I am curious, does anyone know if there are additives to Nescafe Espresso to give it its crema? Is it true crema with all the flavor and aroma? I might have to buy a box of this stuff to test it out. The photo on the box was more than I could resist.

Peace.

In my humble opinion I have the BEST coffee solution! It's camp coffee without the grit. No coffee making apparatus required. Buy turkish coffee and mix with sugar in a baggy for each morning; just enough for your pot size. It works because turkish coffee is ground finer than anything you can normally buy in the states. The coffee is strong and delicious and there is no grit until you get down to the very bottom of the pot.

My favorite coffee is Cafe' Najjar which you can purchase through www.natashascafe.com. It has cardamom (a spice) mixed in which may be overpowering at first but you'll love it from the first cup. In fact, I've never met someone on the trail who doesn't love it.

I made a search through the local co-op and an ethnic food store looking for the Medaglia D'oro instant expresso. No luck yet, but I did find this "Elite Instant Coffee". No idea where this comes from:







It does taste better than other instant coffees I've had, but still has that instant taste. It would be tolerable, but I think I'll keep looking for the Medaglia D'oro or give the Turkish coffee a try.

Edited by amcfarre on 04/07/2005 14:09:12 MDT.

Adam,

well obviously from the Hebrew characters it could be made in Israel. sorry, i never had a bar-mitzvah, so i can only read a very few Hebrew words and can't translate the label for you. there are also 4 lines of Arabic characters (again, sorry, can only speak a few phrases in Arabic & can't read any).

reading on, the label says "...at Safed Plant".

taking these words at their face value, it IS made in Israel and imported. Safed is an ancient city in northern Israel (in Galil or Galilee). Safed is, perhaps, primarily known as a center for Jewish mysticism focusing on the Kabbalah.

since it's sold in Israel that could explain having some Arabic on the label since Palestinian Arabs make up a large percentage of the regional poplulation.

that's all i know 'bout this matter. hope it answers your question about where it's from.

shalom a lachem.

Edited by pj on 04/07/2005 15:06:13 MDT.

Hi. I drink Nescafe Espresso.
Its the best instant coffee. Also as Espresso american way :-)

Dont know why its not sold in US.?

Here in Scandinavia its very common.
Actually nearly all instant coffee is Nescafé.

The Espresso comes in cans about 2oz powder or must better as small individual package 0.075 oz each.

If anyone is interested to try I could send some samples for a nominel fee.
email me at kim@email.dk. (Or swap for original US Gardini Ceasar dressing, as this no longer is sold in Europe and Im addicted to it.:-)



They also have instant cappucinno in individual servings.(with or without sugar)

Edited by skaarup on 04/07/2005 18:13:59 MDT.

Rick,
This is the stuff:
http://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/britishfood.asp?id=DC0107

It's for the british market, but I am sure it is the same as the stuff I've tried since the container looks identical. I checked the Chilean nescafe I have and it was imported from France. I suspect that the European ones are all the same.

I'd bet the link you provided to the Dutch nescafe is the same stuff. In fact, that one is pretty cool since it comes in individual servings.

For flavor, cowboy coffee (boiling water and grounds) can't be beat. But it's the very devil to get the grounds to sink at altitude (7000 feet seems to be the marker), and I end up using a bandana (what else, it's official use #56) to filter. Does anyone know the mechanism which keeps them afloat? Since cold water (my favorite) or (reputedly) egg shells or (sometimes) a tap on the pot make them sink at lower altitude I suspect it's surface tension; BPM recently suggested centrifuging the pot (there's a visual!). If it's surface tension, perhaps a little Kahlua would "break" it (but who wants alcohol at altitude?)?

I confess, I've always just scattered, as long as I'm not in intense bear country, and just skipped the coffee (take 2 excedrin) if I am. Is this wrong from a LNT perspective? I'm open to the possibility that it is...

As a newcomer to hiking light, I followed this thread with great interest. I was really excited and started to order a bottle of Nescafe Espresso. When it came time to check out, I found out the tariff is over $35 to ship from Great Britain to the US. Guess I'll go back to drinking tea in the mornings instead of coffee.

