line in Fried Green Tomatoes, “I’m older and have better insurance.”

 

[El Cascayal]

Joe and I bought a tiny featherweight coffee machine at a China store. 17 Euros. The double walled cups feel like they are made of titanium. No wait at all. And no weight at all. We are using backpack transport this Camino so no problem. Nice hot coffee every morning before we even get dressed.

It reminds me of that line in Fried Green Tomatoes, “I’m older and have better insurance.”

How much does it weigh???

 

[VeganCamino]

Needing to gas up the tank before walking? What do you do when there is no café to be had? When you need your morning coffee and cannot carry extra weight?

Just got these. Ultralight, coffee, sugar and cream. The color seems right. The aroma, what aroma?Tastes better than the vending machine stuff.

Most albergues will have hot-ish water to just pull these off in an emergency. Perhaps on those days when nothing is available it may just get me walking to the next town with an open bar.

In my memory there was always coffee nearby! I'm vegan and only drink soy or almond or oat milk, which was almost impossible to find, so I did carry my own, but coffee was easily available everywhere. Viva

 

[Richard of York]

Being British I assume there's going to be tea and coffee-making facilities anywhere I stay in the UK, and when I started to travel in Europe on business years ago, so like Holiday Inns, Marriot, etc. I was disabused... the Europeans don't need coffee (obviously not tea either ) the moment they wake up, so I had to wean myself off.

I now know it is just the rehydration I need, the coffee can wait half an hour so a pint of water will do.

 

[RJM]

Take an immersion heater and cup. You'll be the most popular person in places with no kitchens to boil waterView attachment 123649

Yes, that and a titanium cup and you're set and yes other pilgrims will want to borrow it, but will probably not know how to use it properly without burning up the element.

 

[Anniesantiago]

How much does it weigh???

No idea. We didn’t weigh it

 

[Carlos Santiago]

Ultra-light alcohol stove/burner. Works anywhere. Stove and stand cost 6 Euros. You can even make one from beer cans (Tutorials on YouTube.

 

[Carlos Santiago]

The last photo with netting is a titanium cup containing a butane stove and full butane can.
(I can't edit the post )

 

[peregrina2000]

Yes, that and a titanium cup and you're set and yes other pilgrims will want to borrow it, but will probably not know how to use it properly without burning up the element.

Not only that, you have to be careful about burning up your lip when you put it on the titanium cup. I just use a coil in a plastic cup because then it’s only the hot beverage you have to worry about.