Let's Talk Coffee

[mikel68]

We have a Keurig and a Nespresso machine. Both pod based machines. The Nespresso kicks the Keurig's butt. Great cup.

[TravellinLibrarian]

We have a Cooks (JC Penney) 10 cup automatic drip with a stainless carafe. I chose it because the carafe won't break and it has a pause and pour (can't wait for that first cup!) as well as a sealed top on the carafe to keep the coffee hot and fresh longer-especially if I take it to the picnic table. I like Keurigs too, but the DH has a monster of a travel mug that he uses, so the Keurig just won't cut it. I wouldn't mind getting a small Keurig just for me when I want a flavored coffee in the afternoon or don't want to take the time for a full pot. A Keurig would be handy for those times we stop the 5'er to have lunch and I could brew a quick cup for the road. Haven't made it "the old fashioned way" yet, as we've always had electric. I have used the instant coffee single serve "flow through" bags --like tea bags (Folger's) in the past before the camper and they aren't too bad for instant coffee.

[SailorSam20500]

Originally Posted by KnP

My only gripe with French Presses is the coffee temps. Gets cold rather quick. I use them as need it.

Double wall Bodum French Press. Make as much as I want, pot keeps warm for a couple of hours. Always add a couple shakes of cinnamon. Consumable anti-freeze is commonly added if consumed in the evening...

[17 Oaks]

Coffee it's not just for breakfast anymore.
I have drank coffee since I was about 12. I drink it black and I like it robust (flavorful).

Over the years I have drank it for a lot of reasons. In my Army Infantry days I often drank it in the US, Europe and Korea to warm an ole soldiers frozen hands and body as I stood in knee deep snow in Germany or in the bitter howling wind and rain on the DMZ of Korea in January. Or the hard dry cold on the mesas of Ft Hood, Tex. In those times a Mess Sgt would take several lbs of coffee, dump it in a (hopefully) well cleaned garbage can add water, some salt and egg shells, bring to a boil and yell coffee is ready. We would dip our canteen cups into the boiling cauldron and the first cup would be used to clean and kill whatever lives in that canteen cup we wore on our hips. The coffee was bitter, acid, thick and most of all hot and that was good.

Its been a long road since then and today I have developed a more refined taste and approach. To that end here is how I make my 'cup o' joe' and many thanks to those days when it was anti freeze for an ole soldier...
Good coffee is a result and the steps along the way are each important to arrive...the means justify the end.

Beans: I experiment with a lot of beans, but I keep coming back to Starbucks beans. They are of excellent quality and remain the same over time.

The Roast: The darker (longer) the roast the more flavor you extract from the bean, the lighter the roast the more the flavors or the beans orgin (country, area, soil etc) arrives at your taste buds. I go for the darkest of all roasts, Italian, the next darkest is French, trust me there is a taste difference. NOTE: Darker and longer roast = LESS caffeine, which is why I can drink 2x 18 oz cups each morn and not get the shakes or ringing in my ears...

The Grind: If you want more flavor then the grind comes into play and for that the finest (granularity) is Turkish grind, almost like dust.

The Steep: I steep about 10 min, steep to long and it will get oily, to short and it lacks flavor and becomes almost dry and tasteless .

The Water: Pure, flavorLESS, if you are getting it from you kitchen faucet then you are making anti freeze to warm you on a cold morning, nothing else.
The Mechanics: To bring out the high notes flavors then it is a French Press, nothing else will deliver like it does. But they are not all good, many if not most allow far to much of the grind to pass thru its filter system into the coffee...you want to drink it, not chew it. When it comes to the French Press a start up company has perfected it. Its stainless steel, vacuum insulated and has a patented double filter and that is the secret: Espro Press — ESPRO - Make it Better - Coffee and Tea Gear

The Cup: Ceramic or stainless steel, period!

TIPs: Wash your stainless steel/ceramics in bleach-soap in order to insure you remove the residual coffee oils.

