MYOG SP 700 French Press, mark 1

Very cool…might be time to adapt my Jason Klass lid.

I see Nutmeg and Dr. Bronner's in the picture…do you have some secret to good coffee we need to know about? ; )

Nice work!

Yeah I've got some secrets, but they unfortunately(fortunately?) don't involve either of the ingredients you mentioned. :p

With a French Press, the secret is in the grind, coffee age, and the "bloom". ;)

I find that the jetboil french press works ok with a couple different pots (including the firelight 550). but once, i left the press in the bottom of the pot when boiling water and melted it down. not fun.

plus, it's probably quite a bit heavier than your super cool myog version. i think the jetboil press is ~1oz (heavy enough for me to switch back and forth between cowboy and press).

just curious, do you take along a grinder?

I haven't been taking a grinder, haven't found a good hand grinder that's light enough, and can do a decent medium/coarse grind..

Any suggestions?

I have been lusting after this kyocera ceramic grinder for quite some time:
http://www.orphanespresso.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=54&chapter=10

8.6oz and i bet over half that weight is the glass catcher on the base which you could do away with.

Oh man.. +1

You're right, the glass has to be at least half the weight, although the burr is probably pretty heavy itself, that handle could be replaced.

Hey Javan or James,
Are those hand grinders any more consistent with their grind size than the semi-cheap electric burr grinders you'd find at Wal-Mart or Target? I got a $60 Krups burr grinder, and even on its course setting, there's a fair amount of dust.

Just an FYI but the Jetboil lid and French press fit the SP700 perfectly.

Have you tried making coffee with it on an SP700?

Those plastic rimmed screens give really bad results from most of my experience.

The weight is the same as mine currently according to their site, dimensions are very similar.

That would probably be a good option, even without the lid just order the presser and cut a hole in the SP 700 lid.

To answer Travis RE Grinders: I've had a few cheap burr mill grinders like that also, and have the same results, they're not very good. Hand grinders pretty much always offer more grinding precision and consistency, especially something like that kyocera. I'd imagine it's awesome, and much better than anything you or I can afford in the electric grinder type.

Travis,

This is a very serious tool.

Video proof from a coffee guru:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-DxLqJZThw

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-DxLqJZThw

Wow, I see. I didn't do any shopping around, but saw one price at $75.

I have a post earlier on using the SP700 with the Jetboil system. It works well but I’ve ultimately settled in on using VIA packs. Almost as good and lots less bulk and bother.

SP700 & Jetboil coffee press

I could be convinced to sell the Jetboil press if someone is interested. (PM me)

Don Meredith
http://lightpack.blogspot.com

I wonder if you’ve seen the Bodum Cafe Solo ‘One Cup Brewer’?

I spotted one in TK Maxx (TJX) a whle back, and thought that it might make a fairly lightweight travel brewer, as it uses an entirely plastic filter attachment to a glass cup. Obviously, you’d just take the filter…

Not MYOG, and not as lightweight as your solution (I didn’t manage to weigh it in the shop…), but rather nice.

good recommendation for LW drip coffee, although I've personally got a lighter weight solution to a method I've always considered superior.

I grew up in Costa Rica (coffee land), and there the traditional method to brew coffee uses a multilayer (thick) cotton filter bag, that is suspended from a wire stand, but you can just hold it with a gloved hand.

Pour a ton of good grind in, fill with water and stir, or let slowly filter, depending on strength desired. Makes wicked coffee, it's kind of like a ghetto version of the Chemex.

like this: http://lh5.ggpht.com/_DcRNXJkRZwI/SOLXKrZg39I/AAAAAAAAASU/YJDRjYP2rW4/P1010778.JPG

hmm. what kind of cotton do you use for this Javan? I've been using chemex at home since i received one for Christmas and it is by far my favorite method.

You find this is simple enough to make in camp? how much does that sack weigh and does it ever dry out?

I've personally given up on bringing fresh coffee into the backcountry because of the weight of the beans/grinds. I used to lug a bag full of fresh grinds along and make cowboy coffee with them. I was happy with the taste (and the smell of coffee permeating from my pack on a hot sweaty day) but a bag of grinds is just so darn heavy even without any sort of a coffee maker. Making cowboy coffee 2x per day for a weeklong trip takes about a pound of grinds although I tend to be a heavy grind user so YMMV.

The last straw for me was when Starbucks Via came out. A packet of this stuff is 1.3g, so for an ounce I can bring 22 cups of coffee. I love how easily it dissolves…you can even dissolve it in cold water quickly if you really need that caffeine kick. The stuff tastes just as good as cowboy coffee too. I can understand how a coffee enthusiast wouldn't be satisfied with VIA (or cowboy coffee) and I see why the OP has created this impressive press, so this is great innovation for the true enthusiast. Casual coffee drinkers might want to opt for something lighter/simpler though.

Man, I dunno… the grind looked great once he finished, but it took him 2 minutes 20 seconds to grind 3 TBS of coffee. His shot took forever to pull, too… I worked as a barista for several years, we pulled shots at 18-20 seconds for best… his looked pretty long, but hey, maybe he's got a special way he likes to do it, and it bears nothing on the grinder. I could see opening up the grind for something more like drip than coarse and it not taking so long…

RE: the kyocera, if you note the original link, it mentions how many turns of the wheel it takes for finer grinds like turkish and espresso.

Completely worth every second.

I'd be lying if I pretended to not cut corners on the trail, but I hate myself for it each and every time, but just a little. ;)

I'll weigh the bag tomorrow or the next day, it's over at my dad's house being put to conventional use atm.. It does dry, just wring it out (it's sturdy), and hang it on the outside of your pack(obviously it'll freeze in winter a bit, so that's added weight).

Dan, "sobre starbucks":

I wont try to disparage anybody's taste. I consider myself a coffee "enthusiast" vs. "snob", however personally, I won't drink starbuck's fresh coffee, let alone anything like the Via.

I also would rather the withdrawals than drink gas station coffee.

As to weight, well, I'd rather a lb of coffee than 2 lbs of cliff bars or whatever. That's just me. ;)

To each their own. I'm a quality over quantity guy myself. I only need it once, but I need it pitch.

I was going to weigh my coffee ration this morning, but was running late and didn't get the chance. I'm pretty sure that I take about 0.25 pound coffee for two-week trips, 1 rounded TBS per cup of coffee. Coffee comes out plenty rich, not at all weak. If I were drinking 2 cups/day, then, I could see ~0.5# for 2 weeks, but 1 pound per week? Sounds… like a lot of left-over coffee coming back.

Yeah, I don't take anything like a lb a week when hiking.. Although at home I drink between 3/4-1lb per week.

Why not make something similar to this:

http://www.espressoyourselfcoffeeandtea.com/images/prods/271.jpg

from the top of a 2litre coke botte (punch a small hole in the cap, cut off most of the bottle below the curve up to the mouth).

Then you could just make 'portions' of ground coffee, and put them in the paper filters to store them (just fold the top over to stop spillage).

> I've personally given up on bringing fresh coffee into the backcountry because of the weight of the beans/grinds.

My mind was just started thinking along the same lines, having read Javan's comment:

"Pour a ton of good grind in"

Swings and roundabouts, eh?

;-)