What are you using for a coffee maker and coffee brand when camping/overlanding?

Herbie

Rendezvous Conspirator
I also like to tread lightly, so carrying less, and creating less garbage is a big plus to me.

This is where having to rinse a filter becomes a problem for me. Unless you rinse the grounds out onto the dirt, your option is to rinse the filter into a trash bag. Now you've got a bag with liquid in it - which is probably fine unless you get even the smallest leak. I'm not put off by leaking coffee, but I don't separate my trash by type, so water in the bag would mix with every other bit if trash...

Leaving coffee grounds behind isn't "tread lightly", and certainly isn't an option in the places I camp. (Food waste in the desert almost never decomposes - it typically desiccates and hangs around for months or years unless the animals get to it.) Waste and cleanup are actually the biggest reasons I like the Aeropress for camping: I get a nice dry puck of grounds that's easy to knock into my trash bag, and I can usually reuse the paper filter all morning.
 

NevetsG

Active member
This is where having to rinse a filter becomes a problem for me. Unless you rinse the grounds out onto the dirt, your option is to rinse the filter into a trash bag. Now you've got a bag with liquid in it - which is probably fine unless you get even the smallest leak. I'm not put off by leaking coffee, but I don't separate my trash by type, so water in the bag would mix with every other bit if trash...

Leaving coffee grounds behind isn't "tread lightly", and certainly isn't an option in the places I camp. (Food waste in the desert almost never decomposes - it typically desiccates and hangs around for months or years unless the animals get to it.) Waste and cleanup are actually the biggest reasons I like the Aeropress for camping: I get a nice dry puck of grounds that's easy to knock into my trash bag, and I can usually reuse the paper filter all morning.

"Leaving coffee grounds behind isn't "tread lightly""? I highly disagree with this statement, and I can't find anything about them being harmful to arid environment. If you have information about it being harmful, please share it, because you bring up a good point about the slow decomposition of natural materials. I can only find information about how much coffee grounds help as a natural composting material and fertilizer. The EPA would also prefer if you did not add them to land fills, and use them as fertilizer, since they contain high levels of nitrogen (plant food).

https://blog.epa.gov/blog/2009/02/climate-for-action/

Most environmentalists don't like paper coffee filters, because they take a long time to break down, and they highly recommend metal reusable filters.

If anything, grounds are no different then the leaves dropped by trees.

Now with all of this said, the coffee "industry" is, arguably, harmful to the environment, but that is a different debate.
 

windtraveler

Observer
As much as I hate to admit it we use the Starbucks instant coffee. When traveling in Europe I noticed that the instant coffees at the hotels were actually pretty decent. That’s when I started my search back here in the states. So far, Starbucks instant is one of the best I’ve found. Super simple and easy. Just dump a couple packets into the thermos and add hot water. Particularly nice that you don’t have to fumble around or think to hard after just waking up.
 

Herbie

Rendezvous Conspirator
"Leaving coffee grounds behind isn't "tread lightly""? I highly disagree with this statementI

Leaving any food behind isn't "tread lightly". Of course "tread lightly" is a goal, or a method, not an absolute concept. But since you asked: coffee grounds, while good in a compost pile, presents a problem in a lot of areas because it is (a) aromatic and can attract animal activity, (b) acidic and can alter soil pH, effectively "burning" a spot on the ground in sensitive areas, (c) unsightly in a wilderness area if not "distributed".

Here's another way to put it: Would you invite a park ranger into your camp, make them a cup of coffee, then rinse your grounds out onto the soil in front of them? If not, then maybe not doing it when they aren't looking either. I admit to being really persnickety about this. My local desert is a beautiful area, but is also particularly fragile and is already in danger of being "loved to death" by overuse from eager enthusiasts who aren't as careful as they could be.
 
Turkish coffee for when I am feeling fancy. It can be super easy to clean up or a complete pain if someone distracts me and it boils over. After having to clean up a couple times I made sure everyone knew it was coffee making time and I was to not be bothered for the next couple minutes.

