Coffee

[Argus]

Our morning coffee is a big part of the day. I'll get the pellet fire going (much quicker, zero smoke) and then start grinding the beans manually. It's a great shoulder/arm workout first thing in the morning! I'm usually done by the time the water is boiling in the percolator. Add the ground coffee to the basket, gently boil for ~5 minutes and voila!

Yes, there are quicker options for sure. French Press, Instant, Drip, Nespresso etc. but for us it's the whole experience, aroma and all. Nothing beats percolated coffee for that.

[Nancy]

I have just ordered Douwe Egberts instant decaf. Hope I remember to come back and give a report after it arrives.

The only decaf coffee that really caught my attention was when Burger King used the Douwe Egbert concentrate. I stopped going to Burger King when they changed coffee.

After reading through this thread I did an Amazon search and was surprised to see Douwe Egbert had a decaf instant.

Now I am thinking of doing an instant coffee taste and grade session at our May gathering at Mill Lacs, MN. I fear we are all so set on our coffee preferences that no one would be interested.

Send me a private message if you want a sample of this decaf I ordered. If it is any good I will send you a small baggie to try.

Nancy

[Cottonwood]

If you enjoy good coffee you have the right start; fresh-roasted and fresh ground beans. If you don't live near a roaster (not from the Leftcoast, eh?) then try mail-order Peets coffee. Try Major Dickensen's Blend. The decaf is excellent as well.

For lattes and cappuccinos you can use the Starbucks beans but the are all French roasted, which means their skins are coated with black oils. It's a pretty bitter roast for a simple cup of coffee and any subtleties of the beans is over powered. They do that because their roasting batches are large and that method will produce a consistent flavor profile; strong and acidic.

For a great cup of coffee try an Italian mocha pot:

https://www.amazon.com/Bialetti-275-...288540222&th=1

The Italians know what they are doing. There are no moving parts. No filters to buy. Unbreakable in a trailer cabinet with other pots and pans. Fool-proof.

Put in the water, add the ground beans (easy to mix 50:50 with decaf if you prefer), screw the two halves together, put on the range for 8-minutes till it makes the wonderful "I'm ready sound", and then pour into your favorite cup.

Enjoy.

[Radar1]

After trying French Press, Aeropress, pourovers, and Moki pots, we came back to our trusty old reliable and low tech percolator on a gas burner.
We use a paper filter in the basket to make cleanup easier, and enjoy watching it perk. Makes enough at one time for both of us and stays hot in our thermal cups for hours.
We do take the Stanley All-in-one Boil and Brew French press when we visit our kids without the camper.

[alia176]

My latest coffee rabbit hole now includes- EspressoForge and an Arco burr grinder that can do manual or electric. Cappuccino is primarily my go to morning drink and the process ain't fast by any means. A Bellman stove top milk frother does its job nicely.

The sources of beans differ for me based on my travel path. I often buy local beans just to get a flavor of the local scene. However, I leave the house with at least two pounds of beans from my local roaster.

The Casita has all the amenities, if I'm eating out of the tailgate of the 4x4, jet boil for boiling water. I have done the manual grinder, but the Arco candy operated on a small inverter so I often grab the inverter. The Bellman frother makes that sound that brings everybody out of their tents [emoji1787]. I'm usually the first one up on every trip, and the frother is the alarm clock it appears.

[Mr Lynn]

Most of this is over my head. Not an enough of an aficionado to grind beans, but I am picky about ground coffee; I like Peets Sumatra. I use a $10 electric coffee maker from Walmart, which works as long as we've got shore power or enough battery for the inverter (no more percolator on the campfire). My insulated Thermos keeps it hot for hours. If there's ice in the fridge, I'll switch to iced coffee in the afternoon. If not, Dr Pepper.

[Sid_The_Scamp]

Who's figured out cold brew? At home I grind and brew big batches but looking for an alternative for trips that span a week plus. Black Rifle makes the tea bag version for cold brew .... any other similar so I dont need to grind or deal with straining?

