Today's coffee project

[Odd Man Out]

I got a Bialetti Moka Coffee pot for Christmas (3 "cup" size). I makes wonderful coffee that is like very much like espresso (although the purests will tell you it isn't real espresso). Water goes in the bottom. There is a filter in the middle for the coffee. When the water is boiled, it gushes up through the coffee and collects in the upper pot (3 espresso cups is about 6 fl oz of very strong coffee).

I thought about adapting it for trail use. So I made a round pot stand out of 1/2 inch hardware cloth (from a 1.75 x 8.5 inch rectangle). I cut a 1.75 x 12 inch rectangle of aluminum flashing for a wind screen. I use an aluminum cup from a tea light for an alcohol stove. I cut a sheet of dimpled aluminum foil (from a disposable pie pan) to be the same shape and size as the inside dimensions of the lid to use as a base/heat reflector. You can make a pot of coffee with about 2 tsp of ethanol. For travel, the wind screen rolls up and fits inside pot stand and both fit inside the top pot, the base/reflector sets on top of that just under the lid, the tea light stove fits in the coffee filter compartment, and a zip-loc baggie of coffee fits in the base. The whole thing weighs about 14 oz (not including the coffee). Not exactly ultralight, but a worthy luxury item for coffaholics.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Moka2.jpg/220px-Moka2.jpg

[fehchet]

I make cowboy coffee in my titanium cooking pot these days. Make the coffee to what ever level of thickness I'm hankering for and pour the finished product into my titanium drinking pot and if it cools I just heat the coffee back up with my Snow Peak stove. Saves a bit of weight. The drinking pot holds 20 ounces and can be used for other things of course.
This is not to knock your system that I'm sure makes great coffee.
I also have a titanium coffee press that I put on the shelf in 2005. It made good coffee too but a little too heavy. I retired it after my SOBO hike through Maine in August of the same year. My 15 month old grandson like to play with it.
Organic Sumatra coffee tastes like coffee smells.

[Old Hiker]

I was in Germany for 3.5 years - worked with Italians and Germans and that was the unit they used (albeit much larger!) for their espresso in the early morning, mid-morning, late morning, lunch, after lunch, mid-afternoon, late afternoon and before leaving work for home to make more. They would cut it with 90% water for the Americans who wanted any. Teeny-tiny cups, black as a tax collector's heart, strong as a thru-hiker's legs at the end of the trail. I still can hear the German Colonel yelling down the hallway, " 'spresso, 'spresso".

[mister krabs]

I'm looking at the one on my stove right now, it makes about 16 oz. My one mug of the excellent brew that it makes in the morning is plenty of get up and go! For trail coffee I use skidsteer's coffee maker.

[Smile]

Great thread to wake up to :)

[dcmidnight]

I love my Bialetti!

But on the trail this summer I started using Starbucks instant. I normally hate SBX coffee but their instant is pretty good to get you going on those mornings you need it.

[JaxHiker]

Nice! I'll have to check it out.

I can't do Starbucks. Everything they make just tastes bitter to me. I have some packs of Via sitting on my desk I can't bring myself to fix.