Hot drinks for cold weather

[lureloser]

I take a couple of flasks of hot water with me, 1/2 liter I think. Then I can take a selection of packet soups and coffee. I used to take the Nescafe cappuchino or Mocha, but I've found that Asda or Morrisons own brands taste just the same. One small problem I used to get was what to drink from, so now I take half a doz polystyrene cups. Easy to stack once they're used, not too heavy, and easy to carry home for the rubbish bin. As another thought which no-one has mentioned, japanese miso soup. Very tasty, the Blue Dragon is my fave, and at 99p for five sachets, hardly expensive.

[five bellies]

Got to be soup for me. I normally take a a tin of lentil, a tin of oxtail and a small tin of vegetable. Add some Worcestershire sauce just as it comes to the boil and that keeps me going all day. Just about fits into a large thermos as well. Amazingly it seems to attract a lot of friends on the bank who you didn't know that you had before

 

 

Lentle soup Keeps most poeple Going all day, I bet you have trouble Keeping your bivvy tetherd to the bank

[Tony U]

Mulled wine; we will be making some again at Timsbury, and esspresso coffee for the drivers.

 

 

Tony

[Anderoo]

Proper coffee for me. I was out at dusk both Saturday and Sunday failing to tempt big perch, and as soon as the light went to temperature plummeted, it was freezing! But I had a flask of delicious ground coffee which helped keep me warm. At one point I was tempted to pour some into my wellies to defrost my toes.

 

I have a good stainless steel flask which seems to be almost indestructable. I've broken several cheap plastic ones before, but I've dropped the steel ones a few times and it's done it no harm.

[DavyR]

The problem with the various soup/bovril/oxo options is the high salt content - if those are the only fluids you're consuming all day, you might well end up feeling pretty groggy from mild dehydration.

 

The only way I've found to get drinkable tea from a flask is to use a weaker than usual (as mentioned above) brew of Darjeeling, and forget milk entirely.

[Leon Roskilly]

I take Dunk fishing with me.

 

He produces mugs of tea when needed

[Steve Walker]

Hot, thin soup, spiced up. So packet chicken noodle is a good starting point. Add some Thai curry paste, lime juice, ginger, garlic, chilli, bit of coriander. As Davy says, it's a good idea to take something that isn't salty, too. Proper coffee is nice in the flask, and keeps reasonably well. Particularly if you like it black. Tea only works for me with a flask of hot water and some tea bags, and even then the water isn't hot enough for a proper cuppa.

 

Of course alcohol is dangerous when you're really in danger of hypothermia, but if it's just cold I don't see anything wrong with a nip. Either in your coffee or in a hip flask. Seldom get the chance to partake, though, as I'm usually driving.

[gozzer]

I agree with Steve about alcohol, IMO, not the best thing to drink.

 

I take a flask (or two) of boiling water, and have some of the cups from a drinks dispenser. Some have coffee, some drinking chocolate in them. I find the Dwue Egberts (sp?) a decent coffee, but I'm no connaisseur, so long as it's wet and warm.

 

John.

Edited October 22, 2007 by gozzer

[Unimexsol]

Usually just coffee as tea tastes so awful from a flask. Try to make it hot, sweet and milky.

 

For cold drinks I always have a bottle of coke with me too.

 

A few years ago I went fishing with David Beckham, I offered him a bit of my coffee from my flask and he said "What's that?"

 

"It's a Thermos flask," I said.

 

"What's it do?" He asked, he'd obviously never seen one before.

 

"Well, it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold, it's really useful when you are out fishing." I replied.

 

A couple of years later we went fishing together again and I noticed that he'd been out and bought himself a Thermos of his own.

 

"What have you brought in your Thermos, David?" I asked.

 

"Coffee and a choc ice." He replied.

 

(Taxi!)

[Steve Walker]

I agree with Steve about alcohol, IMO, not the best thing to drink.

 

Although only really a problem if you're in trouble (or at risk of being in trouble), I think. I've got a batch of sloe gin on the go, a nip of which would be fantastic on a cold day, but only with proper clothing and no risk of serious exposure. No fishing in walking distance now, though, so academic.