Cowboy Coffee thoughts

[sweeper]

Thank for rescuing me ppine.

I'm headed out tomorrow and one of tonight's things to caught up on was Hoop's Bush Coffee and I completely forgot about it.

 

[Bearleealive]

Like many here, I just love a good cup o' Joe. Lots of great ways to brew, and enjoy it. When canoeing I have brewed using a mocha pot, just a pot (Cowboy style), French press, AeroPress and pour-over.

I even roast all my coffee too. I love having a variety of tastes, both from the origin of the beans, and the level I roast too.

When by myself, or with a second paddler, I usually use my AeroPress, which is also what I use mostly at home, or when trailer camping. I use a stainless filter instead of the paper ones, and any paper filter removes some of oils from the coffee, where lots of the brighter tastes lay.

I also love doing up Cowboy Coffee, and have done so forever. I have played with lots of variations of brewing it. What I have come to learn, and love the most, is to add the medium ground beans (most often ground fresh), and add a heaping tablespoon per cup to water that has cooled a bit from boiling. I never add heat again to the pot. I let it sit for just a few minutes, and then pour into cups, or if any is left, into a thermos. I often carry a small piece of bandana to use as a filter too. If let too sit in the grounds too long (and what I don't like about a French Press with grounds left in it). is that any coffee left in grounds too long, over extracts and begins to pull the bitterness out of the grounds.

As I am almost always the first up with a group, I get the coffee going, and enjoy nothing more than sipping a fresh cup, while sitting and pondering at the waters edge.

My name is Jim, and I am a self-confessed coffee snob, but I really do have fun experimenting with coffee, one of the best drinks in the world.

 

[ppine]

Bearlee,
What kind of beans do you like? There are some local places that are good, and one sf flavored with pinion pine nuts. How about Blue Mountain, Kona Gold, and beans from the highlands of Kenya and Ethiopia? Coffee is one of the gifts to mankind from God to prove that he loves us.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Coffee is one of the gifts to mankind from God to prove that he loves us.

What a GREAT thought..

 

[Bearleealive]

Bearlee,
What kind of beans do you like? There are some local places that are good, and one sf flavored with pinion pine nuts. How about Blue Mountain, Kona Gold, and beans from the highlands of Kenya and Ethiopia? Coffee is one of the gifts to mankind from God to prove that he loves us.

I truly enjoy beans from around the world, roasted to different levels. Blue Mountain and Kona coffees are very good, but in my opinion not worth the premium you pay for them. Some of the Papua New Guinea coffees use the same plants as the Blue Mountain coffees do, and are way cheaper. I do like the brightness of the African coffees, as they seem to have higher acidity than from other regions. Kenya and Ethiopia are two of the biggest and best producers.

One of my (and my wife's) favourites as of late, are some of the Sumatran offerings. Not everyones cup of tea (well, coffee actually) though. It is quite different from the brighter coffees as the acidity is way lower, but they do have a very full flavour, a fair bit of sweetness, and lots of fruity/earthy overtones to the taste. Sumatran coffees offer a broad spectrum of tastes, depending upon the roast level. The earthy tastes are much more prominent in lighter roasts, while the fruity sweet taste seems to come out more when roasted darker. It is a coffee that changes taste quite a bit as it cools, and is actually has more flavour as it does so. With a dark roast, it also makes a great espresso shot.

Jim

 

[yellowcanoe]

It's National Coffee Day! FREE coffee at Dunkin Donuts. ( that is if you think what they serve is coffee). It might do for on the road.

 

[Odyssey]

I'm sitting here melting into my cup of hot strong coffee, complete with a thin layer of "crema" on top. Just like a French bistro. When did I become such a sissy? I dunno. I've given up on the percolator. I bought it because of memories. Memories of my mom and dad brewing up the morning coffee, a daily ritual when I was a kid. I can still remember the rich and savoury smell of morning coffee in our home. Eventually mom went high tech. A brand new electric drip sat right next to the radio, weakly squeaking out coffee and music in perfect time. The coffee quality suffered, but my dad didn't complain. I've tried to recreate the perc coffee perfection in our own kitchen, but I can't finesse the danged process. It's probably easier than I think. I haven't tried any cowboy coffee lately. Lots of helpful advice here on this thread. I'm sure a finer grind will solve all my coffee making problems. I'm a little fussy about coffee beans. I'd rather fine grind my own chosen beans. Speaking of sissy coffee, how about this? I'm actually curious about this stuff. It'd be easy to DIY this at home. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...-hot-new-thing
Well, I've gotta go now. My wife is dragging my sissy arse to a french coffee-pastry shop. Daughter #2 tells us it's scrumptious and yummy. I'm really looking forward to it.

ps Please. Please people. If ever we find ourselves sitting around a campfire together, and I roll my eyes and exclaim that my cowboy coffee is scrumptious and yummy, well...

 

[ppine]

Jerry Dennis is an excellent outdoor writer and I really like his book "From a Wooden Canoe." He talks about favorite tripping items in each chapter. There is a chapter on coffee. His words reflect a lot of what is on this thread. Then he goes on to describe a trip to N Dakota working with some people that cow-boy for a living. In the dark the first morning they are getting ready to saddle up and head out on a cow hunt. They have instant coffee, Styrofoam cups, and little packets of creamer and sugar. One of the hands gets up and makes a cup and exclaims to the group- "that mister, is a great cup of coffee."

Sometimes it is the context that is so meaningful in our lives, not just the content.

