My new coffee kettle & cups

[Boreal Birch]

When I saw a picture of a Saami (formally called Lapp) using a kettle with a short socket on one side, with a long sapling whittled and forced into the socket to brew up a pot of coffee away from the heat and smoke of a fire I thought, I want one. I looked long and hard, I found what I was looking for on Amazon the last place I looked. I couldn't find just the kettle, so I bought the set. Kettle, pot, frying pan/pot lid, and handle that fits all three. I could picture myself sitting in out of the rain on big log, under my Whelen Lean-to making my own pot of coffee. My wife was visiting Italy and I had a credit card, so I bought it.
I also found green enamel steel GSI 12 oz. coffee cups with stainless steel rim, which are cooler on your lips at REI
I have fits trying to post stuff from other sites, and am to old to learn how to post my own poor pictures, I have even forgotten how to use my little camera and have no idea how to get pictures out of it. Technology has pasted me by.

 

[redoleary]

That is a fine looking kettle for sure. I long for a tea kettle, I just don't actually need one, but with a little effort I'll find a way to justify one.

 

[southcove]

I have a couple of tea kettles for our year round trips. Biggest problem w a kettle is nesting it inside your billy pot - not having a handle attached is an interesting variation. We put our sugar, tea and whatever odds and ends fit inside to make it more compact and useful.

If I meet up with my friend from down near Copper River this fall, I might have to run by on the way to Clear and show you how to use that camera of yours...

 

[Canotrouge]

One thing I really like but don't bring much on trips is my Kelly Kettle http://www.kellykettleusa.com
I really like it it work real fast but it ain't compact!!

 

[red langford]

Big fan of Trangia stuff. Well thought out and functional as well as packable.

 

[sweeper]

One thing I really like but don't bring much on trips is my Kelly Kettle http://www.kellykettleusa.com
I really like it it work real fast but it ain't compact!!

I bring it especially when there are kids on the trip. They love to put wood in it so I don't have to.

 

[Odyssey]

Our trips are evolving. In the beginning there was junk. Lots of it. Mostly borrowed, some purchased, all of it cheap. No worries. Then came informed investment. ie Starting to figure out what works for us and what doesn't. With a basic outfit of gear we began to upgrade. Self-inflating sleeping pads replaced bubblewrap (with a whole lot less fun. lol). Down bags replaced heavy as lead cotton. That kind of thing. But I always knew there'd be a wrench in the works. Coffee has been a wrench, or at least my coffee addiction has been a ball and chain. Most might say it's purely a luxury, and I'd agree. It's one of my few luxuries in life. I'd like to include it in our tripping. In the beginning my wife only drank tea. She'd be doing the ol' time tripper thing throwing a tea bag into the billy pot while I'd be finicky and fussing with my single serving French press. Stupid coffee addiction. But when she got hooked on cappuccino while on a trip to Montreal's cafes and bistros, well the whole game changed. Now how do we feed this coffee hunger for two without a hundred mile extension cord and an expresso machine the size of small car? We once took a 4-cup stainless steel press. Once. Although the coffee in the morning was lovely, the burbling sound it made as we gently pressed sounded remarkably like "Gawd, you two are idiotssssss." Along came the light weight aluminum percolator. Old school coffee, although not nearly as old school as cowboy. I'm liking it. And it doesn't insult me when I sit it on the embers. I convince myself it doesn't take up too much space; after-all I store the coffee grounds inside the pot. That's being space efficient isn't it?
I've given up a lot to explore the evolutionary in tripping; I've tried meatless, fire-less, tarp-less, bacon-less, sharp tool-less, water filter-less, sleeping pad-less, sensible clothes-less (accidentally) and even coffee-less. Coffee is right up there with paddle, canoe, tarp and toilet paper. Without it I might as well stay home.

BTW Birchy, not everyone can say they have a wife on a trip to Italy and a credit card at home, and lives to tell the tale. Glad it worked out for the both of you.

 

[Boreal Birch]

Odyssey.........
Someone has to stay home to take care of her dog and cat. One of the two credit cards is from the credit union, it does not work in Europe, New Jersey or California, so it stayed home with me. I also think that when you travel it should be to some where that has fewer people not more.
If your bride likes Cappaccino you might try the Aeropress. I got one from my son a few years ago, along with a Able Co. gold filter. It makes really good, strong as you like coffee, that is very smooth. When my wife and I take road trips or back country trips we bring it along. We (she) also brings along the little mini-moos half and half real cream things that don't require refrigeration and a Aerolatte, battery operated frother. So, while the coffee grounds steep we (I) heat up a couple of mini-moos in my tin mug with the correct amount of sugar, I then whip it to a wonderful froth then press the coffee into the cup. I always bring fresh roasted beans and a small grinder too.
I made it through 4 years of military service, another 4 years of college without coffee. I got the habit from a old beaver trapper one cold, wet March when I helped him on his trapline. He made cowboy coffee in a tin can every couple hours, I started drinking some one day to stave off hypothermia and have been hooked ever since, to the point of becoming somewhat of a coffee snob. My brewing preferred way is the old cowboy coffee way. Now that coffee comes in plastic cans, which don't make very good pots, I have been trying to find the perfect pot. While visiting friends in Northern Sweden I found out their preferred coffee brewing was the cowboy method, only they call it "KOK Kokkaffe". I came home with a standard Triangia coffee kettle that has served me well, suspended on a dingle stick, over the fire, however I am liking my new kettle better, the more I use it.
.........Birchy
(I like the nickname, thanks)

 

[Odyssey]

Hello, Boreal Cafe? I'd like to reserve a table for 2 at your next campsite please.

