CaminoJoy123
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2017
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Hola! Norteamericana aqui!
Can we bring packs of instant coffee into Spain? And bags of tea as well? And green tea?
What about those electrolyte tablets, like Nuun?
Or will we be considered an importer?
I know Spain has coffee and tea and supermarkets for supplies, but I already tried to search on a Spanish website for a supermarket chain and saw no instant coffee.
Estoy preocupada.
Instant coffee when you can get cheap delicious cafe con leche at any bar???
I want to know how I get coffee at 6am too. My normal routine is wake up, bathroom, coffee, bathroom. Usually takes me 2 cups to wake up.the instant coffee is for waking up at 6am.
I want to know how I get coffee at 6am too. My normal routine is wake up, bathroom, coffee, bathroom. Usually takes me 2 cups to wake up.
The cafe's near the albergues are often open at 6.00 am, as for whether they will serve you in your pajamas - well that will depend on what colour they are!! (Laugh!)I know, terrible of me, right?
Actually, the instant coffee is for waking up at 6am. I doubt the bars are open then, and surely they won't serve me in my pajamas!?
I need coffee pre walking to get things going so to speak and 8 o'clock starts are not to my likingInstant coffee when you can get cheap delicious cafe con leche at any bar???
I need coffee pre walking to get things going so to speak and 8 o'clock starts are not to my liking
I need coffee pre walking to get things going so to speak and 8 o'clock starts are not to my liking
I want to know how I get coffee at 6am too. My normal routine is wake up, bathroom, coffee, bathroom. Usually takes me 2 cups to wake up.
Maybe the vending machines in some places have coffee? Or I bring a stinger, travel mug and get my supplies at the markets.
Coffee addicts need coffee.
Let me agree with the other posters. On the Frances, either your Albergue will have a bar, or there will be one nearby. They will be open early JUST to get you your morning coffee. As another poster noted, the situation in the albergue is a bit chaotic at lights on, most people stumble into their shoes, and head for the bar. I never saw anyone try to make coffee in the Albergue, there was no point, and the stuff next door was just sooooo good.
What you don't know is just how good the cafe con leche is in Spain. Most places, its 1 euro. Until my Camino, I thought Italy held the Olympic gold medal in coffee making, but now I'm not so sure......
Along the Francese, you will have little trouble in getting coffee (but not much else) first thing in the morning. In many caminos, I have only had two bad cups of coffee in Spain, otherwise I would say that they do not know how to make a bad cup of coffee. However, I have seen nescafe for sale in Spanish supermercados, so you will not be out of luck. I hear that it is difficult to get good teabags in Spain, but as I've never tried, I'll let others' comments rule here.
Yes, the Nescafe brand (and similars) is well established in Spain. No problem at all (apart of the taste....).
And you will find almost any kind of tea or teabags you like. It is a modern country...
Note that not all albergues have kitchens open to pilgrims. And early morning is a kind of organized chaos in the dorms and common areas...Not especially conducive for a quiet and relaxed breakfast. But as possible, it is possible (provided there is a kitchen)
Some albergues offer breakfast, which usually means tea or café con leche, toasts and marmalade.
It is entirely up to you, but I suggest you try to adapt to the Spanish style of things....You may even like it, after a while.
Buen camino!
Gracias, this is great information.
I will try to adapt. However I have been drinking cold instant espresso first thing in the morning for so many years. I might need a trip to the hospital without it.
I brought some instant packs into Spain and it was fine. Have you joined the hot water coil club yet? Its great to have coffee first thing in the morning. I love coffee and Spain really has wonderful coffee, but I love to drink it as I get ready for the day.
It will be like going to ReHab then
Hah! I'm not going to rehab! No!
By the way, I loved your movie.
As self elected guardian of the beer n wine industry of Spain this thread is insulting !!!!!
Eroski is a chain of supermarkets that have everything from groceries to credit vouchers for your phone. Here is the link for the online tea and instant coffee https://www.compraonline.grupoeroski.com/en/supermarket/2060118-Breakfast-and-sweets/2060119-Coffee-and-teas/ and it should give you an idea of the prices and what is potentially available. If you must insist on an early cuppa, at least help the local economy by hitting the local tiendas. Just remember small town tiendas may only have a choice of 1-2 brands of certain items and if it is not popular with the locals they may not have it at all.
I walked with a tea drinking Spaniard whose years of working in the UK have left him with an Earl Grey addiction and I don't think he realised how much he was addicted until he couldn't find any from Granada to about Salamanca.
Customs will not let you bring in any animal origin foods so make sure there is no dairy in anything you may want to bring in.
