Camp Coffee

[Anton Koliev]

I just dont understand, why people need to carry any specific machinery just to brew coffee?
My choice is turkish coffee. You just need ultrafine-grineded coffee, your mug and alcohol burner. (Actually, I'm making coffee at home only on alco-burner, because it allow to brew coffee close to ideal)
This is good tutorial, I think. I'm doing cofee at home with cezve(ibrik) and in usual mug on the trail.

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/04/turkishcoffee/

[Ryan Dunne]

Hey anton, that's pretty awesome. So when you use your normal mug it still doesn't boil with the coffee on top? How much coffee and water do you use? I think I might give this a try. seems pretty spiffy.

I've been making cowboy coffee, or sometimes in my MSR Titan the little lip is close enough to catch 99% of the grounds if i just pour it out into a cup.

[Patrick Starich]

I had my first cup of "Turkish" cowboy coffee in Poland a few years ago. Espresso grind brews and sinks to the bottom when it's ready to drink. Sip it down to the grounds, swirl and toss the biodegradable fines. If you really need to keep your cup clean, try emptying tea bags and refilling them with espresso; reclose them with a stapler. Good coffee is good coffee not matter how it's brewed.

[Steve Crane]

Tried my first cup, very similar to the Turkish coffee in previous posts as far as texture, however without the residue or straw whisk associated with the Turkish coffee. Prior to this coffe my preferred had been Java Juice @ 1oz per package, cost are compariable, big difference is that individual packs of VIA are .1 ozs, works best when 8ozs of very hot not boiling water.

[Drew Dials]

My wife is Greek so whenever we go to see her parents we drink Greek style coffee (identical to Turkish without any spice). I love it, tastes great, but after about 2 weeks in Greece, I'm ready for a good ole cuppa joe. In fact, i never make it the full 2 weeks and end up getting some at a restaurant. So I like the idea of using it backpacking, as long as I'm not out for more than a few days.

I like the idea of the java juice, but am not crazy about such an over packaged product. I think I'll stick to the Greek coffee or figure out how Laurie makes those reusable bags.

Interestingly, Nescafe is also huge in Greece. I don't think it's the Espresso kind, but they whip it into a cold frothy drink they call a frappe. One of my favorite past times while i'm there, frappes and people watching :)

[Patrick Starich]

Just found some ready-to-fill tea bags called "t-sacs tea filters" at a local coffee shop. They can be filled with your favorite tea or espresso and closed with a staple. If you mill your coffee extra fine, some of the fines may sift through the bags. They are available online at Amazon, 100 to a box for about $5. Weight per use: negligible.

[tom duffy]

Well it’s a mater of taste.

The instants all tend to lack aroma (but the caffeine is still there and anything is good when it’s cold out). In Australia at least the coffee bag “revolution” was an attempt to return the aroma and earn more money. They mixed a “tea bag” of coffee grounds (for aroma) with instant (for a quick brew) in a 50:50 mix. It is a compromise.

Over than last years the connivance market here has moved out of the coffee bag zone into sachets as a way of value adding.

They tend to be a better instant coffee grade often mixed with a skim milk powder and packed in individual half oz tubes. As you guess the skim milked dissolves better than full fat and allows the claim of “low fat” to be applied. Frothing agents/ flavors/ chocolate led to the myriad of instant cappuccinos and the such to take up supermarket shelf space.

eg. Those clever Canadians drink

http://www.nestle.ca/en/products/brands/Nescafe/mixes_cappuccino.htm

Anything with fresh grounds will smell (hence taste) better then instant. Unfortunately the water needs to be hot. On the Bolivia altiplano water at altitude won’t boil hot enough to make an easy brew. Go instant or take an expresso maker (as it still has to reach the pressure enough to force the water through he compacted grounds).

Anything which allows the grounds to stay in the water will be a thicker brew with more of the coffee oils (if you like that).

The middle eastern way to make “cowboy coffee” was to boil water, throw in the grounds let it foam up/ take it away before it overflows then repeat foaming another 2 times. The idea was to ensure mixing and get the grounds wet enough to hopefully sink away after you let your coffee sit for a while. (too much boiling and it would get bitter hence the magic 3 times). Stirring in milk powder/whitener upset the whole process but gave you something to chew.

A press or a MSR mugmate gave me a similar taste with the latter being a good deal lighter to carry.

A filter sock common in Northern Europe was a stocking and a wire ring. They are light reusable and usually wet and smelly in the wrong climate. It like filter papers would absorb/catch some the oils to give the thinner brew more common in the usa.

Yes a proper expresso is nicer but the pressure need to make a good cup meant that anything you used to make it was strong to be noticeably heavy or complicated.

I will usually tolerate the weight to get some aroma.
If I am alone and lazy I take a MSR mug mate.

If I am with “the german wife” it is usually a filter. A filter paper weighs about a gram. I have done the collapsible filter holder in the paste but they are a little over engineered/heavy. While traveling I would flatten a foil lined juice/milk/wine box (the right type helps)and just cut off a filter paper sized corner. Make a hole in the bottom and open it out to make a filter cone/holder to balance on a cup (you can be more complicated and leave a bucket handle if preferred). An old drink container should be water proof so they don’t absorb much water. It will normally take weeks of use, be replaced if smelly and doesn’t fill up your pack on the way home in a plane.

The MSR site uses the terms envirofriendly and wasteful when talking about filter papers but there is a lot more paper discarded in the newspaper that you read with the morning cup so you don’t need to believe them.

Yes it produces coffee grounds. If you are hiking somewhere that will let you light fires these grounds are not much different to than the ash you leave or the dead leaves around you (this is the line the tea drinkers use when they throw out the tea leaves). Coffee grounds in a fire will eventually burn if it’s hot enough but it’s work to build this sized fire.

If it is a long hike through a frequently used area or a definite “leave nothing behind” zone I think those little sachet things are not sounding too bad.

Perhaps the guys at BackpackingLight could do a world wide search, order a selection and do a blind taste testing of sachets. I can afford a change in ultra light coffee more than in ultra light tents.

[Jay Heverly]

I purchased some cheese cloth and I boil some water in my pot, put the grounds in the cloth and pour the water over the cloth over my bottle or cup. makes a good cup of coffee with practice and is reusable. If you cant find cheese cloth, go to a home brew store and get a grain bag. pre ground coffee needed of course.

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