 

[sweeper]

We used Hoop's recipe this weekend with great success. I'm sold and happy to dump the percolator.

I thought I had some straight coffee on hand and didn't buy any, I had to use my daily mix of 1 part chaga to 3 of coffee. It mellows the coffee and eliminates the need for a creamer, I've converted my bowman on both the brewing and the chaga.

 

[Odyssey]

Went for a bike ride in the nice autumn sunshine with friends on Sunday. Stopped off in a small town for a coffee. While sitting there I happened to look out the window and saw their coffee shop name:


I asked the guy behind the counter how he made the coffee. He just pointed over his shoulder to the big espresso machine.
No, they don't make cowboy coffee at the Cowboy Coffee Bar.

 

[Guest]

I just found out about liquid coffee concentrate. They use it in big machines and the coffee is good! It seems like it would be a good improvement over instant without the bother of brewing and hauling grounds out if making reg coffee. Anybody tried it?
Turtle

 

[Sturgeon]

No Title

The black pot, a Primus LiTech pot, has an optional French Press thingie that makes durn good coffee. There are lighter options--GSI makes a tiny drip thing that clips on your cup---and Via instant is okay, but the French Press seems to be the best quality, in my humble opinion.

 

[Bearleealive]

I just found out about liquid coffee concentrate. They use it in big machines and the coffee is good! It seems like it would be a good improvement over instant without the bother of brewing and hauling grounds out if making reg coffee. Anybody tried it?
Turtle

I have tried it, and it is not too bad,WAY better than instant. But then, even as a self proclaimed coffee snob, if push comes to shove, there are very few coffees I would turn down, if it meant going without otherwise.

With these coffees, just like the Via or even those Keurig cups, you just don't get the same flavour profiles you do from doing a fresh grind. The taste is a lot flatter.This is why most of the time, for solo or tandem I bring a small Porlex manual coffee grinder along, so to better enjoy that morning brew.

On a recent trip that included 6 of us, we did the Cowboy Coffee thing, pregrinding our beans just before the trip, as manual grinding for that many is way to time consuming for me (and it seems I am always put in charge of coffee). While we all enjoyed some of the various roasts I had done, when we got back home with a bit extra, and brewed it, it seemed to lack body. When I made some coffee right away with beans from the very same roasts, both my wife and me revelled at the taste, with more bountiful flavours produced.

 

[Odyssey]

My late father-in-law loved Camp Coffee. It was made from chicory. Yuck. The worst cuppa joe I've ever had was from "coffee trucks", which swing by construction sites. Didn't taste remotely coffee-ish. More like warm ditch water. They also served the worst tasting food. But that was years before I became particular about this kinda thing. Our son's in-laws had one of those Bunn commercial coffee machines in their farm kitchen. I loved it. It loved me. A match made in heaven, till I decided to shop for my own beloved Bunn. Too many zeros in the price tag. This same son now has a Keurig in his own kitchen. I run regular coffee through it, rather than the flavoured cups of desserty coffees. It works, but not up to my higher standards. Our daughter has left us a handful of VIA packets in our pantry cupboard. I'll get around to trying one, but in the meantime there's the real deal right there on the counter waiting for me every morning.
As for camping, I never thought of freshly grinding the beans. Didn't Oldie M once suggest just chewing on a handful of beans and chugging down a gulp of hot water? There've been times I've felt that desperate. For now I'll continue to carry along a ziplock of home ground beans and a little press pot. But I'll listen and learn from the rest of you. There's always more to learn and more experimenting to do.

 

[ppine]

Saturday we are having an outdoor party to celebrate the 150th birthday of the State of Nevada. I will be using a blue enamel coffee pot like the one above only about 4x larger. The forecast is weather in the 40s with a chance of rain and frost at night. I will be setting up 2 wall tents with wood stoves and serving Basque food. Wish you all lived closer.
Ppine

 

[yaricoy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX91Nj0uItI

Bush coffee with Mors Kochanski

Just a fun video of the method I've adopted. Same as described in some previous posts above with the grounds starting in the cold water, slow boil, add cold water at the end. I use it on trips and when the french press breaks at the house.
[h=1][/h]

 

[Bearleealive]

"If you have enough brown sugar and canned milk, you can make the coffee less bitter."

I would love to spend some time with that fellow, who is likely a world of knowledge, just not sure I would enjoy the coffee quite as much as he does.

 

[sweeper]

Good video, lots ideas in it. I especially liked the sliding overhead pole he hooked his cooking staff to.

 

[Odyssey]

I really enjoyed the video, thanks for that. You know what? Our fancy shmancy espresso machine (a cheap one) packed it in last week. I've been using a big SS press pot and am feeling let down by it. Seriously. I'm gonna try the cowboy method, maybe this weekend, here at home. We'll see. Mr Kochanski gave clear and concise instructions (as have others here on this site), so there should be no mystery to making it.

ps Happy belated birthday Nevada. I hope the celebrations were good ones Ppine, they sounded as nice a way to throw a party as could be. Wood stoves and wall tents in the outdoors, and a big pot of coffee. Perfect.

 

[ppine]

Thanks to Odyssey for the kind words. It was one of those great events where everyone was well behaved. It is always gratifying to hear people say that they met lots of nice people. The food was good, especially the beef brisket which was cooked all day. I had the big coffee pot on but had no takers which is unusual. I can recommend to anyone that likes the outdoors the backyard parties are the best. We have had them in all months except for the summer.