There are some days that I think I'm really quite an evil person. Not evil in the murderous, vindictive sense of the word, but I certainly have a particularly mean streak occasionally. Case in point : The journey from Newcastle (my birthplace) to Glasgow (my current home). Its a trip I make every few months, and I know it like the back of my hand. I know where the best scenery is. I know exactly where the England/Scotland border is. I know that out of all the people on the train, I'm the one who will get stuck beside the drunk, scary, weird and far too talkative old man. And I most certainly know that the trolley service will come along just at that point when I'm not thirsty.
So hurray!, I thought, when I spotted a can of Nescafe coffee in the station's WH Smith.
"A can you say?"
Yep, a can. And not just any ordinary can, oh no. Some crazy boffin in a white coat at Nescafe has come up with the ingenious plan of a self-heating can of coffee.
"Self-heating?"
That's what I said :) The can has a clear plastic part on the underside which you have to depress (no, not in the sad sense of the word :p ). Its filled with a red liquid which, when you push, disappears up into the upper part of the can. And by magic, the can will slowly heat itself up from the inside, providing you with nice, hot coffee three minutes later.
"How does that work then?"
*puts on white coat and points to blackboard* Its actually a simple chemical reaction. The red liquid visible in the bottom of the can is simply water. When the water is pushed up into the upper section of the can, it mixes with quicklime, creating an exothermic reaction. And there is the heat for you coffee. It heats the can by approximately 40 deg C in three minutes, and should be used at room temperature - so its probably not overly useful on an expedition in the Antarctic, or even a camping trip in Dumfries ;)
"Is it safe?"
Clever chemistry is one thing, but I don't want it happening in my coffee. Luckily, the reaction chamber is shielded from your caffeine hit by a polymer coated steel pod. Now personally, I have no idea what a polymer coated steel pod is, but it sounds fairly robust :)
Also, there's no need to worry about burning your mitts on the side of the can either. Because of the intense heat created, the inside of the can is insulated with a corrugated liner, and has a special coating on the exterior. So, no more need for juggling-hot-coffee-from-hand-to-the-other syndrome then :D
"Does it taste like normal coffee?"
Well, its not bad. Personally, I like my coffee quite strong, and these cans take something of a middle road in the taste department. I find them a tad too milky/creamy, but certainly an improvement to what I can get on the train! In the very least, Nescafe haven't short-changed you with watery coffee.
"Ah, but I like it with sugar!"
The cans come in different varieties to suit, although as yet, no 'black coffee' version is available. I presume this has to do with how hot the coffee would get without milk....so lets hope those boffins keep working away for those of us who need a serious wake-up call on those Monday mornings!
For those non-coffee lovers among you (how on earth do you wake up on a Monday?????), you may be interested to know that a line of teas and soups *may* be on the cards - so keep your eyes peeled, you heard it here first!
"Hm...well, it must have some bad points?"
True...nothing in this life is perfect. And there are two main bad points to consider when buying.
The first is the price, which (at least in the train stations) is £1.50, although can be found slightly cheaper in normal stores. Not bad, you may think, for utterly portable coffee, which you can have anywhere at anytime.......which brings me onto bad point number two...
The quantity. Although it may appear you're buying a whole canful of coffee, the heating apparatus actually takes up at least half the can - something you don't realise until the first time you open it. So you're essentially paying for half a can of coffee.
"So why on earth should I buy it then?"
Good point. It all comes down to whether you are a) really into your coffee, and b) would be in a situation where having coffee would usually be impossible. Not to mention the pure novelty of it, and the utter amusement you get from feeling your can heat up all by itself. Oh, and its just a tad more convenient than lunking a great big thermos around ;)
"So where can I buy this wonder can?"
Well so far I've mainly seen it in train station shops (WH Smith and John Menzies etc), although it is available in some of the larger supermarkets, particularly in city centres.
"And what the heck does any of this have to do with you being mean?"
Well, on my last train journey, I was just settling into my seat as all the usual train announcements started. After we got through the typical "We are delayed by ten minutes.." and "The buffet car is at the totally opposite end of the train", I heard that the trolley service wasn't going to be running today. Oh the satisfaction of watching people who have just walked the entire length of the train and back, look at me drinking my nice, hot coffee without having moved an inch. The evil stares I received were priceless. But I have to say, I don't think my smug grin helped ;)
Littlemissdrunk's random fact for the day : ************************************ Did you know...........that they used to burn lime in a torch to create pure white light for the stage in theatres? Hence the saying 'In the limelight' ;):D
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