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

My younger brother is mediocrity personified. Mr. In-between. Mr. Take the Middle Path and Easy Does it. But I love my brother. In many efforts he's exemplary but when it comes to liquid refreshment he's conservative. Which might explain why he "hates coffee". I doubt he's really tried it and certainly not all the different types and brew methods. But every time I offer to make him a cup of smooth, strong, liquid energy he makes a curious sound somewhere between a Rottweiler sneezing and a goose honking. I treat that as a dismissal. I learned last summer his attitude also applies to his hot favourite beverage tea. I poured him a nice cup of strong black breakfast tea. And after adding his usual bucket load of sugar and lashings of milk...he gagged. His wife was helpful, teasplaining to me that in future I'd need to just hold the tea bag over the pot to merely suggest tea being steeped, that would be strong enough. wow. I promptly boiled some water to weaken his brew. Anything for my brother. Since then I've set aside all the mediocre teas I've accumulated, some failed purchases others gifts, just for him.
My own tea tastes have moved on since as a kid I'd come in from chores to a hot mug of strong tea generously enriched with sweetened condensed milk and white sugar. No idea how I drank that stuff.
My late mother-in-law was a snob, no two ways about it. She insisted on the proper pour in a proper china cup with correct smooth stirs "No touching the sides of the cup Bradley!! That's NOT English!!" Yes Mother. No Mother. Would you be so kind as to pass the biscuits please? As much as I love a good cuppa I swear I never wanna go too far down that tea snob road. So for all the epicurean curious here's the best method for a good brew.
Scoop a tea pail full of water from the tannin stained lake, put 'er on the glowing embers and grab a tea bag from the stash, once the water comes to a boil drop the bag into the simmering water and let it steep, perhaps counting down time watching the leaves fall, the clouds race by, or red squirrels chatter; and once the tea has transformed from weak water to strong sustenance pour a cupful and kick back to enjoy the brew view. Pass the bannock if you would be so kind.
 
I never said all Canadians drink tea. What I said was when I run into people in the bush that drink tea, most of them are from Canada (or UK).
 
I never said all Canadians drink tea. What I said was when I run into people in the bush that drink tea, most of them are from Canada (or UK).

This is likely because you, like probably everyone else here, have never canoe tripped in Asia, Oceana, Russia, Africa, the UK, or western South America.

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For ages, the metaphor for most valuable thing in the world was "all the tea in China." The world's mystics have always read tea leaves, not coffee grounds. America was born out of the Boston Tea (not Coffee) Party. The best tea in the world according to renowned canoe trippers, Taylors Yorkshire Gold, comes from the 10 best Camellia sinensis gardens in India, Rwanda and Kenya.

And when the discussion moves from hot drinks to tepid or cold drinks, how many folks want to drink tepid or cold coffee. No one may know exactly, but the stores in the USA are chock full of iced tea with nary a presence iced coffee. Go to the Deep South in the USA and you will be served pitchers of cold sweet tea, not coffee. Tea is the beverage that can be enjoyed at all liquid temperatures, to say nothing of the dazzling array of flavors.

I was always brought up to have a cup of tea at halfway up a rock face - Bear Grylls

I got nasty habits; I take tea at three. - Mick Jagger
 
I never acquired a taste for tea. I will rarely will have some, but usually if I do it is so loaded with sugar and lemon that a tea drinker would not even call it tea. I did find that I liked the canned stuff with lemon and sugar when it was crazy hot and I was in the sun all day on my sailboat. My wife says it is lemonade with a little tea.

And when the discussion moves from hot drinks to tepid or cold drinks, how many folks want to drink tepid or cold coffee. No one may know exactly, but the stores in the USA are chock full of iced tea with nary a presence iced coffee.

Actually, I enjoy both tepid and cold coffee. That last few sips of room temperature coffee left in the cup taste great!

Also while less prevalent than cold tea drinks there are lots of cold coffee drinks in the cold case at most mini marts and convenience stores. Our local grocery store has serving sized containers of Califia Cold Brew, Dunkin Donuts Iced, Starbucks Cold Brew, Starbucks Frappuccino, and maybe a couple others. Most convenience stores where I have noticed have an assortment as well. Also there are iced coffee in a cup options sometimes, 7-11 has had one in the past. Not sure if they currently do or if it was seasonal.

I stopped in a lot of convenience stores when I was bicycling from Oregon to Virginia and on other long bicycle tours and found that you could count on finding cold coffee drinks in the cold case. In general they were expensive enough that I didn't buy them often, but my infrequent purchase of them was due to price not availability or taste.
 
I like cold coffee too but it is probably too strong to drink like iced tea for most folks. It's gotta be stronger than tea, I've never heard anyone offer a drunk a cup of Earl Grey to sober them up enough to drive.
 
