all about coffee
how hiking and coffee make my life better
the morning ritual
Adding coffee to my day didn’t happen until college. As a commuter, driving an hour to and from campus throughout the week was incredibly taxing. Sometimes there were large gaps of time in between my classes where it just didn’t make sense to go back to my apartment, so I ended up finding a little refuge to retreat to during the day. The campus Starbucks was on the bottom floor of a dorm building. It was small and had the same decor style typical of the Seattle-based coffee company. My meal plan flex dollars solely covered Brown Sugar Oat Milk Shaken Espressos and Grande Iced Soy Milk Lattes for the duration of the first two semesters I went to Saint Louis University.
It became something that I looked forward to the most each day.
A ritual started to brew.
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After a while, I realized how expensive it would be to keep the habit of buying $8 coffees every single day alive once I graduated, so that’s when I switched to a French Press. Every few days, I boil water in my electric kettle and pour it over dark grounds inside the glass cylinder, the steam rising and fogging my glasses as I watch the coffee melt into itself. In the winter, I drink it hot with whatever non-dairy milk I have in the fridge at the time. In the summer, I chill the coffee and pour it over ice with agave syrup. It’s a simple routine, but it makes me happy.
in the backcountry
Since a huge part of my life revolves around hiking, backpacking, and trail running, naturally, my coffee addiction has bled over into my love for the outdoors. There is nothing quite like waking up in your tent with a long day of hiking ahead and rolling over to start boiling some water for a cup of coffee. So far, I’ve only tried packets of instant coffee since it’s less weight to carry and it’s not very complicated. But I really want to make steps to improve this process and hopefully establish a routine that is even more satisfying.
for day hikes
Blending coffee and hiking together is one of those optimal experiences that not only inspires meaningful moments but also births a delicate release of tension. Getting out on the trail at one time in my life used to be about unleashing my body’s full potential. It was a workout commodified by the number of calories I burned or the amount of sweat that stained my clothes afterwards. Now, hiking for me is about creating an experience that helps me feel good in the long run. It’s not just a walk in the woods. I add things to amplify its soothing energy, like bringing Honey with me, listening to my favorite music, and even having a cup of coffee.
This looks like brewing at home and transporting it to the trailhead in a reusable cup. When the coffee is with me, I don’t worry about pace, distance, or any other numerical factor. It’s just me, the trees, and the rich taste of oat milk mixed with caffeinated bean water to put my mind in the right headspace. With this steady addition, things quickly shifted from aiming to complete a certain amount of miles in a day to “how can I slow down even more to enjoy this a little longer?” There’s nothing wrong with having goals, but as humans, we can’t be striving all the time. Simply being is enough.
for trail runs
Since I’ve started training for a half marathon, things have started to feel faster paced. Between squeezing in runs with dog walks and pet-sitting obligations, I have found myself living for a completed to-do list at the end of the day. This isn’t ideal. I know it isn’t sustainable long-term. But the constant “go” seems to be the only thing that helps quiet my mind when I find myself wandering into darker places. This is something I need to work on, and I think the perfect way to start would be to incorporate trailhead coffee time back into my life.
*trailhead coffee time* is where you hang out at the parking lot of a trail and brew your coffee before hiking. I like to do this on my tailgate, but wooden tables, benches, or even the ground near your car work too. Since I don’t have a super fancy portable coffee set up yet, I normally just boil water with my ultralight pot and MSR Pocket Rocket stove. Then, I pour the hot water over instant coffee and sip it for a while until I am ready for the hike or run. When I’ve done this before, it’s been so incredibly fun to listen to the birds or watch other trail people meander around while drinking something warm and cozy. Who knows, this may even be what motivates me enough to start running in the morning.
for backpacking trips
Much like how day hikes used to be highly authoritarian and concerned with pushing myself to the fullest extent, my backpacking trips used to be very rigid as well. Baby backpacker Callie used to get up before the sun rose, have camp packed in ten minutes, and be a mile down the trail while scarfing down cold-soaked oats. Now, things are a lot more lenient. It’s not uncommon for Honey and I to sleep in. Once we are finally ready to grace the forest with our presence, I get to work on boiling some water for my instant coffee. It cools down in a pile of leaves while I eat my breakfast and break down my tent. By the time we are hiking, I have Honey’s leash in one hand and my cup in another, coffee sloshing with each step.
As with coffee unfused day hikes, sipping on something bitter and hot is a gentle way to ease into a day on trail. The miles melt by while I drink and Honey plods along in front of me through the dense underbrush of the Ozark Trail. Typically, we don’t experience any issues with her reactivity since it’s uncommon to run into a lot of other dogs on the OT. Therefore, spilling my coffee is low-risk. Because of this, we can both relax and enjoy the experience more.
my go-to coffee brands
Even though my coffee habit started with a commercial company like Starbucks, I now prefer more sustainable methods and try to shop as locally as I can. I’m not perfect at this and still occasionally get lattes from chains like 7-Brew, Scooter’s Coffee, or Dunkin’ Donuts, but I try to keep this to a minimum. For my home brew, I order from my favorite eastern Kentucky supplier, Kentucky Mountain Coffee. I either purchase directly from their website or, if I am in Red River Gorge, I stop by Danial Boone Coffee Shop to pick up a pack of whole beans.
For my backcountry and trailhead instant coffee, I prefer Alpine Start. I started with their Coffee + Creamer blend, which is just plain instant coffee with powdered coconut milk. It has a rougher taste, which took some time to get used to since my palate was so used to heavily flavored lattes. But over the years, I’ve come to enjoy it. On my National Park trip this past year, I tried out their Latte with Benefits, which is instant coffee and powdered coconut milk with additives like Lion’s Mane, Reishi Mushrooms, MCT, and Vitamin A & D. For the duration of the trip, I loved this blend. It’s bitter, but has a creamier texture that’s easy to savor.
Maybe you aren’t a coffee person, and that’s okay. I think the main takeaway from this post is that it’s important to incorporate little pockets of joy into our lives that make us happy. If things aren’t working, sprucing things up and adding something to get excited over may be the catalyst for sparking a routine or ritual that helps rather than hinders us. It doesn’t need to be complicated. It doesn’t need to be expensive or lavish in any way. A simple cup of coffee may be all that you need to find a way back to yourself.
Thanks for reading!
See you out on the trail!