Long-time readers will know that I love my coffee, and I’m forever looking at ways to improve my ability to have a great cup of coffee, no matter where I may be.
A new concept
No Normal Coffee is a completely new concept. It’s important to understand from the outset that it is effectively instant coffee, and for many people that might be a problem. But it isn’t normal instant coffee, either (there’s a clue in the name!)
No Normal Coffee comes as a paste, inside a tube. Just like with toothpaste, you squeeze the coffee paste out. When done, you simply replace the lid.
Why?
Why would you use this? I can see several reasons. Probably the most important to me is the amount of water needed. With something like an AeroPress, you need more water, and when wild camping, water can often be in short supply.
In fact, compared to anything other than using either some version of instant coffee, or perhaps coffee bags, you will need far more water that with this coffee.
Then there’s the benefit of it being instant coffee. Yes, I can hear all you coffee snobs sighing at that, but bear with me. If after a long and arduous day, in the pouring rain, or perhaps bitterly cold wind, instant can be wonderful. Once you have your tent up, all you need to do is heat a mug of water to your desired temperature, and squeeze in some No Normal Coffee, then stir.
Even better, you could have it cold, or enjoy it straight from the tube. Yes – you can eat the paste. In fact, No Normal Coffee suggests trying it either spread on bread, or banana. I confess I haven’t tried either option yet.
Is it any good?
Coffee is all about personal taste, so from the outset I need to make it clear that my views are subjective. Your views might be different.
No Normal Coffee is sweetened (though very slightly). Normally, I don’t take any sugar or sweetener in my coffee, so that’s a small negative to me. The coffee itself isn’t particularly strong. If anything, I’d say it tastes a bit like Nescafe Gold Blend instant coffee. In my case, that’s not a big compliment, but your views may vary.
You need to stir No Normal Coffee well. No, really well! I mean it! If you don’t, there’d be a thick coffee gloup sat at the bottom of your mug. As for how much do you need, well, this is the most serious question.
The verdict
I had to use 3 heaped teaspoons before the coffee was anything like strong enough for my tastes. To be fair, I like very strong coffee, and not everyone does. As a result, that might be a positive to you. The coffee tastes alright, but I certainly won’t rave about the taste.
I haven’t yet used up the entire tube of coffee the good people at No Normal Coffee supplied me with (for free) so I don’t know exactly how exactly many cups of coffee I’d get from it. However, as a guess, I’d say no more than 8 cups.
At roughly £16 per tube (including delivery) that averages out to around £2 per cup, making No Normal Coffee blazingly expensive. That fact alone means I will not be buying any tubes. I simply find it impossible to justify spending £2 for a cup of instant coffee. If somehow this tasted just like a barista-made latte from a good coffee shop, perhaps I could be swayed.
As a result, I can only offer No Normal Coffee 3 stars, out of 5.
You lost me at “instant coffee”. I am very unfussy about the food and drink I consume, but I detest the taste of instant coffee – to me it tastes chemically (I don’t know if it has more chemicals than any other coffee, whether this is a bad thing if it does, or if chemically is in fact a word). Then you said £2 a cup. If instant coffee has any positives, one of them would be its cheapness. However, all things are relative, I suppose, I paid £12.20 for 3 (albeit very nice) capachinos in Hove two days ago – yes I was shocked. And if you, like me, wonder how £12.20 divides into three, a service charge was automatically added to the bill.