Experiment with steeping time to arrive at YOUR perfect cup.

Preparation Espro French Press: I have a 18 oz press and I use 2x level coffee spoons. I place it inside and tap the press on the side near the bottom to stack the coffee on one side. Then pour boiling water into the stack using a fast hard pour to mix the coffee into the water, slow as the rises and halt just below the fill line, then slowly bring it to the fill line, try not to go over. Let steep, the push down slowly on the press, I let it settle for about a min or so then pour into your cup of choice.

The Results: MY coffee notes. Rich: Notes of chocolate and molasses. Earthy: Caramel, toffee and tobacco. Fruity: Fig and Cola.
ENJOY!

[spock123]

DW likes coffee black, I don't, I like cream and sweet and low. We have a 20 month old great granddaughter and she likes coffee black, she won't touch it if the coffee is sweet. I guess she figures she is sweet enough

[SailorSam20500]

Originally Posted by spock123

I guess she figures she is sweet enough

ROFL - Dump in the sweeteners - I need all the help I can get!!!

[dmchapman]

I use the old cone style Melitta drip pot. Been using the same one for over 40 years now. Used to bring it in the house during power outages, but that was before I got a portable generator. Running a gas burner to boil the water helps take the chill off the air in the trailer. I also have a propane fired Coleman machine but it's more of a novelty item to me and it rarely goes with us as it takes up storage space and can only be used outdoors.

[tenaquilts]

Originally Posted by acsimon

There is nothing like a good cup of coffee to start your day when camping. We are waiting delivery of our first trailer (Flagstaff 21FB). Just wondering what most people use: electric drip, stove top, etc.

Morning, I cannot seem to function without my first cup of coffee while camping. My hubby doesn't drink it, so I found a Hamilton Beach Personal Cup One Cup Pod Brewer on Amazon. I love it, and it's perfect for a consistent cup of coffee. I found a Keurig K10 Mini Plus Brewing System on the Keurig.com site for a back-up. One tip.... don't forget to take your K-Cups from Happy Camping!
Tena & Ken Wallace
Chuckey TN

[17 Oaks]

Originally Posted by tenaquilts

Morning, I cannot seem to function without my first cup of coffee while camping. My hubby doesn't drink it, so I found a Hamilton Beach Personal Cup One Cup Pod Brewer on Amazon. I love it, and it's perfect for a consistent cup of coffee. I found a Keurig K10 Mini Plus Brewing System on the Keurig.com site for a back-up. One tip.... don't forget to take your K-Cups from Happy Camping!
Tena & Ken Wallace
Chuckey TN

Boiling water and a pour over, as good a cup you will get unless you do a French Press (which I leave at home). I am serious about my coffee and I never was that way until I tasted great coffee. In fact I quit drinking coffee for about 10 years and then a trip to Italy with my wife who was a coffee drinker but what I call 'high' coffee (top grade beans, fresh ground and french press). She is European and thinks American coffee is dishwater. Well with major jet lag on this 3 mo European trip and I wake up in Italy I think I need a cup. I partake and WOW, this is nothing like I have ever drank in my life. This becomes the coffee chase.

Coffee is so rich and has so much flavor and sadly few ever experience it...its not coffee flavored water!

[tenaquilts]

Don,
A friend told me I haven't had good coffee until I have coffee from a French Press. I have looked at a few, but have yet to purchase one. Seeing your post reinforces my friend's advice. Thanks for the reply, and enjoy your coffee! Happy camping!
Tenaquilts in TN

[SeaDog]

Plugged in electric, 10cup no gen hours, 9cup antique fire glass percolator both make excellent coffee

[tenaquilts]

Nespresso Machine? I need to research that, never heard of one. I'm quite picky about the flavor of my coffee, so this brewer method may be another contender. Thanks for the suggestion!
Tenaquilts

[BandJCarm]

OK, this is a pure stretch...........but I'm no coffee aficionado. But I do love my 1-2 cups in the morning. I admit, I drink "yuppie" flavored coffee out of my Keurig. That's fine and works great.

