By Greg Kempers
I love coffee shops. I also love being in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, coffee shops aren’t typically found above treeline, so here are a few ideas on how to bring the coffee shop to you!
All of the latte recipes listed below have powdered milk (I like the full fat kind, found in most grocery stores under the brand Nido) in them. Not only does this make transport of the ingredients to your campsite lighter and easier, it also gives a wonderful foamy texture to drinks when shaken vigorously in a thermos or water bottle. The instructions for all these drinks are the same, prepare ingredients in plastic baggies at home, at the campsite throw all dry ingredients in a container with one cup of hot water/tea and shake for about ten seconds.
Basic Hot Chocolate
Is it really camping without a delicious cup of hot chocolate to end the day?
- 4 Tbsp powdered milk
- 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- Splash vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Chai Tea Latte
A classic coffee shop drink, and one I always miss when I’m out of town.
- 4 Tbsp powdered milk
- 1 cup hot, brewed black tea
- ½ Tbsp sugar
- ⅛ tsp ginger
- ⅛ tsp cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp vanilla extract
- pinch ground black pepper
- pinch ground cardamom
Dirty Hippie
This probably isn’t the commonly used name for a chai tea with espresso in it, but my local coffee shop calls it that. This is a great way to start the day if you’re one of those people that needs more than a cup of coffee.
- 4 Tbsp powdered milk
- 1 cup hot, brewed black tea, yerba mate also works well here
- 3/4 Tbsp sugar
- 1.5 tsp instant coffee
- ⅛ tsp ginger
- ⅛ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- pinch ground black pepper
- pinch cayenne
- pinch cardamom
Mexican Coffee
- 4 Tbsp powdered milk
- 1.5 tsp instant coffee
½ Tbsp sugar - ⅛ tsp cinnamon
- pinch of cayenne, ⅛ tsp if you really need a punch in the face to start the day.
Turmeric Latte
I know this one sounds kind of strange. Definitely seems like one of those nasty, health-food blog kind of recipes, but I was pleasantly surprised when I first made this. Turmeric is known to help reduce inflammation*, so this is probably a good thing to make if you’ve been hiking all day. Now you can shake off some soreness and warm up in one drink!
- 4 Tbsp powdered milk
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ Tbsp honey or sugar
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- pinch nutmeg
- pinch ginger
- pinch cayenne
* Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633300/