If I have to make coffee for multiple people I would use my French Press or Pour Over. I have a Aeropress now so I plan on bringing that on the next trip.
 

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NevetsG

Active member
Leaving any food behind isn't "tread lightly". Of course "tread lightly" is a goal, or a method, not an absolute concept. But since you asked: coffee grounds, while good in a compost pile, presents a problem in a lot of areas because it is (a) aromatic and can attract animal activity, (b) acidic and can alter soil pH, effectively "burning" a spot on the ground in sensitive areas, (c) unsightly in a wilderness area if not "distributed".

Here's another way to put it: Would you invite a park ranger into your camp, make them a cup of coffee, then rinse your grounds out onto the soil in front of them? If not, then maybe not doing it when they aren't looking either. I admit to being really persnickety about this. My local desert is a beautiful area, but is also particularly fragile and is already in danger of being "loved to death" by overuse from eager enthusiasts who aren't as careful as they could be.

I'll buy that reasoning, but I don't live or camp in the desert, and I have Park service friends, whom I've made coffee for. On the east cost, there is so much natural compost and bio mass, any introduction of the tiny about food mass by me would be like a grain of sand in the desert. I've revisited sites 24-48 hours after dumping food, and the level of breakdown or scavenging was eyeopening. NO, I'm not just dumping garbage, this is only soft food mass, and NO bones. I direct dump food mass in my wooded backyard as well, and have an awesome compost pile.
 

jadmt

ignore button user
I use a Planetary Design press. It works great and makes the best coffee camping or at home. It is stainless so easy clean up and the grounds are all but dry when you are done. Dump them in the garbage they are not going to leak. I often just burn them in the fire pit if we are staying in a designated camp spot with a fire ring. If not I just bring them home and throw them in my wife's flower pots or outside plants..
 

cneithardt

New member
Depends on the camping situation...

Base camp/trailer:

Coffee maker: BassPro Percolator (super easy to setup and clean, all stainless, makes enough for multiple people fast)

Coffee: Whatever beans I'm using at home, grind em right before we go

Backpacking:

Vietnamese instant 3 in 1, super lightweight, tastes WAY better than Starbucks via (seriously this stuff is good): Amazon Link

I usually empty all the packets I'm brining into a Ziploc bag and add as much or little as I want depending on my morning mood.

1530291879261.png
 

luk4mud

Explorer
GSI french press works great
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NFGRVG...d-us000-pcomp-feature-scomp-wm-5&ref=aa_scomp

As for coffee, no to store bought. I buy it green and roast it. Currently drinking a Tanzanian Peaberry, dark roasted 2 days ago and burr ground the next day Green coffee can be kept a long time.

I get a kick out of the "fresh ground" marketing pitch. You can grind it today but it doesnt matter much if it was roasted 6 months ago, it will still taste like a toxic dump. The flavor quality is much more dependent on when it was roasted than when it was ground.
 

CSG

Explorer
I get a kick out of the "fresh ground" marketing pitch. You can grind it today but it doesnt matter much if it was roasted 6 months ago, it will still taste like a toxic dump. The flavor quality is much more dependent on when it was roasted than when it was ground.
So you've drunk from toxic dumps, have you?
 

tatanka48

Active member
life for the crew starts after morning coffee

MORNING COFFEE.jpg

life for an intimate group is easier to manage

white pot.jpg

when i'm running solo things get smaller and lighter in weight

love the nesting feature and my pink sugar rides in a zip-loc inside the press for travel

IMG_0019.jpg snow peak french press IN 600 cup.jpg snow peak french press in 600 cup all wrapped up.jpg

i've had several of the plastique presses and they crazed and broke over time and severe use

the Ti unit from SnowPeak has done a real well job(so far)

in all of my presses i have added filtering capacity by splitting an HD(2-layer) paper towel and tear off a piece to cover the factory filter

at home or in camp (family and solo since the bridal unit[of 50 years] furnishes it)

spin_prod_17141201.jpeg

even though the box says

th.jpeg

T
 

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