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Recommend a coffee maker? I'm done bearing a heavy thermos

My choice (currently out of stock) is pour over coffee using GSI's silicone collapsible coffee drip cone. Takes standard #4 paper filter cones -- the same ones I already buy for my automatic drip coffee maker at home so I never have to buy special filters. Depending on how many coffee grounds you put in and how much hot water your pour over it, you can brew 1-12 cups at a time. Clean up couldn't be easier; just pull the paper filter and put it in the trash and splash some clean water in the cone.

https://gsioutdoors.com/collapsible-javadrip-blue.html

Incidentally, I wonder where the OP has gone. She seems to have dropped in, asked the question, and vanished.
 
It sounds like the OP wants to have a coffee on a day trip in place of carrying a thermos. If that is the case I would have a tiny stove that you screw into a fuel canister, with a small pot and a cup. For the coffee; If I wanted fresh brewed I would use a filter cone, but for simplicity sake I think instant makes sense. When I first started tripping I used those flavored international coffees that came in a little tin. They tasted good, they were sweet and creamy and had a caffiein kick. I would also try regular instant coffee but to simplify things, I'd mix the coffee, sugar and powdered creamer in a single serving baggie. The advantage of instant is there is no filter and grounds to deal with and I think you get a stronger caffein kick from it. (probably the reason it exists)
 
It sounds like the OP wants to have a coffee on a day trip in place of carrying a thermos.

In that case keeping it really simple is the way to go. The best instant you can find or maybe liquid concentrate probably make the most sense if you must avoid a thermos, but really a thermos is hard to beat for a day trip. I have a 32 oz camelback one that I like.

The worry was a heavy thermos, but there is a limit to how light you can go with a stove and coffee maker. I have managed to get my little pop can alcohol stove setup down to as little as an ounce for burner, stand, and wind screen. Most stoves are much heavier though. So I guess you could go quite a bit lighter than my 1# thermos. You need to carry some alcohol and the cup could be the press with french press. Instant or liquid concentrate would be even easier and you could gt the whole deal down to a few ounces.

Still it seems like a lot of trouble for a day trip where my usual answer is to have coffee on the way to the water and be done with it for the day.
 
I am a coffee peasant and all regular coffee it ok by me, but instant is awful!
 
I am a coffee peasant and all regular coffee it ok by me, but instant is awful!

Instant is awful - if you consider it coffee. I do not - it is a hot, liquid, caffeine delivery vehicle. As long as you do not compare it to coffee, it's not bad. I want at least 2 cups before I start moving - maybe 3 on a lazy morning. That turns into a PITA with any of the manual brew options (and the gourmet options would render me destitute).
 
I am a coffee peasant and all regular coffee it ok by me, but instant is awful!

I guess I am a peasant as well. When ordering a coffee if I go to the counter and say I'd like a cup of coffee (and specify any cream or sugar requirements) they should bring you a cup of regular coffee without any stupid lingo or a ton of choices. If I get "Do you mean tall, grande, venti, or trenta" and do you mean "cafe Americano", I find myself wishing there was a diner next door where they would just bring me a cup of Maxwell House or Folgers. Most of the time I like the diner coffee better any way.

Despite hating Starbucks I found VIA instant to be kind of okay. I hated the other instants that I have tried. Some are bad enough that I skip coffee for the day if they are all that is available.
 
You guys are drinking the wrong instant.

https://49thcoffee.com/collections/instant-coffees/products/african-tribute

I wholeheartedly agree with you though. Life is too short for bad coffee.

It says on the site "Each box comes with 6 individual packs, makes 6 cups of coffee." Am I reading that correctly 6 cups of coffee are $21? That is $3.50 per cup. Sounds really expensive for instant coffee to me. I guess I am a cheapskate. I tend to balk at Via and wouldn't have it unless the wife bought it, and it can be under a buck per packet.

I guess the sticker shock isn't bad for folks who already spend a fortune on fancy coffee. Me, 99.9% of the coffee I drink is home brewed Folgers or Maxwell House. When I do order coffee in a restaurant it is a typically inexpensive and they refill as many times as I want.
 
