Last night, I did something I’ve never done before. I drank my very first cup of instant coffee. I know, I know, I am from Seattle, the coffee capital of the country, where drinking instant coffee is considered worthy of jail time but, stop laughing for a moment and let me explain. I’ve been doing all of this food planning for our upcoming backpacking trip and one problem I was trying to solve was how to get my coffee fix in the woods. I had read about these handy coffee bags (like tea bags) that you can use to brew individual cups but I couldn’t find any at my stores. They sell them at REI which means they probably cost as much as a double mocha with whipped cream. So, other than instant coffee, the only options left involved too much preparation and messy cleanup. When I spotted a small jar of instant coffee at Trader Joe’s yesterday, I thought I’d give it a shot. And it actually wasn’t terrible. I would say that it was decent and drinkable; I’ve been served worse brewed coffee in restaurants before. It was certainly lacking body but did not have the bitter or sour flavor that I was expecting. Plus, it’s kind of fun to make. It is so completely instantaneous, it’s almost like magic! It also magically doesn’t leave sediment in the bottom of the cup like our french press coffee does which will make wilderness cleanup even easier. I found a thread on a coffee website where coffee lovers were discussing their favorite brands of instant coffee, each with their own disclaimer, of course, as to why they would even know about such things. Most people agreed that the Nescafe brand instant coffees that are sold in Europe are the best. There is also a Nescafe variety made for Mexico that is a much darker roast that sounds pretty good. I heard that you can find it in some Latin markets so that may be an option for future backpacking trips. So, now I am one of those people that has a big jar of instant coffee sitting in their refrigerator. I may have to put a label on it that says “backpacking coffee” in case somebody comes over and looks in my fridge and judges me. Anybody have suggestions for creative ways to use up instant coffee?