Can we talk coffee brewing?

spazegun2213

New member
I am a die hard fan of the Bialetti stove top espresso pots - don't leave home without it!


View attachment 630427

You and me both brother... We have 3 (1.5 shot, 3 shot and 6 shot) and I will actually clear space when I'm backpacking to make 1000% sure I get my coffee in the morning. If its worth me hauling up mountains in a pack, its going in the van, lol. Clean up is also a breeze, toss the ground "disk" into the trash, rinse (if I have water to use) and pack it out.
 

OregonJKU

Active member
Yeah, but then you're back to rinsing.

I'm against leaving grounds behind in the campsite, and I won't want to rinse water into my trash bag. Paper filters work great.
We use the metal filter at home, and like you we use paper filters when camping for the same reasons
 

DirtWhiskey

Western Dirt Rat
I think all of you with your cute little one cup of coffee Aeropress sitches are cute. For people like me, who have a deep street junky coffee addiction, I use a perk (truck) or instant (pack). Nothing else can get that sweet woop chicken into my veins fast enough. Press every cup while keeping water hot for the next press? Deal with grounds in the wilderness? Multiple points of failure? Naw.
 

Antwon412

Active member
What’s the big deal with tossing spent grounds in the woods after camping?
I never knew that was a no no.

I often toss mine into my garden and was taught it was good for the dirt.

I don’t camp so perhaps I was just unaware of this.
 

Chuck1

Active member
What’s the big deal with tossing spent grounds in the woods after camping?
I never knew that was a no no.

I often toss mine into my garden and was taught it was good for the dirt.

I don’t camp so perhaps I was just unaware of this.

Some people are hung up on rules ( real or imagined ) and its getting worse, if your GVWR is 10 pounds over you're a murder who is out to kill kids and need to be locked up, the Ham crowd have some nutty rules people ( im sure none of them ever go over the speed limit by 1 mph, joke, they never EVER break any rules )

Throwing coffee grounds on the ground, is bad bad bad, so is throwing an unfinished drink on the ground, don't get them started on plastic straws, or large cokes,,,, yet they are off roaders killing the earth (sarcasm)

In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values
 

workerdrone

Part time fulltimer
I think all of you with your cute little one cup of coffee Aeropress sitches are cute. For people like me, who have a deep street junky coffee addiction, I use a perk (truck) or instant (pack). Nothing else can get that sweet woop chicken into my veins fast enough. Press every cup while keeping water hot for the next press? Deal with grounds in the wilderness? Multiple points of failure? Naw.
Heh - I have a pretty high caffeine tolerance but each cup from my Aeropress is like a triple espresso - two servings is my absolute max in the AM. That's what made me switch actually - it's just so concentrated and rich

I've tried the Bialetti and it makes great/similar brew but much more fiddley in my opinion since you should really fill it with hot water not cold and you have to get the density of the grounds in a pretty narrow range to get the best result. Practice makes perfect but the Aero is easier imo
 

workerdrone

Part time fulltimer
What’s the big deal with tossing spent grounds in the woods after camping?

I'm not sure, I believe coffee grounds don't even need to be composted they can just be added directly to growing soil. I do believe in leave no trace so I wouldn't want to see someone's coffee grounds or anything else on the ground, and I try to leave a site better than I arrived. The french press toss is effective though!
 
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DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Throwing coffee grounds on the ground, is bad bad bad, so is throwing an unfinished drink on the ground, don't get them started on plastic straws, or large cokes,,,, yet they are off roaders killing the earth (sarcasm)
I don't know if it's right or wrong but I have my reasons for not throwing grounds on the ground camping. First just being unsightly, which of course is easy to alleviate by just spreading them well. I don't much like coming across a pile of grounds anymore than trash, toothpaste stained rocks, toilet paper or unburied poop.

The other reason is the scent of coffee grounds is a wildlife repellent (not being a biologist I don't really know if I'm affecting a den or hunting route) and the grounds are a natural fertilizer and herbicide (e.g. not being a botanist I have no idea if it's going to help invasive species and kill native).

Leave No Trace isn't just about what is seen. A little here and there isn't going to harm an ecosystem but if everyone just threw their grounds out at established camps it might. So I try to pack them out as much as I can.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Found this article on Frech Press health interesting. It's pretty balanced, not fear mongering click bait.

That's an interesting read. I wonder, assuming most Italian coffee drinkers probably drink espresso, do they actually have higher cholesterol than we American coffee drinkers who (I would guess anyway) more likely drink weaker, paper-filtered drip coffee?
 

socceronly

Active member
That's an interesting read. I wonder, assuming most Italian coffee drinkers probably drink espresso, do they actually have higher cholesterol than we American coffee drinkers who (I would guess anyway) more likely drink weaker, paper-filtered drip coffee?

That was my first thought too.

Seems like a really 'easy' study to put together, though nothing is easy to do properly. Coffee is so ritualized you could be pretty confident in the self reporting side of it too.
 

Chuck1

Active member
Leave No Trace isn't just about what is seen. A little here and there isn't going to harm an ecosystem but if everyone just threw their grounds out at established camps it might. So I try to pack them out as much as I can.

Of course no one is going to dump it on the ground at a KOA.

offroading does way more damage than a table spoon of coffee grounds, it can be argued that the coffee grounds would help the environment, plus people are pissing and taking dumps, firepits, oil leaks ( one drop would be much worse than coffee)

cognitive dissonance , when two actions or ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, people do all in their power to change them until they become consistent. This triggered by the person's belief clashing with information perceived, wherein they try to find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort.

No one wants to harm the environment but people are going crazy over things that don't really matter in the big picture, when at the same time are doing things that are much more harmful.

Next will be paper coffee filters, if you don't use reusable filters you're a bad bad bad person and soon a better human will come along to tell you how wrong you are.;)
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Of course no one is going to dump it on the ground at a KOA.

offroading does way more damage than a table spoon of coffee grounds, it can be argued that the coffee grounds would help the environment, plus people are pissing and taking dumps, firepits, oil leaks ( one drop would be much worse than coffee)

cognitive dissonance , when two actions or ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, people do all in their power to change them until they become consistent. This triggered by the person's belief clashing with information perceived, wherein they try to find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort.

No one wants to harm the environment but people are going crazy over things that don't really matter in the big picture, when at the same time are doing things that are much more harmful.

Next will be paper coffee filters, if you don't use reusable filters you're a bad bad bad person and soon a better human will come along to tell you how wrong you are.;)
You asked for reasons and I gave you mine. I don't buy the relativity argument. Throwing your grounds on the ground is just a small thing that's unnecessary since you have a truck with a trash bag. In the case of someone backpacking carrying wet grounds I think is less desirable than spreading them. That's where I'd personally be more likely to spread them rather than just pack them out.

I'm not going to stop driving but I do carry a spill kit and try mostly not to leave already established routes, campsites and fire pits. Sure, I've thrown coffee grounds into the dirt, I just don't make it a habit.

You also don't give your location. Where I live in the desert of western Colorado there is minimal vegetation and things don't "just compost" either. They desiccate and sit there as black debris on red dirt. So, believe it or not, we can both have completely legitimate and contextual points that aren't in conflict
 

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