[Mike Magee]

I'm currently drinking a decaf from a local roaster, Topeca. Whole beans, hand crank burr grinder, 195 degree water, brewed in an Aeropress. Good stuff. I dabbled last year with roasting beans in a popcorn popper (Colombian and Sumatran were my favorites, although DW couldn't stand the smell of the Sumatran) but my roasts weren't all that consistent and I don't need that much caffeine so I decided to just settle on one decaf for the time being. The Topeca is pretty good and it will be fresh; give it a try if you feel like it.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by Mike Magee

……..I'm currently drinking a decaf from a local roaster, Topeca. I dabbled last year with roasting beans in a popcorn popper (Colombian and Sumatran were my favorites, although DW couldn't stand the smell of the Sumatran) but my roasts weren't all that consistent ………

Several years ago I started out roasting beans in a popcorn popper and inconsistency was my experience also. One of the obstacles that must be overcome is the difficulty in quickly cooling the beans so that they do not continue to “cook” once the degree of roasting is reached. If one wants to consistently roast coffee beans, an investment in a good “home” roaster I such as the Behmor is necessary, but that involves a financial investment (last I knew, @ $400) that most people are unwilling to make, unless they are truly dedicated to their coffee “addiction.” I can attest that my Behmor far outperformed the air popper.

While I regret the fact that I started losing my sense of smell 7 or 8 years ago (not COVID related), odor contributes to the sense of taste. I can still taste the difference between burnt and I burnt coffee, I can no longer distinguish great coffee from mediocre coffee. And while I still grind whole beans at home, I no longer bother when on the road. I use a (gulp) one of those K machines which prior to my malady I wouldn’t have considered; small footprint, quick and easy to clean up. But thing are not all bad. A couple of days ago we passed by a waste water plant going down the highway and my spouse noted that it really was stinking to high Heaven, like an open septic tank. The worst it has ever been, she said. Personally, I had absolutely no clue!

[Shangie]

We purchased a Trillium 4500 was because we could tow it with our Subaru Outback (stealth compared to our Diesel Cummins) and we wanted to return to simpler times when camping was all about time spent outdoors through both long exploratory walks and spending time around morning and evening campfires for good conversation.

One goal was to remain at 80 percent of the allowed tongue weight. This made me highly conscientious of what I packed and all that is involved with balancing wants and needs, including the want to reduce cooking and cleanup yet still eat nutritiously.

Another goal, possibly due to not yet being retired, was massive simplification of the entire process of preparing to go camping. When I took the comforts of home, including home cooked meals, I had so much prep work to do before a trip and sorting and cleanup after one that I didn't feel as excited as I could be and that alone caused me to be less inclined to plan one. I thought back to the simplicity of backpacking days and asked myself how I could adopt that attitude to this new wee trailer situation, just as I had applied it to our small cabin cruiser, so we could be free from the complications of the time consuming larger systems we were rejecting as the best means to a good time.

I've found that spending less time on food concerns, whether cooking, cleaning or shopping for items, was key to simplification of chores and reducing weight while allowing for the trailer to be more comfortable physically and emotionally due to not being congested by the extras that require shuffling things to accomplish tasks. An example is our old fashioned, large aluminum gas top coffee pot with it's strainer spout does double duty as a pasta boiler, vegetable steamer or what have you. I was able to reduce pots to one 12' fry pan with lid and the coffee pot to keep things simple and uncluttered on the boat so why not do the same for the trailer? By doing so I was challenged to come up with meals that worked within the parameters those two cooking pots offered and that's how Via came into our lives a year ago.

While certainly not as delicious or as aromatic as hand ground, premium beans, we did find satisfying taste and chore saving simplicity in snipping off the top of a Starbucks decaf or regular Via and enjoying hot or iced coffee in mere minutes. Cleanup is seconds. There are no special machines to take along or take up valuable space. There are no messy grounds to deal with and you can use the microwave to boil water when plugged in. We can be out the door in a snap, headed towards a campfire with hot mugs of coffee or we can be leisurely indoors in a small space without a lot of fuss and frustration that occurs when having to move/juggle something or another to get to or do "this and that". Via is a micro ground coffee and the only one we like even though we DISLIKE Starbucks regular coffee of any kind.

For those of you who can relate to the predicament of not having lots of spare time or space and wanting simplification, perhaps trying an alternative to traditional coffee making is something to consider. It's been working for us for a year now along with the couple we camp most with even though we all are coffee aficionados.