If you are a bit of a tea snob who insists on real Japanese loose leaf sencha for the morning green tea, you could always get one of these:
And if you need more tea leaves there are a couple of tea shops in Pamplona:
Tea Shop San Nicolas, Tea Mundi, and Spicy Tea.
Oh and last thing, just be aware that if you are getting up at 6 am it may still be dark. But sunset tends to be later too.
At least Cafe Bustelo has Galician origins!Thank you for the link to the grocery store in Spain.
This is the amazing, beautiful, awful truth:
http://www.target.com/p/cafe-bustelo-instant-espresso-sticks-6ct/-/A-47887885
I will bring my supplies for morning coffee. My Camino is coming soonI know, terrible of me, right?
Actually, the instant coffee is for waking up at 6am. I doubt the bars are open then, and surely they won't serve me in my pajamas!?
At least Cafe Bustelo has Galician origins!
I need my coffee to get moving. I am going to smuggle some Starbucks VIA Ready Brew Italian Roast in with me, but don't tell anyone! A little hot water from the tap in a plastic bottle, a good shake and you are ready to go. I will drink coffee when available from something other than a vending machine. ¡Café negro para me! I am also going to bring some Drip Drop rehydration packets available at local drug stores (generallt next to the pedialyte).
Someone mentioned the Electric Coil Club, so I want to give it a proper airing: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...ric-coil-changed-my-life-on-the-camino.19167/
To a more serious opinion, I will also say that I used to buy those individual packets of Nescafe while on these untraveled caminos, but soon found that if I drank two cups each morning and offered a few to my companions, I was going through a lot of those boxes. It is MUCH cheaper to bring a small plastic bag with a twist tie and dump the 250 g of coffee into it, leaving the heavy glass container behind. For the price of 20 or 30 envelopes you have enough coffee for weeks.
I am someone who needs hot coffee in the morning before starting out, but if I were walking on the Camino Francés, I don't think I would bring the coil. The weight of the coil, cup, coffee, and milk is not trivial. On a camino where nothing is open before 8 and towns may be 20 km apart, it's worth it to me, but on the Camino Francés, where you can't turn around without bumping into a café, I would make a different cost/benefit analysis. Personal decision, of course.
Buen camino, Laurie
I always bring 6-12 instant coffee tubes with me, to get started, usually Nescafe, Folgers, or Starbucks. Once in Spain or Portugal, ANY supermercado will carry individual packets of instant coffee. Nescafe is very popular. There is NO STARBUCKS once you are clear of airports, unless something has changed in the six months since I was there.
When buying, check to make sure you are NOT buying coffee in "tea" bags. They sell both types, "tea-bagged" and in "tubes."
Personally, I prefer the tubes for adding to a .5 liter bottle of hot water from the sink in the morning. The tubes fit well in the bottleneck. It is not the perfect cup of coffee, but it does get me started towards the first REAL cup of fresh brewed down the trail.
I also rinse and reuse the same bottles (4 of them) until the bottles get "grungy." I recycle them properly, then buy replacements. Curious, when buying a .5 liter bottle, it usually comes already filled with FREE spring water... go figure!
FYI, I carry a small, collapsible silicone funnel that enables me to "pour" powdered protein nutritional supplements from a pouch in to the same small bottles. I have a medical condition that requires I ingest powdered protein over the day. Typically, I combine a flavor like Vanilla or Chocolate with the instant coffee, in hot water, to make a mocha like drink. Again, not perfect, but it fools my brain...
More FYI...I find filling the bottle after my morning shower to be the best use of water. I try not to waste water by running the sink tap until it gets hot.
If the place you are sleeping at offer something that includes heated water in a kettle in the morning, use the hot water to combine with room temperature water in your bottle.
Do not use straight hot water, as many plastic bottles will get very soft, very fast. The plastic used for the bottles, especially if of the thin walled variety, has a very low melting point.
I hope this helps.
Ahhh...what you need is STOK!!! I camp out a fair bit...free ad here...Southern Utah is full of outdoor locales worth visiting. Anyway my sister-in-law heard me grousing about the quality of instant coffee and recommended STOK. It is a black coffee shot of expresso in one of those small containers the half-and-half usually come in. 40 mg of caffeine and a self-stated limit of 2 a day.
It is actually pretty good stuff, compared to the generic coffee in a tube. Not sure where she got it as she gave me over a dozen packs. Dare I say it...get stoked!
I need my coffee to get moving. I am going to smuggle some Starbucks VIA Ready Brew Italian Roast in with me, but don't tell anyone! A little hot water from the tap in a plastic bottle, a good shake and you are ready to go. I will drink coffee when available from something other than a vending machine. ¡Café negro para me! I am also going to bring some Drip Drop rehydration packets available at local drug stores (generallt next to the pedialyte).
Ok, so the plastic bag with the twist tie works well and stores coffee over time because no humidity?
