Camp coffee

[Biff]

No, not a political statement. Was yattering with Very Old Aunty who reminded me of this dreadful product. Anyone remember it? You need to be of a certain age 

[Hot Flatus]

Yes, nasty stuff. I seem to recall it came back into fashion a few years back.

[Biggsy]

My mum still uses it for coffee cake topping - which everyone likes 

[John Henry]

I can remember my nan always having a bottle in her kitchen cupboard, but I think it was used for cooking rather than drinking. Is it chicory based?

[Biggsy]

It's got chicory in it, yes.

[TheWitney1]

Ah brilliant stuff! Reaquainted myself recently with Camp after many years away, yes it does have a certain acquired  taste.

[Butterfly]

I love it blended with a bit of milk and a LOT of ice cream

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'm sure I've never had it but I have vague memories of my grandparents having it in their kitchen cupboard. A square bottle IIRC?

[Butterfly]

I'm sure I've never had it but I have vague memories of my grandparents having it in their kitchen cupboard. A square bottle IIRC?

That's the one

[Cudzoziemiec]

I don't know how much truth there is in this - I suspect not much as I'm sure Camp coffee is far older - but I heard or read somewhere that the idea of adding chicory to coffee came about in France during WWII to overcome shortages.

[Fab Foodie]

WW1 Germany .... Ersatz Coffee, Tea and Cocoa

Coffee imports had became impossible by 1916. The scant stores on hand had been stretched and extenuated by the use of chicory and other supplements. A transition from coffee to coffee substitute began. The first substitute, Kaffee-ersatz, was not a bad one. It was mostly made of roasted barley and oats and the flavor was enhanced by chemicals from coal-tar. The brew had a good percentage of nutritive elements, no caffeine and was quite palatable when taken with milk and sugar--without sugar though, it was impossible. But the grain could be put to better purpose and so this led to the introduction of the substitute of a substitute. Kaffee-ersatz-ersatz was made of roasted acorns and beechnuts, with just enough roasted barley to build up a coffee flavor. It was said to be better than the first substitute but was also more expensive. Unfortunately, there weren?t enough acorns and beechnuts, much of which was being fed to pigs. Before long the excellent acorn-beechnut coffee disappeared to be replaced by a third substitute whose original ingredients were carrots and yellow turnips. A substitute for tea was not difficult. The bloom of the linden tree mixed with beech buds and a few tips of pine made an excellent "oolong." A cocoa substitute came from coal-tar and chemistry along with roasted peas and oats.

Some Wikkiness ....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_substitute

[tatanab]

I was born in 1952 and cannot recall anything in the house other than Camp coffee (yes it was chicory based) until probably mid 60s when we started buying Nescafe instant coffee.  I imagine it was a question of economy.  I'm pretty sure my grandmother used Camp for some time after that.

[Exit Stage Left]

A mixture of coffe and chicory is called 'French Coffee' and A mixture of Coffee and figs is 'Viennese Coffee'. There's also something called 'Barleycup', which the sort of hairshirts who eat Carob buy.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/1986/schedule/made?view=plain
Camp coffee was just an instant coffee, and was displaced by powdered.

[Ian H]

Wasn't there also a home-made alternative made from ground dandelion root?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Barley coffee is still around in Poland, where it doubtless enjoyed an enforced second popularity in the 80s but is now more often given to kids (it's caffeine-free).

[Hillbilly]

Perfect companion for Fruity Flapjacks?

[Valiant]

Where can I get some from? Sounds like it's worth trying.

[Exit Stage Left]

Barley coffee is still around in Poland, where it doubtless enjoyed an enforced second popularity in the 80s but is now more often given to kids (it's caffeine-free).

I seem to remember it being imported from Poland, we always had some for Conservation Volunteers in the 1980s, as many 'Wove their own yoghurt'.

[hellymedic]

Amazon sell Barleycup http://tinyurl.com/bdc5z35

[Peter]

For Christmas, I bought one of my brothers a Camp Coffee enamel sign, which would bring back memories of our grandparents, who used to use it.  To judge by the illustrations, which include a Scots soldier and a naval officer, it's much older than WW1.  I'll have a look on Wiki.

As to the taste, "nostalgic" is the kindest word.  I think the tendency is to do what it says on the bottle, which makes your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth.

Edit:  according to wiki, it's Scots and dates from 1876.

[pcolbeck]

My Dad used to have a strange thing about chicory coffee. Not sure why maybe something to do with being n the forces in the 50s and early sixties or maybe a hangover from the immediate after mouth of WWII. We always had a bottle of Camp Coffee in the house when I was a kid.

[Arch]

Camp can still be found in supermarkets. Barleycup is more the sort of thing you get in healthfood shops. A colleague of mine who can't drink tea or coffee (he'd like to, but any caffeine interferes with his medication to prevent him sleeping at all) drinks something called "Inka", which he describes as like Barleycup, but nice. He gets that from the healthfood shop he does deliveries for.

A few years back they redrew the label for Camp, so that the Sikh manservant now sits down for a cuppa with the officer he used to serve.

[Butterfly]

Barley cup is ok, so long as you don't think it's coffee, just a non specific warm drink. They sell it in Holland and Barrett and other heath food shops. There are some other alternatives, some are better than others.

[Arch]

Barley cup is ok, so long as you don't think it's coffee, just a non specific warm drink. They sell it in Holland and Barrett and other heath food shops. There are some other alternatives, some are better than others.

Yes, I think I made the mistake of expecting something like coffee when I first tried it, hence my current disdain for it....

[ian]

Camp is definitely on the shelves in Waitrose (I just saw some). I was just discussing it with my wife as we did the shopping, and the fact that I once had to drink an entire bottle of it at my grandparents. My grandfather only ever drank Camp coffee and I used to have it with hot milk as some kind of proto-latte when I was little. Anyway, another habit of my Grandfathers was, for some reason, removing pills from their proper packaging and putting them in random jars. This led to me, about age twelve, inadvertently ingesting a sleeping tablet rather than the intended aspirin. I did initially put down the intense sleepiness to the fact that I was trying to watch Ashanti, a movie disinclined to keeping anyone awake, but later resorted to drinking near-neat Camp coffee in a splash of milk. It's rather sweet. Anyway, I fell asleep, thus avoiding both my headache and the remainder of a dull movie, not to mention introducing myself to potentially recreational pharmaceuticals at a young age.