When you suddenly find yourself without coffee, you begin to make stupid, irrational decisions. Like entering a Starbucks. Since we’d hate to see tragedy befall you, here's something quicker, easier and dare we say, much better.

 Sudden Coffee is instant coffee that tastes better than any we’ve tried before. It comes in a bright red vial that looks like something a spy might carry an antidote in, with bright red and white packaging that brings to mind a Saint Bernard, bounding in with a barrel of brandy as you flail about in the snow.

 But it’s coffee. Dehydrated and crystalized from what the company claims are among the top 1% of sustainable coffee beans, as selected and roasted by award-winning baristas. Big brand instant coffee is more like a byproduct or afterthought, and Sudden Coffee states a dedication to quality and flavor.

 And for us, it lived up to its promise, with a nutty, dark roast flavor that tasted more like coffee than some of the name-brand Keurig cups we’ve tried recently, as well as the ubiquitous chain slinging muddy Joe in between driving your city's indies out of business. The coffee is also beyond convenient, tote-able anywhere for your cold brew or hot caffeine needs, as the water supply permits.

 If there are any obstacles to getting this stuff into your bug-out box stat, it’s that Sudden Coffee is a subscription service, dedicated to sending you new coffees and educational materials. Subscriptions start at $18 for a box of eight vials, putting each cup slightly over two bucks. Two ounces of Sanka, assuming that still exists, will set you back $11 for two ounces in a big-ass jar.

 The subscription model could be an ambition that makes or breaks Sudden Coffee. It’s easy to assume plenty of people are willing to give instant coffee another shot. But whether they choose it as a first choice, rather than a break-in-case-of-emergency supply, remains to be seen.