What? No Starbucks? Seriously?I always bring 6-12 instant coffee tubes with me, to get started, usually Nescafe, Folgers, or Starbucks. Once in Spain or Portugal, ANY supermercado will carry individual packets of instant coffee. Nescafe is very popular. There is NO STARBUCKS once you are clear of airports, unless something has changed in the six months since I was there.
When buying, check to make sure you are NOT buying coffee in "tea" bags. They sell both types, "tea-bagged" and in "tubes."
Personally, I prefer the tubes for adding to a .5 liter bottle of hot water from the sink in the morning. The tubes fit well in the bottleneck. It is not the perfect cup of coffee, but it does get me started towards the first REAL cup of fresh brewed down the trail.
I also rinse and reuse the same bottles (4 of them) until the bottles get "grungy." I recycle them properly, then buy replacements. Curious, when buying a .5 liter bottle, it usually comes already filled with FREE spring water... go figure!
FYI, I carry a small, collapsible silicone funnel that enables me to "pour" powdered protein nutritional supplements from a pouch in to the same small bottles. I have a medical condition that requires I ingest powdered protein over the day. Typically, I combine a flavor like Vanilla or Chocolate with the instant coffee, in hot water, to make a mocha like drink. Again, not perfect, but it fools my brain...
More FYI...I find filling the bottle after my morning shower to be the best use of water. I try not to waste water by running the sink tap until it gets hot.
If the place you are sleeping at offer something that includes heated water in a kettle in the morning, use the hot water to combine with room temperature water in your bottle.
Do not use straight hot water, as many plastic bottles will get very soft, very fast. The plastic used for the bottles, especially if of the thin walled variety, has a very low melting point.
I hope this helps.
The cafe's near the albergues are often open at 6.00 am, as for whether they will serve you in your pajamas - well that will depend on what colour they are!! (Laugh!)
So no Moconna coffee sticks or chocolate then ?Eroski is a chain of supermarkets that have everything from groceries to credit vouchers for your phone. Here is the link for the online tea and instant coffee https://www.compraonline.grupoeroski.com/en/supermarket/2060118-Breakfast-and-sweets/2060119-Coffee-and-teas/ and it should give you an idea of the prices and what is potentially available. If you must insist on an early cuppa, at least help the local economy by hitting the local tiendas. Just remember small town tiendas may only have a choice of 1-2 brands of certain items and if it is not popular with the locals they may not have it at all.
I walked with a tea drinking Spaniard whose years of working in the UK have left him with an Earl Grey addiction and I don't think he realised how much he was addicted until he couldn't find any from Granada to about Salamanca.
Customs will not let you bring in any animal origin foods so make sure there is no dairy in anything you may want to bring in.
If you are a bit of a tea snob who insists on real Japanese loose leaf sencha for the morning green tea, you could always get one of these:
And if you need more tea leaves there are a couple of tea shops in Pamplona:
Tea Shop San Nicolas, Tea Mundi, and Spicy Tea.
Oh and last thing, just be aware that if you are getting up at 6 am it may still be dark. But sunset tends to be later too.
Yes you can.Hola! Norteamericana aqui!
Can we bring packs of instant coffee into Spain? And bags of tea as well? And green tea?
What about those electrolyte tablets, like Nuun?
Or will we be considered an importer?
I know Spain has coffee and tea and supermarkets for supplies, but I already tried to search on a Spanish website for a supermarket chain and saw no instant coffee.
Estoy preocupada.
What? No Starbucks? Seriously?
So no Moconna coffee sticks or chocolate then ?
What? No Starbucks? Seriously?
Hola! Norteamericana aqui!
Can we bring packs of instant coffee into Spain? And bags of tea as well? And green tea?
What about those electrolyte tablets, like Nuun?
Or will we be considered an importer?
I know Spain has coffee and tea and supermarkets for supplies, but I already tried to search on a Spanish website for a supermarket chain and saw no instant coffee.
Estoy preocupada.
Hola! Norteamericana aqui!
Can we bring packs of instant coffee into Spain? And bags of tea as well? And green tea?
What about those electrolyte tablets, like Nuun?
Or will we be considered an importer?
I know Spain has coffee and tea and supermarkets for supplies, but I already tried to search on a Spanish website for a supermarket chain and saw no instant coffee.
Estoy preocupada.
I doubt the bars are open then
I try not to waste water
Actually, the instant coffee is for waking up at 6am. I doubt the bars are open then, and surely they won't serve me in my pajamas!?
They will be open in 80% of your village stops.
Too funny. With the quality and prices of coffee it has, Spain is going to be a very difficult market to break into for Starbucks. Easy peasy in countries who have only tasted terrible dishwater coffee before.What? No Starbucks? Seriously?
