Portable coffee makers are great, as they let you enjoy a proper cup while enjoying the outdoors. Problem is, they still require quite a fair amount of gear, especially if you plan to ground your beans fresh before brewing. Sadly, soluble coffee just isn’t at a point where it can serve as a viable substitute for most people. If you’re still looking for potential alternatives, maybe you can try No Normal Coffee.
What is it? It’s, basically, coffee that’s been processed into paste form, then stored in containers similar to toothpaste tubes. Like instant coffee, you can dissolve the paste in water for turning it into a coffee beverage. Unlike powdered instant coffee, though, this supposedly tastes a lot closer to a standard cup of brewed coffee, making it a much better alternative.
No Normal Coffee is a concentrated coffee paste packed inside a 3.5oz aluminum tube, similar to a small tube of toothpaste. The compact tube form factor allows you to easily slip this into a pocket, while allowing you to get coffee by simply squeezing it out of the tube, making the whole thing very convenient. According to the outfit, each tube holds around 20 cups of coffee, so you can get a good load of hot or cold coffee drinks from just a single container.
How do you use it? Well, you simply squeeze a teaspoonful (5g) of the paste, mix it with 100ml of water, and let it dissolve. That’s it. It’s supposed to work with both hot and cold water, so you can make a steaming hot cup of coffee, an icy beverage, or whatever other coffee drink you’re craving. Additionally, you can just consume the paste directly if you need an instant caffeine hit, as well as put it on snacks (they recommend using it with breads and bananas) like a spread to give them a little coffee flavor. We’re thinking this will work great for protein shakes (make sure to have your shaker bottle with you) and backcountry cocktails, too, especially with how convenient it is to bring along.
Each tube of No Normal Coffee is crafted from 100 percent Fairtrade Arabica beans that are sweetened with organic Swiss beet sugar. Yeah, it’s sweetened, so those who like their coffee without sweeteners might not enjoy it all that much. According to the outfit, the taste has a rich and indulgent roasted profile with hints of chocolate, nuts, and caramel, which do sound nice, although we’d, of course, want to taste it for ourselves, since people’s experiences with these things tend to always vary. Each serving (one teaspoon) is listed as having 12 calories, 47mg of caffeine, and 12g of carbohydrates. The paste supposedly has a shelf life of 12 months, so you can keep it around for a full year, with no need for any refrigeration, so you can just stash it in a backpack pocket for use as needed.
No Normal Coffee is available now, priced at $18 for a tube. Do note, these ship from Europe, so you might want to order more than one to save on shipping.
