Hi Guys,

I just wanted to do some research into preferences in camp while on safari wrt coffee and a certain spread. i have heard a lot about both of the above but wanted to know what the general concensus was

Your assistance is appreciated, thank you

Question:
What coffee do you prefer?

Choices:
Instant - give me that nescafe stuff any day
Percolated - i like it freshly brewed thanks
I dont drink coffee, i drink tea(thanks sting)
none of the above - give me a soft drink

Question:
And should you drink coffee, how do you take it

Choices:
black - no sugar or sweetener
black with sugar or sweetener
white with sugar or sweetener
white with no sugar or sweetener

Question:
Oh and one that i love to hear people moan about: what do you think of Bovril or Marmite

Choices:
I love it
takes like crap

 

Coffee....

Yes please

I prefer the Italiam Moccha machine that pushes the water from the bottom , as steam, to the top, through the ground coffee powder. Makes very strong espresso. Yummy! dilute with water and milk to make 'A Caffe Americano'.

On the other hand, I have friends who swear that Carlsberg Special Brew is and especially fine breakfast lager.... but I wouldn't take them elephant hunting!

Aubrey,

Personally I'd be very happy to have a french press in every camp. Boil water, put ground coffee in press, pour water over grounds, let set a couple minutes and depress plunger. Voila! Great coffee with very litte hassle.

I usually drink tea because Nescafe which I was raised on just is not coffee. It is a hot drink only.

Marmite and Bovril I think are an acquired taste much like........I really can't think of anything.

Mark

+1 FOR THE FRENCH PRESS.

French press is a great idea but I like tea on safari because of the safari tradition and I like tea.

I also like Beefy Bovril on toast in the morning.

I took a can of Folgers with me last time and taught the cook how to make good Texas Cowboy Coffee.

I only drink stimulants & depressants! Coffee until time to start drinking alcohol. The time of switching depends on how the day is going!

As far as Maramite goes...I could eat it if I was starving to death...but then again...

I have no idea what Marmite and Bovril taste like, but I was forced to answer anyway. So I voted nasty. That will likely skew your results.

I like my cofee like my women - Bitter

I like good coffee as much as anyone - but I must confess that I'll drink (and have drunk) just about anything resembling and represented as coffee, as long as it's hot, black and strong.

I was thinking just yesterday about only getting instant coffee in a safari camp and about taking my own perculator and coffee next time.

465H&H

Anyone who does not like Marmite and Bovril, and prefers his coffee from a French press, has no business going hunting!

People complain about English food. But I think English food takes a distant second place to French food.

The French have an incredible ways of ruining a good meal with their funny sauces

Give me a straight buffalo, sable, eland etc, steak and Tanzania rice any day!

Saeed,
I think you are right except for Cajun food. Our friends in Louisiana eat things that make Marmite, Vegamite and Bovril taste like candy and cake.

The French like their artery clogging sauces, the English like their blandness and Cajuns just like seeing what they can do to road kill.

I couldn't seem to get a decent cup of coffee during my entire stay in Africa. My young PH did his best with that little hand-pumped gizmo, but I eventually gave up and drank tea.

I tried Bovril a couple of times, mainly in an effort to make the coffee seem better by comparison.

Never have had marmite or bovril but was forced to vote on it.

Love my black coffee in the morning, or really anytime of day.

LEDVM: you can do both, bourbon in coffee ain't bad.

I've spent a lot of time in Africa. About the only decent coffee I've ever had was when I bought some Arabica beans in the duty free at Nairobi.

Nescafe is universally served. And it's a rotten shame, too, because the Kenyan and Tanzanian coffee is some of the best available.

To serve that instant crap in camp is an insult to the African coffee growers. I would imagine that the instant is served because of the added expense and trouble involved in making a decent cup of coffee. I have never had a decent cup in Africa that I didn't make myself in my hotel room.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
...I'll drink (and have drunk) just about anything resembling and represented as coffee, as long as it's hot, black and strong.

This, but only in the morning. Afterwards it is water, coke (or coke light), or some sports drink.

I am a devout Louisiana coffee drinker. I brought a large bag of Community Coffee (LA state coffee) with me to Zim in June and they had a french press which worked very well. Glad I did, they only had instant, which is disgusting.

quote:

Originally posted by BulldogMaster:
I think you are right except for Cajun food. Our friends in Louisiana eat things that make Marmite, Vegamite and Bovril taste like candy and cake.

I don't know what you have had from Cajun land that was bad. They eat some unusual things like 'gator and crawdads but all is tasty. I married a Cajun and have spent a great deal of time there. I can't think of anything Cajun I would describe as worse that Marmite or even bad for that matter.

I find this tread very entertaining!
North Americans discussing coffee...


http://www.arvidnordquist.se/C...c%20Coffee-1571.aspx

http://www.kaffeinformation.se...ullPage.aspx?id=3637

It always amazes me that outfits that charge $1250 a day and more, can't produce a decent cup of coffee. And they look at you cross-eyed if you tell them you want decaf.

Same thing with diet soda.

Now I wouldn't mind if I were on a budget bare-bones safari. But on a full boat rate, one expects at least the same beverage choices one can get with a $10 meal in any fast food joint, in Africa or the USA.

I guess the reason they do it is people still line up to pay. Heck, one could probably buy a small country in Africa for the price of a 21 day Safari.

I always bring a couple of bags of Peets or Starbucks and make sure the Ph has a coffee maker if they have electricity, french press otherwise. Usually goes in the hunting car in the morning (and spilled if we see anything good early)

I actually had good coffee while hunting the last two times I was in Africa, once in Namibia and once in S. Africe. Prior to that, it was like living in a coffee desert, the people I was around had absolutely no clue what real coffee is supposed to taste like. I carry a least a pound of Community Dark Roast as back up anytime I go to Africa.