I've heard of the Aeropress but had to search for the re-usable filter. Cool stuff. I just added the first item to my Christmas 2017 list. I wonder if I'll be good enough this year? Who can tell? It's always a crap shoot.
In my search for Swedish coffee I found an interesting alternative to the coffee filter. All you need is an egg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGVUKNuUW7I
I love my eggs, so I'm not sure I can spare one for this. It might make an interesting experiment. My wife loves her tiramisu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ5vAtQxLp4

 

[Boreal Birch]

When I worked in the iron mines of NE Minnesota, back in the day, I rented a room in a hotel that was owned by some nice people that were of Finnish descent. The first floor of the hotel was like assisted living for Finnish widows. They all ate at the hotel, I didn't because I was hardly ever there a meal times, however the Finnish lady that was the cook liked me because I brought cleaned, fresh, fish back from my canoe trips, most Finns love fish. The old cook would always bring me a cup of her good coffee, It was made with a whole egg, cracked and stirred into the grounds prior to being "cooked". She would also fill my thermos bottle prior to me heading off to work whatever shift I was working. The owner and I became good friends, we fished and picked wild rice together. His wife was also interested in me getting to know their blue eyed, leggy, blonde haired daughter better, the daughter was wise beyond her years of course, thought that we were just fine as friends. Hmmmmm I wonder whatever became of her.

 

[TheIndian]

LOL

​Looks like a nice kit! I like the interchangeable handle. Let us know how it is when you get it. I looking for a lightweight frying pan and wondering how that one is in the kit you ordered. I have an MSR frying pan but the Teflon getting scratched and coming off in places. Hope your new one better quality.

 

[Odyssey]

Thanks Birchy, thanks a lot. I used to sleep soundly, all night. Your Harlequin romance story of a blue eyed long legged Scandi-blonde daughter of a generous hotel owner has given me sleepless nights. I'm too old for this crap.
I owe you one big time.

signed
sleepless in the saddle lol

 

[sweeper]

You've got to love the "Scandi-blondes", back in May I was setting up camp on Polliwog Pond in the ADK. The site was on a point and as I unloaded I saw that the far side of the point had a far better put in. I picked up my canoe in one hand (28 pound Swift Kee 15) and PFD and paddles in the other, when I heard "he's got one of those light boats". I looked up to see 2 women paddling towards me, one in a yak the other a Scandi-blonde in a Wenonah solo. They wanted to know about the canoe and then the conversation turn to her trip to Algonquin. The wind was blowing but she held her position using the Box Stroke and then they paddled off.

They are out there.

 

[Boreal Birch]

Sleepless.........
In order for you to get to sleep, I will add some information. She had a child, Richard Jr. a nice little boy of about 3 that I could have been a step-dad to, but having been burned by Richard Sr. she was not about to take up with another Richard. Today 45 years later she would be 70 some years old, gray filled out in all the wrong spots, little Ricky would be more than a middle aged man still living at home in the basement or above the garage. He would be waiting for his ship to come in, which figure in my demise. My grandpa had given me some good advise over the years a couple were about selecting a bride. The one, that I can relate here was, "Take a good long look at the mother and how she acts and/or treats her husband." Well she was a Ogre. What the heck I should give the 2nd good advise granddad gave me, Don't marry a woman with big hands, they will make your D**k look small." With that I will bid you good night, hope you sleep like a baby, not one with colic either.
......Birchy

 

[Odyssey]

For Kicking Horse Coffee lovers, the company sold an 80% stake back in May to Italy's coffee conglomerate Lavazza.
Not sure what this means to my bean supply of my favourite brew, only time will tell.
And speaking of Italian coffee, I bought an old Bialetti Moka Express 1C pot for pocket change, to try at home.
It's essentially a percolator, not an espresso machine. I wonder if it will work for me in camp?
https://www.homegrounds.co/best-stov...spresso-maker/
If I'm not careful my camping coffee pot collection may soon outnumber my cooking pots.

 

[Boreal Birch]

The Bialetti Moka Express works pretty good, gives what I would think real espresso should taste like. I take the one we have off the stove soon after it starts to make noise, so I don't get the "starbucks" burnt taste. I have also found that it works best with heat just on the bottom, I never tried it on a campfire, feel the handle might burn off. I've used it a few times on road trips, always with a stove, but never on a canoe trip. I'm pretty sure our best luck with coffee was the Italian brand illy ground pretty fine.
One of my friends is really into tea, his wife has forbade any more tea pots. She has gone a far as telling me not to let him get any when we go off on our adventures. Twice upon returning home from visiting him I will find a teapot that his wife has slipped in to my luggage. I now have some very expensive tea pots that maybe make the tea taste better, or at least look more elegant. Time spent with Charlie has taught me to like tea, it seems to refresh me better after a hard portage or paddle than coffee. Coffee however rules my life, as I am a addicted.
Theindian........
I haven't tried frying anything in the frying pan/lid yet. I did use it this afternoon for a water dish for my Border Collie. We were back in forest that is to be clear cut this winter, we were harvesting my yearly supply of birch bark ( I make knife handles and sheaths from it). I also harvested a supply for a friend that has a lung problem that restricts him from walking. It was pretty hot today, in the forest with no wind I worked up a sweat debarking trees and packing the rolls of bark back to the truck. When I stopped to brew a pot of coffee in my detachable handled pot, I could not find Forest's bowl, so I used the handle-less frying pan, he seemed to like it, we both went through a liter of water each in the woods, could have used more. We stopped at a small creek on the way home and risked giardia getting a drink and washing my face. I will report in a few days, if I get sick.