It says on the site "Each box comes with 6 individual packs, makes 6 cups of coffee." Am I reading that correctly 6 cups of coffee are $21? That is $3.50 per cup. Sounds really expensive for instant coffee to me. I guess I am a cheapskate. I tend to balk at Via and wouldn't have it unless the wife bought it, and it can be under a buck per packet.

I guess the sticker shock isn't bad for folks who already spend a fortune on fancy coffee. Me, 99.9% of the coffee I drink is home brewed Folgers or Maxwell House. When I do order coffee in a restaurant it is a typically inexpensive and they refill as many times as I want.

Yes not cheap. I only buy them for backcountry trips.
I get 2 good cups out of each packet though so 12 cups. $1.75 CAD per cup. Still not cheap but I’m worth it. :)
 
Taking a stove and coffee pot with you is likely no lighter than a thermos and possibly less convenient. I take a BIG thermos and have a drink whenever I want to. Let it be known that said thermos usually contains tea though. Some times I stop and set up a tarp and gather branches to make a fire. Cooking a small pot of coffee over the fire or on a small stove while roasting up chunks of kielbassa over the fire is all part of my day trip escape. I have taken cold pizza and reheated that on the fire too. That was a winner.

Honestly the best way to have coffee in the field is to have tea instead.
 
Taking a stove and coffee pot with you is likely no lighter than a thermos and possibly less convenient. I take a BIG thermos and have a drink whenever I want to. Let it be known that said thermos usually contains tea though. Some times I stop and set up a tarp and gather branches to make a fire. Cooking a small pot of coffee over the fire or on a small stove while roasting up chunks of kielbassa over the fire is all part of my day trip escape. I have taken cold pizza and reheated that on the fire too. That was a winner.

Honestly the best way to have coffee in the field is to have tea instead.
The fire itself may have recreational value and if you are having one any way I can see it being the way to make some coffee.. From a purely practical point of view it would for me at least be more trouble than just firing up my little alcohol burner unless I was having a fire any way. Heck, I might use the little burner even if I had a fire just to avoid sooting up the pot/cup.

I doubt it is worth it vs the thermos, but it can be done lighter than even the lightest thermos I have seen, but you need to go with a really light stove and cookware. Being a weight weenie and just for fun I looked at my backpacking gear spreadsheet for some weights. The stove, pot stand, windscreen, lighter, and cup are a setup I often have use when backpacking or bike touring. They work out quite well.
  • pop can alcohol burner - 0.4 ounces
  • pot stand - 0.7 ounces
  • wind screen - 0.5 ounces mini bic lighter - 0.6 ounces
  • Snow Peak 600 cup/pot - 2.9 ounces
  • GSI drip coffee maker - 0.4 ounces
  • Plastic 32 ounce cup - 1.3 ounces
That gets you down to 6.6 ounces, but you'd still need to add some alcohol. You would only need to carry an ounce or so, but the container weighs something. So lets say 2 ounces for the fuel. That gets you there with a grand total of about 8.6 ounces including fuel.

The fire can be a fun and comforting thing, but I've never been inclined to have one at lunch time or at all on day trips. If you are having one you it saves some weight, but you still need most of the heavier items in my list. So it really only saves maybe 3 ounces depending on fuel weight.

On the other hand, if you need less than 32 ounces of coffee, there are some 15-24 ounce vacuum flasks that get to within a few ounces of the setup I listed.

In any case the thermos is just so much less fuss. You could get by without even brewing the coffee, just get the thermos filled on the way to your trip.

On the tea thing... I can't do it. If tea was the only other choice I'd just have water.
 