Better yet, look for a churros vendor, as they sell super thick hot chocolate to go with the churros. Oh the calories!Chocolate - If you are after a hot chocolate, look for Cola Cao. Spanish version of Milo. It comes in sachets.
Hola! Norteamericana aqui!
Can we bring packs of instant coffee into Spain? And bags of tea as well? And green tea?
What about those electrolyte tablets, like Nuun?
Or will we be considered an importer?
I know Spain has coffee and tea and supermarkets for supplies, but I already tried to search on a Spanish website for a supermarket chain and saw no instant coffee.
Estoy preocupada.
Pyama's ?I know, terrible of me, right?
Actually, the instant coffee is for waking up at 6am. I doubt the bars are open then, and surely they won't serve me in my pajamas!?
Too funny. With the quality and prices of coffee it has, Spain is going to be a very difficult market to break into for Starbucks. Easy peasy in countries who have only tasted terrible dishwater coffee before.
Actually, the instant coffee is for waking up at 6am.
Are you saying that 80% of bars in villages are open at 6 am on the Francés?
The cafe's near the albergues are often open at 6.00 am,
On VDLP, In Castilblanco, we were all wondering why on earth a bar would open at 6am for breakfast on a Sunday.Are you saying that 80% of bars in villages are open at 6 am on the Francés?
.
you didn't indicate your country of origin
coffee in spain is a big surprise and a big disappointment
my simple advice is to pack some of the Starbucks VIA products if you want homegrown stuff
once there, you can purchase Nescafe packs which work (there are other brands as well in the local supermarket but often the pack sizes are more than you'd want to carry)
the popular coffee in spain is Cafe Americano. Trust me, it's not american coffee. It's a blend and while it's not bad coffee, it doesn't taste like home stuff
in the larger cities, you'll find Starbucks and even Dunkin Donuts but you're better off to stock up before you leave
once on the camino, you can get hot water almost anywhere
There are other 'grinds' of coffee and there are different ways to prepare coffee
pack your own (if only as a back-up plan)
buen camino
Wally , when we visit The States we don't bring with us or drink whilst there Fosters , we just enjoy Millers or whatever you guys provide.
When we go to another country which is 1000's of years older than us we try to embrace and enjoy their culture.
Its a good change.
Thornley- Next time you're here in the States, forget the Bud or Miller and try one of the thousands of available craft brews. You'll actually enjoy them and you can experience a unique, local beer, rather than the massive conglomerates.
There are Macdonalds and Burger King too, if you really want to live in a little bubble of corporate junk food.you didn't indicate your country of origin
coffee in spain is a big surprise and a big disappointment
my simple advice is to pack some of the Starbucks VIA products if you want homegrown stuff
the popular coffee in spain is Cafe Americano. Trust me, it's not american coffee. It's a blend and while it's not bad coffee, it doesn't taste like home stuff
in the larger cities, you'll find Starbucks and even Dunkin Donuts but you're better off to stock up before you leave
pack your own (if only as a back-up plan)
buen camino
..AND, it's REALLY HOT!Thank you for the information about instant coffee. So there is some instant coffee for sale. Nescafe is too weak for me though. And yes, I realize the real coffee, the hot coffee in bars and cafes in Spain is terrific.
I walked with my sister who needs coffee before she's human. It meant that the first few kms to the first cafe were REALLY fast, and she settles down after that.I need coffee pre walking to get things going so to speak and 8 o'clock starts are not to my liking
They sell instant coffee in most shops. Tea is more of a problem, they think Liptons is tea, luckily in my local Mercadona they sell PG tipsHola! Norteamericana aqui!
Can we bring packs of instant coffee into Spain? And bags of tea as well? And green tea?
What about those electrolyte tablets, like Nuun?
Or will we be considered an importer?
I know Spain has coffee and tea and supermarkets for supplies, but I already tried to search on a Spanish website for a supermarket chain and saw no instant coffee.
Estoy preocupada.
Why do I always get sucked in to checking out someone's blog......that just killed another two hours of my day...and that was only checking out the gallery (I shall read in detail this coming week)!! Thanks for posting.....I'm very much enjoying your pics - particulary your digs and foodie shots.LOL. Bigger and better 'production' next year
Our kitchen was only for staff to prepare the communal meal. But we had tea bags, coffee, cocoa, milk, and a water heater and a milk heater in a separate room for pilgrims. And during certain hours, we allowed pilgrims to use the kitchen microwave (until we installed another one in the other room).Note that not all albergues have kitchens open to pilgrims. And early morning is a kind of organized chaos in the dorms and common areas...Not especially conducive for a quiet and relaxed breakfast. But as possible, it is possible (provided there is a kitchen)
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