Coffee?

[Westi]

Probably not cooking but this topic is a bit sad at this time of the year & my question kind of fits?

Any instant coffee I take down to lottie, whether in the bottles they come in or in other sealed containers always turns into a hard lump that you can't even break up with a spoon! Any tips besides not taking it down everytime?

I thought it was the heat in the shed kind of melting it but happens all year.

Westi

[Monika]

I assume instant coffee is highly hydroscopic, Westi, meaning that it attracts any slight moisture in the air and then clogs together. Presumably if you took down a new jar this would not happen until it is opened the first time!

I brew up a filter coffee at home and take it to the allotment in a steel thermos which, having falling off a shelf and upturned wheelbarrow several times, is looking rather battered but is still coffee-tight.

[Primrose]

I find this can happen even in my kitchen, and it's probably due to moisture. I am also careless at times and occasionally dunk a damp spoon into the jar to top up the strength of the coffee in a mug, which is fatal. I also find it happens with jars of Horlicks powder. No matter how careful I am with it, the powder always seems to transmogify itself into a hard lump before the jar is half empty. Decanting it into smaller jars in a dry situation might help. It might also be worth writing to the Quality Assurance department of your coffee provider and asking for advice on how to stop this happening. They probably get a lot of complaints about it.

[John]

Hello Westi
As Monica says instant coffee is very hgroscopic and will absorb moisture from the atmosphere quite quickly.
One thing you could try is keeping the coffee in one of those plastic bags with a sealing top. Squeeze the air out of the bag before sealing it again.
Otherwise its individual sachets I suppose.
John

PS I'd always thought that real men drank tea down on their lottie!

[Westi]

I wondered about taping one of those little sachets of those gel crystals under the lid, not in contact with the coffee but would it contaminate the coffee anyway or even attract more moisture which would just drip onto the contents anyway?

Looks like I will have to remember to take it down each time or get a liking for tea!

Westi

[peter]

Buy Nescafe Latte or Mocha boxes of "just add boiling water" sachets, one per mug everything needed included. Wife adores them.

[oldherbaceous]

Or you could buy a bottle of camp coffee, but you would probably find that turns into dry granules.

[Westi]

Peter - Sachets - Feel a bit silly now - sorry!

OH Camp Coffee - blast from the past - don't think it will do the trick though!

Westi

[peter]

Ok, perfectly sized serving of delicious dehydrated milky coffee, individually wrapped in a cunningly constructed, easy to open, foil and paper container, designed to keep each serving as fresh as the first.however long you take to get through the box

[Westi]

Peter - might be time to rethink! They truly are yuk thanks the the dehydrated milk, & sugar whether you want it or not & yes indeed getting in the things could take up a lot of planting & weeding time!

I'll go for the 'just' coffee ones & got a lovely sharp knife for Xmas! (To stab the individual who designed these things!)

Westi
(OK now you're going to tell me 'just' coffee is only available in boxes of a million!)

[peter]

Don't know, but you opened and read my package of bulls***.