BUT..........

In 1977, I worked at the Southland Corporation (7-11 HQ) in Dallas. They gave us "official" breaks twice a day, and paid for coffee in the break room. There was a 'club' of some kind that had some secret recipe thing of making this 'sludge' at home and bringing it to work and keeping it in the refrigerator. I don't know how they did it. But they'd keep it in small styrofoam cups in the fridge.

Then they'd heat a second cup of water in the microwave, to boiling.....and pour it over this small amount of 'coffee sludge', measured out 'just right'.......and my goodness! What an amazing cup of coffee. I never did figure it out.

Years later, watching the movie Bucket List.........I thought of this. But I hope cats were not involved! LOL

Any ideas what they did? Or how?

[SidecarFlip]

My DW is in charge of coffee, not me and sh makes it, well, strong. Strong as in you turn the cup over and it stays inside.

[17 Oaks]

Originally Posted by tenaquilts

Don,
A friend told me I haven't had good coffee until I have coffee from a French Press. I have looked at a few, but have yet to purchase one. Seeing your post reinforces my friend's advice. Thanks for the reply, and enjoy your coffee! Happy camping!
Tenaquilts in TN

Thankyou. Takes 3 things: Italian Roast (the darkest roast, the least caffeine) + Turkish Grind (yea, its close to dust and it brings out all the flavor the bean has to offer) + Good quality French Press, I prefer the stainless steel vacuum press as it keeps the coffee hot while it steeps.

Originally Posted by tenaquilts

Nespresso Machine? I need to research that, never heard of one. I'm quite picky about the flavor of my coffee, so this brewer method may be another contender. Thanks for the suggestion!
Tenaquilts

LOVE the Nespresso, they have wonderful coffees, I am drinking coffee from Cuba right now (Cuban coffee is RICH and robust) and just picked up some rare and aged coffee from them. Its not an American cup, it and expresso cup or double that, but no more, its my afternoon go to...

[KnP]

The closest that you are going to get, in my opinion, to a French Press is a Copper Mesh Filter. Instead of using paper filters that traps lots of flavors, buy a Copper Mesh one. Is day and night different and is reusable; just rinse it off.

Talking about Caribbean Coffes... Try Puertorrican, very similar to Cuban or Dominican. Very dark roast, full of flavor and use a percolaror of this type on Steel, avoid Aluminium; too reactive.

[17 Oaks]

I have never seen a copper mesh filter for coffee, I would think copper would be way to reactive to the acids in coffee. I have had a gold filter, but for the pour over, the more recent Titanium filters are great:

https://www.amazon.com/Tzuki-Dripper.../dp/B01JA7SF46

[KnP]

I have seen them in plastic also. Pretty much sure is Copper or seems to look like Copper.

[Pbgbrv]

Originally Posted by dmchapman

I use the old cone style Melitta drip pot. Been using the same one for over 40 years now. Used to bring it in the house during power outages, but that was before I got a portable generator. Running a gas burner to boil the water helps take the chill off the air in the trailer. I also have a propane fired Coleman machine but it's more of a novelty item to me and it rarely goes with us as it takes up storage space and can only be used outdoors.

We use the same system...for just about as long! Great cup of coffee.

[Pbgbrv]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Coleman drip coffeemaker and an old 4-cup percolator coffee pot.



we almost always dry camp.

i see no need to run the generator in the morning, to make coffee. there are plenty of non-electric choices to make coffee, including the two i mentioned.

to run the generator just so you can make a cup of coffee, IMHO, is rude.

We dry camp a lot too. We have the Coleman and the pour over from melitta. We have also tried a French press. I think the melitta is our favorite. All has to do with the beans!! Always fresh. Found a new coffee company a few weeks ago that roasts amazing coffee. Black rifle coffee company. They have some very stout coffee all the way down to a mild dessert type coffee.