Hi Verndal.

I would be happy to ship you some espresso or cappucinnos if you could ship me some Ceasar Gardini original Ceasar Salad Dressing as itis not anylonger on the market in Europe.
(its a British substitute they are selling now!)
Contact me at kim@email.dk if interrested.

Edited by skaarup on 06/27/2005 13:23:10 MDT.

Kim -

Thanks for the offer. It's not that I can't find the Nescafe Espresso - it's simply that the tariff (import fee???) was 6 times the cost of the Espresso.

However, I will look for some Ceasar Gardini dressing for you the next time I go shopping. I don't recall ever seeing it at the store - but I've been stuck on Paul Newman's for a while now.

Newman's Own Caesar Dressing - simply the best, nothing else comes close.

Some restaurants serve it (but they don't tell the customers that they are serving off-the-shelf Caesar Dressing).

Kim, give it a try if you can find it in Denmark (you live in Denmark right?).

Best of all, ALL of the profits go to benefit Paul Newman's "Hole-in-the-Wall-Gang" Camps for children with terminal illnesses. [Note: Just in case anyone is wondering, the camp name comes from Mr. NewMan's old movie "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid"]

Edited by pj on 06/27/2005 23:08:54 MDT.

Ups.

Edited by skaarup on 06/28/2005 17:33:10 MDT.

Hi Poul.
Yep. I live in Denmark.
(Just for the records. Poul; in Denmark, as in China and other places, Kim is only a boys name. :-)

The problem with the dressings is atually a geopolitical one. If a food from USA can not be guarantied not to contain GMO (GenModified) it should be marked as possible GMO if to be sold in the EU. The company which distribute the Caesar Gardini products say that they dont think they can sell the products with this marking on it. In a few years they however expect the EU consumer to be used to the idea of GMO products, but for now its a no-no here.

Caesar Gardini was the original inventor of the Caesar Dressing and Salad. I think it was 1929 at Hotel Astoria, New York.

However I will look for the Newmann dressing when Im in Caribian Just want to taste it. :-)

Edited by skaarup on 06/28/2005 17:32:23 MDT.

Newmans Own is simply The best dressings made. Would love to replicate it but have not been successfull. Kim this is The best dressing and his Ceasar dressing is out of this world. Also the best thing about the dressings is that all the profits go to worthwile charities.

Try Minimint coffee filters. You can get a trial package cheap. They are based in Canada. Here is the link...

http://www.miniminit.com/index.html

I use Mount Hagen Organic Cafe when I'm on the trail. It's a freeze-dried instant coffee I found at my local coop - it's not too expensive. I enjoy a strong cup of black coffee every morning - on the trail or off - and this does the trick! What I like best about it is that it dissolves in water very readily even if the water is not heated. I've taken to not even pulling out the stove for breakfasts anymore.

My friend just recommended Javette coffee concentrate. It's a single-serving coffee concentrate that makes a good cup of coffee and you can alter the amount to make your coffee strong or mild. It lightweight and pretty pressure resistant and looks, smells, and tastes like good coffee. I've made hot coffee and great cold frappacinos with it.

It's will definitely come with me on all my backpacking trips!

Have any of you other coffee heads tried Greek or Turkish powdered (stone ground) coffee? You just stirr a spoonful into hot water, wait a minute and decant the coffee - or just drink it down to the grounds. If you want hair on your chest, keep it stirred vigorously and drink grounds and all. Really good stuff. Keeps well, beats instant, no filters or equipment to mess with. Espresso grind is almost as good as official Greek or Turkish coffee.

I have taken turkish coffee with me before. It tastes great, but if you don't want to drink the grounds they are hard to clean out of the pot. I used the bring to an almost-boil three times method, but I will try just mixing with hot water next time.

I used the Najjar brand that has cardamom, and the smell is POWERFUL. Even through three layers of ziploc I could still smell it (and all my mango slices tasted like it). An OP Sak or a foil lined bag is a must with this stuff.

Edited by archeopteryx2 on 10/21/2005 16:26:16 MDT.