Blue Blaze steeped coffee delivers on taste and convenience

OK, complete this sentence:

Coffee is to a driver as diesel is to their __________.

Yes, the answer is "truck."

And, while coffee is essential to many if not most professional truckers, sadly it's not always available. Your driving day may have ended with you parking at a rest area on the interstate, and there you sit with no coffee when the next day's drive begins.

The good folks at Blue Blaze Coffee Company in Upstate New York are not about to let that happen. If you have their products and a source of hot water, you're driving day can begin properly: with coffee in hand.

Blue Blaze has created what it calls "steeped coffee products." These are akin to teabags but filled with coffee instead of tea. You immerse a bag in hot water, let it steep and then dunk it as you would a teabag.

They offer two brews:

• Backcountry Blend, which is a medium roast
• Switchback Blend, which is their dark roast

Both come in real coffee and in decaf. 

A package of 10 bags is $20 and a package of three bags is $6.50.

Both Blue Blaze blends have good coffee flavor, and are without that somewhat metallic taste you get with traditional instant coffee.

If you have a microwave, a 12-volt electric kettle or even an electric immersion water heater you can enjoy good coffee even if there isn't a truck stop handy.