The Best Instant Coffee for Backpacking: Four Instant Coffees that Don’t Suck

Coffee. We love it. We don’t go a day without drinking it, on trail or off. And as former baristas, we tend to be somewhat particular about what we drink (though we’ve been known to suffer through a sub-par cup in the backcountry just to cut weight and get the caffeine in). Fortunately, instant coffee doesn’t have to mean bad coffee. Even when you’re far from civilization. Yup, even if you’re an ultralighter like me and choose instant in order to cut the weight of heavy coffee-making devices.

And usually when we drink instant coffee when backpacking, we’re truly desperate for caffeine and need some, like, now. And instant really is the fastest and easiest option. However, it has a reputation for not being the best tasting. Fortunately, instant coffee has come a long way in the last few years and plenty of options out there are better than ever. So whether you like your instant black, sweetened, creamy or flavorful, there’s an option for you. Here are a few instant coffees for backpacking that we’ve tasted, enjoy, and would absolutely recommend to our friends and family.

The Best Instant Coffee for Backpacking

No Normal Coffee: Coffee Paste

Best for: Folks who want good coffee fast without all the fuss and peripheral gear.

No Normal, which is based in Switzerland, may offer the most unique instant we’ve ever tried: a coffee paste in a recyclable metal tube that creates almost zero waste and only needs to be added to hot water. Heck, you can even add it to cold water or squeeze it right into your mouth for an instant shot of caffeine. Yup, it’s just coffee extract, coffee powder, water and natural emulsifiers to hold it all together.

There are unsweetened and sweetened options available and once you open a tube the paste inside is good to go for 18 months. The paste is crafted with Fair Trade coffee beans and we dig that because it’s in a tube, we can customize the strength of every cup without opening several single-serve packets. Sure, the tube is bigger and heavier than your average instant, but the coffee it makes also tastes better than your average instant. Plus, you can always squeeze it into a smaller bottle when backpacking so you only carry what you need.

Bonus: it’s not just for drinking. On the contrary, you can spread it on your morning bagel, mix it into a protein shake or oatmeal, use it as a marinade, or squeeze it directly into your mouth when you just can’t be bothered. The sky is the limit.

Tasting notes: Smooth Arabica flavor profile. Nothing super exciting, but good, predictable, and hard to mess up.

Sustainability: Packaging is recyclable, coffee is Fair Trade.

Price per serving: $0.90 (although this may vary based on how strong you like your coffee)

Alpine Start: Good Black, Great Dirty Chai

Best for: Folks who like a little vegan creamer in their coffee or love a dirty chai.

Alpine Start’s tagline is “Instant coffee that doesn’t suck.” And you know what, they’re right. In fact, in one test, they beat brewed coffee from Starbucks 2 to 1! We don’t know how they managed to make instant that tastes this good, but we’re glad they figured it out. In fact, this was the first instant we happily chose over packing a full camp brew method.

You can buy the regular instant coffee in a bulk bag or single-serve packets depending on your preferences. Plus, there are more options in addition to instant plain black coffee, including hot chocolate, dirty chai (our absolute fave) and coffee with creamer, all of which are vegan!

Tasting notes: Black 100% Arabica instant coffee tastes better than most of the brands you find at the grocery store. Options with creamers are balanced and still strong and sweetened options are only lightly sweetened.

Sustainability: The regular instant coffee is available in a bulk bag, which involves less waste (it’s also cheaper). Alpine Start is a 1% for the Planet member.

Price per serving: $0.84 (bulk regular) – $2.00 (creamer/chai versions)

Cusa Coffee: Multiple Roast Options

Best for: Roast options and bulk single-serve bags. For folks who don’t bother with cream or sugar.

Cusa may not be a household name, but the brand still makes pretty dang good instant coffee and tea in single-serve packets. In fact, when we first tried it, we were surprised by how enjoyable the options were. Not to mention that there were options: dark, medium and light roasts, mocha, dirty chai, vanilla, even decaf. All are unsweetened and black (no creamer).

The packets seem small but contain enough for a 6-10oz coffee depending on how strong you like it. What’s more, they can all be mixed with how or cold water. So if you don’t like to fire up the stove in the morning or enjoy a quick pick-me-up in your water bottle come mid-afternoon, you’re set.

Tasting notes: Balanced, not bitter. Not as bold as other options, but smooth. Plus there are several roasts available.

Sustainability: Rainforest Alliance Certified Arabica Beans. If you save at least 100 empty single-serve coffee packets, they’ll send you a shipping label and you can mail them in to TerraCycle for free to be repurposed as playground equipment and decking materials.

Price per serving: $1.40

Farm to Summit: The Zero Waste One

Best for: Creamer lovers and folks who like their coffee with flavor personality.

Less instant coffee than instant latte, it was love at first sip with Farm to Summit. Not only do we love that they’re just about the only brand of instant coffee to use compostable packaging, but their mixes taste great, too, especially for those of us who like a little cream with our coffee.

The brand offers several flavors, only a couple of which are vegan: The oat milk latte and golden milk turmeric latte. But we love them both (even though the latter doesn’t actually contain any coffee). If you’re OK with dairy, they also offer a chile mocha latte, whole milk latte, and double shot latte. All are lightly sweetened with maple sugar.

The mix doesn’t tend to dissolve completely (we recommend regular stirring/swirling), so if you really hate particles in your last few swigs, maybe this isn’t the option for you. But we don’t mind a few granules in exchange for the flavor and sustainability.

Tasting notes: Lightly sweet, creamy, smooth.

Sustainability: Organic coffee, packed in 100% compostable packaging. The female-founded brand also focuses on reducing food waste.

Price per serving: $2.00

Bottom Line: Instant Coffee for Backpacking

Instant coffee doesn’t have to suck. And it shouldn’t, especially when you’re backpacking. You’re already giving up plenty of creature comforts; you shouldn’t have to drink bad coffee, too. So try one of these out, actually enjoy your morning brew, and let us know which ones are your favorite! Wander on.