Camp Coffee – Take Your Coffee on the Road (and Camp)
First, I am not a coffee snob. I only started drinking coffee about 4-5 years ago as a way of not missing out on the social catch-ups (ehhh… out of office meetings) at work.
Now in retirement (well… working in the camp and travel industry), I do enjoy a cup of coffee when travelling as a way of meeting new people and seeing new places – mostly at bakeries on my ‘Pastry Runs’.
But, like many people, I do enjoy a quiet coffee first up at breakfast. And, this is a luxury (essential for some) that may be a little hard to acquire if you expect a barista made half-decaf, half-caffeinated dry almond cappuccino at a bush camp.
Camp Coffee
During my time camping with a coffee affliction, I’ve fiddled with espresso pots and a Nanopresso (by WACACO) to varying degrees to deliver a flat-white.
I think I’ve come to the realisation that whilst both options are very rewarding, they do result in a fair bit of fiddling and cleaning up – especially if you are making more than one brew of coffee. Ok… not much cleaning up but enough to put a dampener on the whole coffee experience and the desire to get the day started immediately afterwards.
Then, sitting quietly at a local haunt enjoying my flat-white coffee (no sugars and in a mug) I looked up at the cold-drip tower they had behind the counter and thought – ‘how hard would it be to take that on the road?’ No kettle!
Alternatives to Hot Water Brewing
I did some digging on cold-drip coffee. You require a container that is fed by two funnels above it that hold the source water (the top funnel) and the coffee grounds (the lower funnel). The water from the top is regulated by a tap to a slow drip and the water filters through the coffee grounds and a filter paper – all held together by a frame. Ok ok… perhaps this is a little complex for travelling and camping; and it may attract attention in the bush as a possible mobile drug lab. But the principle is there.
The Process of Cold Brew Coffee is simple
The cold-drip process results in a more caffeinated, sweeter and intense flavour as less fatty oils and acids are extracted from the beans.
So I looked at way to remove the tower and funnels from the process.
To my surprise the answer was very, very simple. I had discovered the world of ‘cold-brew coffee’.
Cold Brew Coffee – hmm Camp Coffee?
In a cold brew method, soak the ground beans in room temperature water and let it brew over say 3 to 48 hours (I’d suggest 12 hours as a minimum for starters). How easy is that!
Once brewed, you simply filter the coffee grounds through a sieve to deliver cold-brew coffee into a flask for safe keeping in the fridge for up to a week (if you don’t finish it before hand).
Note: I put my cold-brew coffee into an old water bottle – but I’m sure that you can find a more ornate looking jar or bottle that’ll attract the interest of those around you and create an air of mystery or ‘hero status’. The down side is that you may be prompted (begged) to share.
While brewing beans with hot water accelerates the extraction of the coffee flavours, it does result in a different taste with more oils, acids and bitterness. But… if that’s what you like…
How to Cold Brew Coffee
Grind Your Beans of Choice: Hand grind your beans, use a 12 volt grinder or use a mains powered grinder – its your choice. The coarseness of your grinds is a matter of choice. Note that if you use a mains powered grinder when off-grid camping it’s only being used for less than a minute and the drain on your car or house battery through an inverter would be somewhat negligible (but you may like to keep your engine running just to be sure – especially if making more for friends).
The coffee mix
Add Water: The mix is approximately half a cup of beans (unground) to 2 cups of water. But you can fiddle with these quantities too as you explore your new world. Add the water into a sealable jar and this can sit somewhere in your camping larder or in the fridge for the brewing period (3 – 48 hours). The trick here is to have a brew sitting in reserve so that you’re never without.
Filter Your Coffee: buy filter paper and perhaps use a filter pot – but I simply emptied the contents of my brew into another jar, using just a couple of layers of kitchen paper (paper towels) as the sieve. An old T-shirt or tea towel would also do the trick as a sieve.
Drink or Store: Two cups of water will produce about one-and-a-half cups of cold-brew coffee. Add hot or cold milk to your coffee and enjoy as, and when, you wish. You can drink this now or squirrel it away in the fridge and draw from it as you choose. Heck, you could even add it to your cooking or deserts.
Enjoy
“FLAT WHITE NO SUGAR FOR DAYV!”
Happy Campers – How to get a good coffee on the road
The quest for a great cup of coffee on the road continues as I continue to explore the options available.
Freshly ground coffee beans when you want them, smell the aroma. (Camp Coffee).
