It is horrible and should be banned. Maybe call it brown water.
I don’t think any instant coffee is worth the effort. When I used to go camping I found that a stovetop expresso make (the Moka type) worked well.
I’ve been drinking Pilon brand instant espresso; it’s not bad.
Even lighter and more convenient than a tea ball, tea filter bags.
You can prepare them ahead of time, roll them up and store in a ziploc bag.
I guess you still need to boil water. so you still need some kind of pot/pan. I would reccomend some kind of percolator. You’d get boiling hot coffee, no need for filters.
I tried the tea ball yesterday. I wouldn’t recommend it. The coffee tasted fine, but it was extremely muddy - I guess the tea ball’s mesh holes are too big. Maybe the filter bags would work better.
I’ve seen small coffee filters that slide onto a short plastic rod to hang over your coffee cup–mayber at REI? I don’t know what advantage this would have over using either washable or paper “tea bags” filled with ground coffee, though.
I sometimes use the Folger’s single serving “coffee bags” at work and on vacation and it’s passable with cream and Splenda but tastes like the filter to me if drunk alone. Perhaps better to pack some caffeinated tea instead?
The “french press” method has been adapted to the large (plastic) insulated coffee mugs that so many people use. For a fresh mug of coffee this would be nearly perfect for hiking - the mug is lightweight, unbreakable and insulated, and can do double duty for other uses. The key to the press method is avoid too fine a grind, will make for a gritty brew.
For all that trouble, somebody sells a reduced coffee concentrate (or used to), I bet that would be far better than freeze-dried/instant, but might require re-packaging and hassles of its’ own. I can imagine a container popping a lid deep inside the food bag “Makes 20 gallons”.
Starbucks makes a pouch of coffee meant to be thrown in a drip basket. One of those pouches in a nalgene bottel with boiling water makes decent coffee.