Coffee Pour Over-2nd Cup Options

[Brad W]

Anyone doing coffee pour overs? I love the taste but this requires another mug/cup. Other than a paper coffee cup, what are you using for your receiving mug/cup?

[Matt B]

I’ve been using the
Snow Peak 300ml Ti-Single Cup

Works great

[Ratatosk]

I take a SP Titan and an old Ti cup as a rule. The harder part for me is finding a pour-over device that works well.

[Brad W]

I use the GSI java drip for car camping and it works nicely. 11g.

[Adam Salinger]

I use these single serving pour-over filters with my own coffee and a Snow Peak 300 ML Titanium Mug as my coffee vessel in the am and whiskey vessel in the pm.  It’s a bit heavier…but I really like that it distributes the heat unlike my Toaks 650ml.

[Marcus]

For me the 1 pass pour over does not brew the coffee strong enough for my liking. Thus i pour over the first pass, then set the grounds in my cup to steep another 5 minutes like tea, dunking it in and out a few times. This increases the brew strength, but if you did this method right off the bat it would eliminate the need for a 2nd cup for you. just a thought.

I use the 10g plastic pour over filter from REI. For the weight it works well and has lasted more than 50 nights with no wear. It allows water through slightly too quickly, but that is fixed by the re-steep method described above.

[Brad W]

@Marcus Interesting. I have tried other steeping methods-no pour over prior- and it never gave me the strength I wanted. I will have to experiment with using it submerged in the boiling water.

[Alex V]

I think I remember seeing somewhere at some point that Ryan J is using the SnowPeak M200, but I can’t find the source.

I’ve been trying to get a M200 or H200 but they’ve been sold out. They’re .5 oz heavier than the 300ml Ti Single but both are insulated. I hate how quickly my coffee goes cold in the backcountry, I’m wondering if this would work.

[Brad W]

@Alex I have seen mixed reviews on the double walled titanium mugs. That wouldn’t be big enough-only a bit over 6oz capacity. If you don’t mind more weight people like the GSI Infinity mugs. I have them and they work well, just heavyish at 4oz and plastic.

[Monte Masterson]

When not going with instant coffee, I carry an MSR Mugmate (0.6 oz) to do pour overs WITHOUT any paper filters. I had a buddy who was a Starbucks manager. He went through their schooling and he enlightened me to the fact that paper filters rob coffee of much of its flavor.

2nd cup. Depending on how light I’m wanting to go, I take either the 12 fl oz aluminum can with top cut off and insulating sleeve and a wide rubber band on top rim to protect lips (0.7 oz total) or I carry the Coleman 12 fl oz polyethylene cup (1.2 oz), however, a hot liquid can cool down quickly with this cup unless you wrap some kind of makeshift cozy around it.

[Brad W]

@Monte thanks for the ideas. MLD use to sell a very light 550ml Ti mug that was 1.5oz or so. Too bad they don’t have that anymore.

[Link .]

. Best Camp Coffee | Backcountry Barista Pour Over Coffee . I am not that picky about coffee as long as it is not bitter but here is ALAN DIXON’S  way

[Tom K]

I am not that picky about coffee as long as it is not bitter but here is Alan Dixon’s way.”

After watching Alan’s video, I can see why Via is so popular.  His technique seemed to me the antithesis of the simplicity that is central to my approach to backpacking, for what is likely not that much better a cup of coffee.  And this from a fellow who back in the day was an absolute master of bare bones simplicity in the backcountry, to the point of  proving the feasibility of a sub 5# base weight.  I was puzzled.  Via even offers a simpler, and lighter, approach to LNT.  It doesn’t get much simpler, or lighter, than an empty 1 gram foil packet.  If one prefers to use real ground coffee, cowboy style is much simpler and tastes just as good, IMO.  And I have tried both in the backcountry.  Cowboy style spent grounds can be trapped in a multiple use lightweight cloth or plastic collapsible filter and collected in a ziplock baggie for packing out, exactly as he demonstrated in his video.

Thoughts from an old timer.

 

[Axel J]

I don’t take my pour over setup on every trip, but when I do, I take a Trangia Kettle and a Helix paper cone holder then drip it into whatever cup I happen to be using at the time.

[Link .]

Alan’s way is not anything I would do, I again am not to picky about coffee. There are some people where it is very important to them! Just like photography is important to some and they carry 5lbs of camera gear with lots of lenses and power banks ect. or people who take art supplies for drawing and painting, double wall tents instead of single or single instead of a tarp. There are numerous discussions on coffee here even articles, many people find it important to them to find the best way to have a great cup of coffee on the trail others like me I take Mount Hagen instant coffee and enjoy it( I am sure there are those on here who would cringe and call it blasphemous ) I am sure Alan is carrying his own gear and if it is important to him to have what he considers an amazing cup of coffee and wants to share it with others who are also coffee fanatics I think it’s great why not, passing on ideas and techniques even if not everybody is interested is important, if not this site would be empty .If nobody gets anything from the video so be it or if one person found some useful info even better. I hardly post here anymore and I can see why many old timers like myself( well over 15 years ) have stopped posting and moved on, it has become so negative it’s my way or the highway, picking at people sharing ideas.