I am still currently immersed in reading diaries of 19th C explorations throughout the broad expanse of what would someday become Canada. Interesting that the two most prized provisions of the time were tea and tobacco. Lard and flour were valued as well. Salt was also a staple seasoning. Even local indigenous populations prized any spare tea and tobacco that might be given or traded. But those were the times and as we all know times have changed some for better some for worse.
This past paddling year I grew indifferent to the usual morning kick of caffeine even though I/we have several choices of brewing options from giddyup cowboy to Bialetti Mocha pots. If you're not in a gram counting hurry then a spare pot here and a spare half hour there won't harsh your vibe, otherwise you always have options besides donning a hair shirt and sucking on mittens for sustenance. Not all thermos flasks are heavy. Thin walled <1 L stainless steel Thermoses are slight and easy to take along guilt free. I have a cheapo plastic soup Thermos that weighs less than my wool socks (when both are empty). And then there is tea.
I grew up with it as a day long thirst quencher, black, strong, and sugar free. There is no need for a flask of that tripping as stopping for a brew on a small fire with a tea billy (pail) is traditional simplicity itself. Here is our current tea snob favourite. Breaking a bannock with a hot cuppa is pure comfort and joy on the trail.
yorkshire gold.jpg - Click image for larger version  Name:	yorkshire gold.jpg Views:	0 Size:	54.7 KB ID:	120132

ps Sara; your trip is about you and you only. Glean from others and elsewhere to suit you and your trip. Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, cocoa or tisane, whatever your pleasure, and in whichever way you prepare it best suits you. If it works for you then it's right. We all have our own preferences. And those change as well, as might yours over the years. I know mine have. I'm leaving the coffee pot at home next year. I've shifted from booze and coffee to tisane and tea. Weird and refreshing. Cheers!
 
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This is a new word to me -- I like words -- even though I've been drinking many tisanes for decades. Upon looking it up, I began to wonder if coffee (ugh!) is a tisane, at least in decaffeinated form.

I have understood tisane to be herbal teas. My own tastes have moved to chamomile or mint. But that's only in a hippy trippy mood.

Sara's concern for cumbersome weight is perfectly understood of course. Weight is a tripping variable to consider. I don't mind admitting having a coffee pot as a single use gear item concerned me, not so much the weight as the pack space. Cowboy coffee (or tea) is so darned easy without an extra useless pot to think about. With tea I drop a tea bag in my cup with boiled water and I'm good to go. What did they do in yesteryear? A pinch of tea leaves in a pot? These days I use a tea bell.
 
Odyssey, I was also quite interested in your recommendation of Taylor's Yorkshire Gold, which I've never seen or tried. When I googled it, the pictures did not have the designation "orange pekoe" on them, as your picture does.

I realized that i wasn't sure what "orange pekoe" means, although I've heard it all my life. It's merely a traditional classification grade for black teas, which has nothing to do with orange fruit. It may relate back to the Dutch House of Orange, to which the Dutch East India Company provided the finest grade of teas in the 16th century.

Also, the orange pekoe designation is put on Taylor boxes in Canada but not usually in the UK or USA. Taylor's Yorkshire Gold is the same product with or without the orange pekoe label.

The description sounds yummy but I don't really want the caffeine. It does bad things to me. What to do . . . hmmm.

I, too, like the simplicity of tea on a canoe trip. I just pack tea bags and sweetener bags in my cup. Boil water, steep and done. The used bags are easily burnable, disposable or out-packable.
 
Context is everything when it comes to coffee. Compared to no coffee, every kind is wonderful. I like to bring some roasted beans and wrap them in a bandana and smash them with a rock. Then I put a handful of coffee in whatever is handy with some water. I like to make it on a fire, but small stove is convenient. Once it boils I take it off the fire and let it sit. Before serving add a small amount of cold water to settle the grounds. Excellent. Or some powdered Expresso or Via in a tube.

You can add egg shells to neutralize acid. This helps if you have average beans that are not Arabica.
You can tell the Canadians because they drink tea. It helps to cultivate a taste for tea for those meetings with people in the bush.
In the evening I like herb tea around the fire.
 
ppine; "You can tell the Canadians because they drink tea" is not true at all!
I'm Canadian and despise tea, and virtually all of my tripping buddies prefer coffee.
'Coffee represents half of the hot drinks Canadians have (51% of hot beverages), while tea represents almost one-third (29% of hot beverages) of their beverage consumption."
https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/canadia...s half of the,beverages) than do tea drinkers.
 
I don't mind the occasional herbal tea, but that black English stuff makes feel like I'm having a heart attack - nausea, hot and cold flashes, palpitations...
 
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