Coffee on the road quandary - Page 2

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
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tmaynard
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#11: Post by tmaynard »

edwa wrote:Anybody tried one of these?
I have not, so naturally this comment is worth nearly zero -- take it as you will. I believe (firmly) that freshly ground beans in a presspot is probably the optimal camping coffee you could ever have. My wife and I camp, and I take my Zass and FP and Coleman stove -- using whatever water the campsite provides (some are better than others!). We have used bottled water when we felt it necessary.

This gizmo looks (A) a lot lighter than the Zass, and (B) a lot easier to grind into a presspot (no box dumping transfer). I'd go for it -- if you camp a lot, or travel frequently. Since it's designed to mate with their Lexan presspot, I'm reasonably confident that it (might) produce a satisfactory grind. Considering your options (after crawling out of a tent, or stumbling out of a hotel room bed), what could be better? Zass grinders are non-existent these days -- and they're heavier, and more awkward to pack. They don't fold, for example.

A plastic grinder with a plastic brewer, and a source of hot water is all you need -- these are all readily available in most hotel rooms (and campsites, if you have a stove). Sure, it's not a Rocky/Silvia -- but you do have a canopy of trees overhead -- or a spackled plaster ceiling -- you have to lower your standards just a tad, I think. Consider adding an immersion heater (about $3 from Ace Hardware), especially if you're "camping" in a hotel, but also true if you're sleeping on the ground.

And, consider this: in a campground you'll be having coffee that's 10-100X better than your neighbors (some of whom, in a $100,000 motor home have full espresso set ups!). In a hotel/motel, you'll be having coffee that is 1,000-10,000X better than the crummy autodrip and bagged ground coffee that your neighbors will be having. Go for it, Dude!

Your only other real option is the Aerobie Aeropress. It's light, small, travels well -- but only brews 1-2 cups at a time. You could still use the REI grinder -- you'd only need to play with it at home to optimize the grind/steep/stir times to deliver the brew you prefer. But that's also true with the presspot! Make a few pots at home before you go!

HTH, and nothing but great cups to you,
Tom.

Ron_L
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Joined: 18 years ago

#12: Post by Ron_L »

I travel with my homeroast, an Aeropress, a mini-ibis electric kettle and a Zass turkish mill for a grinder.

A friend at the Green Coffee Buying Club uses one of the REI travel grinders and says that it works great! I'm thinking about getting one just to lighten my load a bit.
...ron

LMWDP #356

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edwa (original poster)
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#13: Post by edwa (original poster) »

Greetings and Happy Holidays from Vermont.

A final update from me, the $30 Cuisinart burr grinder is working wonderfully. It's very noisy, a big bulky thing but it appears to produce a consistent coarse grind for the french pot and all rave about Terrior Coffee's Costa Rican DeCafe.

Gotta go, just got the call to come to dinner.

tweaker
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#14: Post by tweaker »

edwa wrote:At one point I wandered into REI and came across this grinder and contemplated buying it. But, none of the help knew anything about it so I passed.

Anybody tried one of these?
I received one of these last winter and traveled quite a bit with it over the summer (in Montana & Alaska). It's light and packs down well, but it is painfully slow. Because of it's shape (wide and squat), it is awkward and tiring to use. There is no comfortable way to grip it while you grind.

I just received a traditional Greek coffee will, and while I haven't traveled with it yet, it works much better. The tall skinny design is much more comfortable to use. And it produces a great powder fine grind for Turkish. The Greek mill is much heavier, and I think the light weight of the wide plastic one has an advantage there for backpacking. However, I did see a plastic bodied greek coffee mill in a store the other day, which looked like it might work well for back-packing.

BrianG
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#15: Post by BrianG »

tweaker wrote:Because of it's shape (wide and squat), it is awkward and tiring to use. There is no comfortable way to grip it while you grind.
I'm heading out of town next month and really don't want to take pre-ground coffee for my press pot... looking for a lightweight solution. Could this be the one? Maybe the shape would make it easier to operate than the other one at REI that tweaker has used.

Has anyone tried it? Traveler II Coffee Grinder

Image

Thanks

pauljolly65
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#16: Post by pauljolly65 »

Ron_L wrote:I travel with my homeroast, an Aeropress, a mini-ibis electric kettle and a Zass turkish mill for a grinder.
I use a very similar setup: homeroast, Aeropress, Zass mill (and get the hot water any way I can). It works great, is relatively light, and the grind on the Zass can't be beat w/o electricity. The biggest 'hassle' is the homeroast--flying to Puerto Rico with two pounds plus the accoutrements takes a fair bit of luggage space. Fortunately, I only need a few t-shirts & shorts to wear!

Paul

CGP4
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#17: Post by CGP4 »

When Tonx was blogging about coffee for Dethroner, he recommend that REI Grinder, see here.

My travel setup is the same I keep at the office. Melitta "Perfect Cup" (102 plastic filter holder) with Filters, Solis Maestro Plus Grinder and Bodum Mini Ibis Kettle. I'd prefer French Press, but disposal/cleaning can be tricky. With the Melitta, I can just toss the filter with grounds into the trash.

ppopp
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#18: Post by ppopp »

An alternative to the Aeropress would be a plastic Melitta no. 2 cone. They're super cheap, the filters are widely available, and they brew a great cup. Cleanup is easy too - just let it drip dry and toss the filter. Of course, it's drip coffee and not espresso, but the Aeropress doesn't actually make espresso either.

ppopp
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#19: Post by ppopp »

One more thing - http://www.campmor.com has a portable grinder for $16.99 that looks quite similar to the portable shown above, perhaps it's the Traveler I. Go to the site and type "coffee" into the search window. Some interesting stuff comes up, including Java Juice liquid coffee extract. Yeaachh!

dr_doppio
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Joined: 17 years ago

#20: Post by dr_doppio »

I've traveled with a 3 cup Bodum FP and with a plastic cone that takes No. 2 Melita filters. I prefer the drip set up. It weighs less and cleanup is trivial. This is a particular issue if I'm staying in a room without a kitchen.

What I'm missing is a grinder. Has anyone experience with the Travel II grinder mentioned above? It looks cool. BTW, Espressoparts.com carries it too.
David M. Snyder