As far as bovril/marmite goes, the less said the better. It tastes about like it looks......need I say more?

Cajuns cook some of the finest foods in the world, I have serious doubts about anyone's tastes who has had a variety of real cajun cooking and thinks it is bad.

In South Louisiana we take pride in our food and coffee.

I bring Community Coffee, dark roast of course, and an old drip pot that belonged to my wife's Grandmother when I go to Africa. I cannot drink instant coffee. I can say I have developed a taste for good tea.

After I lived in SA for a year, I quickly learned that the coffee menu at hunting camps severely lacks in 99% of all the locales I've been to.. I've since done the same as several others on here and make sure the outfit has a coffee maker and I just bring a pound or two of real coffee with me when I head that way.. It's usually a huge hit with the guys there.

As for the Marmite, Bovril, Vegimite, etc. ,well, I've yet to "aquire" that taste.. Looks like and smells like something a trapper in Canada would use to bait his traps with. After I tried all of the above (numerous times), I imagine it to take like that as well!

On all of my trips I carry the Folgers coffee bags. They work just like individual tea bags.

Not the same as real coffee but WAY better than instant.

PS be sure and take enough for the PH, camerman etc.

For real coffee in camp a French press seems like the easiest solution to me as they always have hot water for tea.

I carry a french press when car camping or on motel trips.

I even have a "French Press" insulated mug I got at Starbucks.

Works great.

I just love coffee...Any time of the day or night!

quote:

Originally posted by Oday450:

quote:

Originally posted by BulldogMaster:
I think you are right except for Cajun food. Our friends in Louisiana eat things that make Marmite, Vegamite and Bovril taste like candy and cake.

I don't know what you have had from Cajun land that was bad. They eat some unusual things like 'gator and crawdads but all is tasty. I married a Cajun and have spent a great deal of time there. I can't think of anything Cajun I would describe as worse that Marmite or even bad for that matter.

1. Fat back and cracklin's that you buy everywhere.

2. Boudain (or boo Dan!) -blood sausage that is basically raw and inserted in the intestines of pig.

3. Blackened "anything" - put enough cayenne pepper on it and call if food.

The unfortunate truth about coffee in safari camps is that it is almost universally Nescafe. Never understood that, especially when most cater to Americans, but there it is. I've gone the tea route but really miss a starter cup or two of real coffee at wake-up. Usually have staff wake me with a cup and can get the Nescafe down before I'm truely awake.

As to that other black stuff they put on toast, well, it's simply not for me.

I drink tea because it beats instant coffee. As for Marmite, I cannot imagine not gagging long enough to acquire a taste for it.

quote:

LEDVM: you can do both, bourbon in coffee ain't bad.

I am with ya bro!

quote:

prefers his coffee from a French press, has no business going hunting!

If you know the finer points about boiling coffee...a press is just an extra thing to tote.

Doesn't hurt anything but doesn't really add either.

quote:

I only drink stimulants & depressants! Coffee until time to start drinking alcohol. The time of switching depends on how the day is going!

Funny!

Be careful about getting these fine European coffee machines into camp. My wife drank from one for 17 days in the Ingwe camp on Sango in the SVC and she has now put such a machine on her Christmas list. $2000 for a coffee maker! That's almost a buffalo trophy fee!

Actually when we have taken our own coffe we have brought the one cup Melita filters and the little plastic holder. This takes up no room in your luggage and makes really strong coffee.

As for French food I must admit the finest safari cuisine I've had was in Cameroon. It was truly fabulous. There really were not that many heavy sauces.

Mark

I don't want to fall into the effete snob category, but has anyone tried the new Starbuck's instant packets?
Dabney

I feel this will be a big problem for me. I hate coffee and really need my 24oz bottle of diet pepsi to get started in the morning. My guess is there is NONE on the African continent.

quote:

Originally posted by Gerhard.Delport:
Coffee....

Yes please

I had the pleasure to spend a bit of time with Infinito this fall. I mentioned that I like perked, dripped or pressed coffee instead of instant. At that time, they only had instant.

Dang if a staff member didn't immediately go to town and buy a press so I could get coffee the way I like it.

That's service!!!

Yep, lost od it strong & black. My PH's staff used a French press and my wife and I could direct the staff to make it stronger. She uses half& half and Splenda, so we brought a case of those min-moos of half& half with us for her Joe. jorge

"The Coffee Song" by Frank Sinatra

Way down among Brazilians
Coffee beans grow by the billions
So they've got to find those extra cups to fill
They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil

You can't get cherry soda
'Cause they've got to fill that quota
And the way things are I'll bet they never will
They've got a zillion tons of coffee in Brazil

No tea or tomato juice
You'll see no potato juice
The planters down in Santos all say no no no

The politician's daughter
Was accused of drinking water
And was fined a great big fifty dollar bill
They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil

You date a girl and find out later
She smells just like a percolator
Her perfume was made right on the grill
Why they could percolate the ocean in Brazil

And when their ham and eggs need savor
Coffee ketchup gives 'em flavor
Coffee pickles way outsell the dill
Why they put coffee in the coffee in Brazil

So you'll add to the local color
Serving coffee with a cruller
Dunking doesn't take a lot of skill
They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil

quote:

It always amazes me that outfits that charge $1250 a day and more, can't produce a decent cup of coffee. And they look at you cross-eyed if you tell them you want decaf.

I'd look at you cross-eyed to if you asked me for decaf in a hunting camp....for god sake man up and have a real cup!