The New Java Jive

Back from moving my daughter from one place to another, I realized I had not touched a computer for 3 plus days, but more importantly, I had not had a cup of coffee in all that time.

Guess I am not addicted to either one, but I did miss them. I started drinking coffee when I was about 35, prompted by the need to stay awake at PTA meetings.

If I really needed coffee though, it would have been no problem to find a cup. Our soldiers in the field need to be more inventive, and in the past they used their helmets (WWII) and in the Civil War they really had a tough time. Here's an AP story:

In the Civil War, Union soldiers were issued unroasted and ungrounded coffee beans, along with a one-quart tin-plated steel cup. Soldiers would roast a few coffee beans at the bottom of their cups or in a small frying pan, then use their bayonet socket to crush the beans. They would then pour water into the cup and boil it on a campfire, Stieghan said.

Sounds like strong stuff. But today's military are so adaptable, they drink coffee out of bags.

Soldiers mix instant coffee with water in the bag, then slide it into the flameless ration heater bags troops use to warm their meals. A magnesium and iron oxide pad within the flameless ration bag transfers heat to the water in the hot beverage bag. Within minutes, the coffee is steaming hot.

And they even have the counterpart to the cup insulator:

Soldiers slip the bag into an envelope-like cardboard carton, which can be used like a cup to drink the coffee and protect their hands from the heat.

It's called an HBB. (Hot Beverage Bag)

And that's no jive.