I want to replace my kettle with a titanium mug

[Joe Gaffney]

I’ve been carrying the GSI kettle and a Sea to Summit mug. I do mainly freezerbag cooking, with an occasional Mountain House or Alpine Air thrown in for variety. The bottom line is that all I do is boil water. For coffee, I use the MSR Mugmate filter – I fill it with ground coffee, put it in the mog, pour boiling water over it, and wait 3-5 minutes.

I’d like to pare my cook kit down to a Snowpeak 600 ml titanium mug with hot lips. This would be the right size to boil the water I need for the freezerbag meal. I need to come up with a lid because everyone knows that water boils faster when it’s covered, but I can do that with a piece of foil. My dilemma is: How do I make the coffee? Is it enough to dunk the Mugmate into a mug of boiled water? Any other tips?

Thx.

[Bob Shuff]

Since you are downsizing, how about Starbucks Via, or one of the instant choices.  I’m happy with that on the trail.  Trader Joe’s coffee is great in the afternoon or evening.  I like cogfee-no-sugar in the am.

FWIW…dunking the mugmate will probably work fine.

I think 4 dog stoves makes a kid, but foil will work.  Use a disposable roasting or pie pan for the lid if you want something more durable than regular foil.

[Bruce Tolley]

@ Joe
Are you also using a bowl? If so, the answer is cowboy coffee.

You could boil water in the 700ml mug. Take the mug off the stove. Add your coffee to the hot water. Stir in the grounds. Let the coffee set until the foam rises. Since I like strong coffee, this about a minute or so. (This is very like making french press coffee). Stir down the foam, then pour through the MSR filter to remove the grounds into your bowl. Of course your bowl needs to be 700 ml big. You could dispense with the filter and drink the coffee cowboy style but I found I always got too many grounds in my mouth.

[Matthew / BPL]

Joe, have you looked at the Toaks Light 550 mug? It’s lighter and comes with a lid.

[Brad W]

Here is my setup and it works great. Toaks 550ml with lid, BRS 3000, 100g fuel of various brands. Fuel and stove go into mug and it all fits into included stuff sack.  Starbucks Via for the coffee-it’s plenty good.

Pot with lid 3.5oz, Stove .9oz.

[Joe Gaffney]

First, I was using the Starbucks Via but went to the MugMate because it makes better coffee. There are some things I won’t sacrifice, and a good cup of coffee in the morning is one of them.

Second, no, I don’t use a bowl. Everything is in ziploc freezerbags, which I just roll up and stuff back in the bear keg.

Third, I already have a PocketRocket and I’m very happy with it. I have a homemade foil windscreen that blocks the wind but doesn’t lead to overheating the canister. I take either the 4 oz or 8 oz MSR canister, depending on how long I’m going to be out.

I’ll check the Toaks cup with its included lid. REI carries a variety of Ti mugs, but I liked the idea of the HotLips since I’ll be boiling the water in the mug. Maybe the Snow Peak HotLips will fit on the Toaks cup? We’ll see.

Thanks for the input.

[DAN-Y]

Get a Toaks 750, it has a lid and will give you some good headroom to prevent boiling over. The extra height of the pot will enable the top rim of the pot to cool down enough to drink from it easily and then you can eliminate the need for the “hot lips”  By the time you get your coffee made the top edge of the pot will have cooled. Save weight, ditch the hot lips.

The price for both are the same and with the Toaks you get a lid.

https://snowpeak.com/products/titanium-single-600-wall-cup-mg-044?variant=671141045

https://www.toaksoutdoor.com/products/pot-750

 

[John K]

I’ve been carrying hotlips with my 550 ultralight since I got the kit…surprisingly I’ve never needed them when using a cone and starlyte… I’ve since ditched them.

[DAN-Y]

I’ve been carrying hotlips with my 550 ultralight since I got the kit…surprisingly I’ve never needed them when using a cone and starlyte… I’ve since ditched them.

John, another benefit of your kit is the handles of the 550 remain cool enough that a bare hand can be used to pick it up once the water comes to a boil.

Thanks goes out to Dan Durston for designing the kit.

[Franco Darioli]

Joe,

the trick to keep the handles of the Snowpeak (and similar) cool is VERY simple, spread them apart when on the stove .

If they touch each other they will get hot, otherwise they will not.

So use it like this :

and not like this :

 

[DAN-Y]

With a stove set-up like this it won’t mater if the handles are open…they will get hot.

[Franco Darioli]

Funny because I have the set up in your first photo and my handles don’t get hot.

 

[DAN-Y]

Funny because I have the set up in your first photo and my handles don’t get hot.

 

That! is funny…

 

 

[John K]

John, another benefit of your kit is the handles of the 550 remain cool enough that a bare hand can be used to pick it up once the water comes to a boil.

Thanks goes out to Dan Durston for designing the kit.

Absolutely!

[Franco Darioli]

Dan,

That funny was of the peculiar variety, but maybe you are not familiar with it.

[DAN-Y]

I’m familiar with this TD cone(video) and actually did as you suggested and was able to pick up the pot with no problem. This video was made back in 2016. I’ll have to get out one of my cones that look like the one in the above photo that you said is like the one you have. I strongly suspect I will find that the handles will get too hot to handle. The laws of HEAT rising up a chimney say that cone chimney will heat up anything that gets in it’s way 

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/silicone-tubing-for-handle-insulation/

[Franco Darioli]

I was doing that when I bought the BPL branded version of that mug.

That was a bit before 2016 .

Not that I was the first to do it.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

OK, lets get one thing straight here.

**TALL skinny “pots” (large mugs) are not nearly as heat efficient as lower, wider real pots.

My minimum “mug” size would be 2 cups.

[Author]

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