yakster wrote:You could heat the water in a Sierra Cup and then add the coffee and sip from that, I suppose.

Do people still use Sierra Cups?

You still see them occasionally. There's so much water in the Sierra that you could just dip a cup in and drink instead of carrying a bottle. But most people treat their water out of an abundance of caution.

I do have a 600ml titanium mug but I don't use it because I found drinking hot liquid out of a metal container unpleasant. And it's a little small to cook with in many cases.

What's it like drinking coffee though a straw?

I remember Sierra cups! In the old days we would carry it looped on our belt and drink straight from any spring fed source in the high country. Never got giardia but maybe just lucky there.

My low-mess option backpacking is an aeropress - very easy to cleanup and pop the spent grounds into a baggie. But a plastic V-60 cone works well too, and I prefer it for making myself a good size cup that warms me up in the cold morning air. I don't build fires anymore, just use a tiny backpacking stove and a small titanium cookpot, then preheat my drinking cup and brew into that. I usually pack whole beans and grind them with a lightweight Kyocera hand grinder.

Cowboy coffee is nostalgic from my childhood, also fun to pretend being in pioneer days drinking some Arbuckle around the campsite with friends. It does lend itself to making coffee for a group.

jpender wrote:What's it like drinking coffee though a straw?

I'll let you know when I get mine.

homeburrero wrote:My low-mess option backpacking is an aeropress - very easy to cleanup and pop the spent grounds into a baggie. But a plastic V-60 cone works well too, and I prefer it for making myself a good size cup that warms me up in the cold morning air. I don't build fires anymore, just use a tiny backpacking stove and a small titanium cookpot, then preheat my drinking cup and brew into that. I usually pack whole beans and grind them with a lightweight Kyocera hand grinder.

I've used an Aeropress with good results, along with a Porlex. Even on winter trips. But I've been disappointed with it above a certain elevation, 10.5K or something like that. Pour overs have really let me down as the slurry loses heat way too fast on cold mornings. Otherwise a plastic cone is pretty minimal in weight, just a little bulky.

Moka pots work well at altitude. Mine weighs about the same as my Aerpress + Porlex combo.

Mostly I drink Starbucks VIA + sugar. Better in every way except for the taste.