[Tom K]

“I can see why many old timers like myself( well over 15 years ) have stopped posting and moved on, it has become so negative it’s my way or the highway, picking at people sharing ideas.”

What you call being negative and picking at other people’s ideas I would call offering alternatives that are lighter and simpler, in the spirit of the lightweight backpacking ideals this site was founded to promulgate.  I could care less how people fix their coffee, but I do feel it well within the spirit of BPL to offer alternatives up for consideration, passing on my ideas along with their rationale, just like Alan.  As you said, if some people find them of interest, great;  if not, well that is fine, too.  To each their own.  My post was certainly not phrased as “my way or the highway”.  What I find negative is the attitude that critiquing an idea respectfully is somehow unacceptable.  Any and all ideas should be entertained in the free market place of information this site is based on.

One thing we do agree on is that many old timers have moved on, for a variety of reasons, one of which is, no doubt, the negativism you cite.  Sad that we seem to find ourselves on opposite sides of the issue here.

[Bruce Tolley]

@ Link I have not noticed increased negatism since 2007. Just fewer people engaging, probably because there are other forums of interest.

@Brad W “Interesting. I have tried other steeping methods-no pour over prior- and it never gave me the strength I wanted. I will have to experiment with using it submerged in the boiling water.”

I hope you mean water that has boiled not boiling unless you want the old style percolator pot flavor.

It seems to me that the pour over method aims for the blooms you get with a French press without the mess.

Sometimes I take Via. Sometimes I take my MSR MugMate.  My first step is to make cowboy coffee in the pot, let it bloom, then pour the brew through the MSR filter to remove the grinds.

[Tom K]

“My first step is to make cowboy coffee in the pot, let it bloom, then pour the brew through the MSR filter to remove the grinds.”

Excellent idea.  The best of both worlds.

[Axel J]

I do Via too. I took some along on a trip last month that I purchased from a Starbucks store and it tasted surprisingly good. I think for two reasons, it was purchased with a good expiration date and I added water after it had rested from a boil for about 30-60 seconds. Previous to that trip, I just used whatever Via that was on my shelf or in the pack and probably way beyond the expiration date and I think hitting it with boiling water also gave it some bitterness as well. My gripe on Via is not so much the taste but the packaging, I see those torn off tab bits too frequently for my taste a on popular trails.

[CS]

I like Kopiko a little better than Via, they’re also a little more compact and cheaper I think.

But I’d definitely prefer fresh coffee normally. My receiving cup is just a titanium Toaks, but then I put it into a Zojirushi (5.8oz weight):

 

 

[bradmacmt]

I’ve tried most of the instant coffees out there, and find, for my palette, Alpine Start to be the “best” (a dubious concept for sure)… but I do like it better than Via:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=alpine+start+instant

I wish there was a good quality organic instant, but I’ve not found one yet. For really great coffee for some trips, the Jet Boil French Press is about as good as it gets.

At home I grind my own organic beans and brew in a Technivorm Moccamaster, so I’m somewhat “serious” about good coffee!

[Matthew / BPL]

Diverging from the original topic but adding to the discussion of instant options here: While I enjoy really good coffee, I’m perfectly ok with crappy coffee too. When backpacking,0 I appreciate the simplicity of Medaglia D’Oro instant espresso. It comes in a jar so you can bulk repackage it in a small ziplock or whatever.

It mixes well with chocolate Perpeteum.

Recently I discovered a bulk Chai Latte mix from Jaipur Avenue which uses actual milk rather than nondairy creamer. You can get it in a bulk mylar “barista pack” and it makes a delightful dirty chai with Medaglia D’Oro.

[bradmacmt]

Medaglia D’Oro

Matthew, I understand your thinking. For me I tried to like Medaglia, but couldn’t. I’d rather drink good quality black tea! Vive la différence :)

[W I S N E R !]

I’m a ceramic artist. I’ve been carrying a handmade cup or bowl (or both) of some sort for decades…A little ritual I don’t forego, regardless of weight or what I’m doing. And a *little* bit of a protest against the absurdity of gram counting. We need art in our lives, lest everything becomes disposable rubbish or bland utilitarian objects. I commend the fact that some of you may get your art through a carefully crafted backcountry pour over. I tend to get it through the vessel. These days if I want coffee while backpacking, instant (Via) is good enough. Right now I’m more interested in good tea…which also happens to cause far less backcountry fuss than good coffee.

This is a new small batch of teacups from a recent firing. Shino glaze on stoneware clay. Had one (the far left, my favorite as it “flamed” a bit) in my pack on a recent overnight.

Below is a teabowl made by a friend and local ceramics treasure. Also a shino glaze on stoneware. Though at sunset on this overnight, it was a scotch whiskey bowl…

 

 

[Matthew / BPL]

Those are gorgeous, Craig. Are they small? The look pretty small.

[Author]

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