Great Walks of New Zealand
Drinks
Coffee is life and there is no reason to start each day with dirty old instant coffee. You can do better than that and there are lots of good options to get a proper espresso hit before the day's adventure begins.
After a long day on the track there is nothing better than sitting by the lake or the mountain with a little tipple. NZ is known for amazing wine, and this is a great option on the Great Walks. For those that don't mind carrying extra weight, a can of beer (or two) can often sneak into a hiking pack. The most popular drop on the trail is spirits known for their high alcohol to low weight ratio.
Drink Essentials
Bladders
Ditch those heavy bottles and decant your wine or spirits into a bladder. Some bladders come with a carabiner to attach to the outside of your pack so you will always find room to sneak this in.
Coffee
Many hikers will stick to instant coffee and powdered milk but if you need decent coffee there are some other options.
1. Filter coffee - Many portable cooking systems like Jet Boil have a plunger attachment to make plunger coffee.
2. Wacaco - make portable handheld nespresso makers. Just pack some coffee or pods and you can have cafe quality coffee on the trail. The Wacaco unit is a little heavier than instant coffee but so worth it.
Cocktail Hour
Spirits are a favourite of many hikers due to the weight vs alcohol ratio. Carry whatever takes your fancy, just remember liquid is heavy.
Stanley make some sweet hiking shot glasses that are great for the track and help you make lots of friends along the way.