The provisions for Dillon Wallace and his crew of five on their 800 mile canoe portage trip thru Labrador in 1906 (his 2,000 mi. southward journey by dog sled and snowshoe followed) :

(2 canvas covered canoes, one 19 ft and one 18 ft.) Their gear consisted of everything from scientific instruments to fish nets and fire arms.

298 lbs pork
300 lbs flour
45 lbs corn meal
4 lbs lentils
28 lbs rice
25 lbs erbswurst
10 lbs prunes
a few packages dried vegetables
some beef bouillon tablets
6 lbs baking powder
15 lbs sugar
14 lbs salt
a small amount of saccharin and crystallose,
150 lbs of pemmican *
16 lbs tea
6 lbs coffee

* "It was also upon the recommendation of Dr Cook and others of my Arctic Club friends that I purchased the pemmican, which was designed as an emergency ration, and may I say here that one pound of pemmican, as our experience demonstrated, was equal to two or even three pounds of any other food that we carried."
Dillion Wallace 1906
 
We're four pages in to a reply to an OP who asked for coffee making recommendations with a post that linked to "reviews" of coffee makers that is really an affiliate site that makes commissions by people clicking through the site to buy the reviewed products. The OP has since vanished.

While reading our regular members' posts about coffee making has me smelling the coffee, the OP has me smelling the spam.
 
We're four pages in to a reply to an OP who asked for coffee making recommendations with a post that linked to "reviews" of coffee makers that is really an affiliate site that makes commissions by people clicking through the site to buy the reviewed products. The OP has since vanished.

While reading our regular members' posts about coffee making has me smelling the coffee, the OP has me smelling the spam.

I never thought of that alsg, I thought Dave might have scared her off when he moved her post. I wonder how she got on the site, I was asked some pretty serious canoeing related questions during the vetting process.
 
Guys, I truly appreciate your protective instinct for the forum, but let's not be too quick in jumping to conclusions. Sarah's introductory post was most agreeable. While it is common courtesy to acknowledge when people respond to one's question here, Sarah might just be too caught up in the holiday rush at the moment.

Particularly If Sarah is new to forums, my moving her post might have thrown her off a bit. If so, that was regrettable.

I do not and cannot monitor or supervise all the outside links that are posted, but they do generally concern me. Some of the coffee makers in Sarah's linked review did seem more suitable for car camping, but I know of people who swear by number 3, the Aeropress, and the stainless funnel was intriguing. I can imagine plenty of people are not aware of how "affiliate" sites work, and plenty of people use them whether they understand them or not.

Camp coffee is always a fun subject, and there is always a lot to talk about. Any excuse to talk camp coffee is a good excuse.

Most importantly, it is the holiday season. A time for peace on Earth, goodwill toward all.

Sarah, this is a fine and civil group of folks here who are passionate and knowledgeable about canoes and canoe camping. Please do not hesitate to continue participating.
 
Erik Normark's vids usually have some coffee in them... here, he describes how cowboy coffee's made while enjoying the sights and sounds of the day. Coarse grind is recommended and it seems it's better to make it strong rather than weak. He also brings a special wooden cup to enjoy the coffee in. And there's a special little coffee pot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjZC8LIrr5s

Appropriate for this time of year, a solstice vid, with the coffee break the centerpiece while being there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf7eo1FB5wU
 
I’m not sure about the space, weight or prep savings between bring a thermos of pre-brewed coffee and bringing a stove, press or drip funnel, water and grounds.

I do (did) like coffee from a press, but I didn’t like dealing with the wet grounds or cleaning the residue from the press. A drip funnel and filter at least eliminated the cleaning aspect; just toss the filter & grounds in your trash bag. And now the trash bag is soggy leaky.

[*]Starbucks Via instant - I am a Starbuck hater, but Via isn't bad.

I don’t hate Starbucks, I’ve just never been inside one. I’m sure I would be venti/grande/latte lost when ordering; “I’d like a large, strong coffee with cream please” probably wouldn’t cut it and I’d end up with something pumpkin-spiced with sprinkles.

But Starbucks Via packs, available in my local grocery store, may be the best “instant” coffee ever developed. Not freeze dried, but some patented combination of ultra-fine ground and dehydrated brewed coffee.

I am not a coffee snob, other than detesting the bitter chemical taste of freeze dried instant, and Via is not that; it’s dang good coffee for “instant”.

It is also like a buck a cup. So $2 to fill my 16oz insulated tumbler each morning on a trip.

It’s worth it for decently tasty, no-fuss, no-muss, no-grounds, almost-no-trash, just-boil-water coffee.

BTW, I have mentioned this before, but when road tripping a Thermos is your friend. If you walk into a gas station/convenience store, wave a Thermos and ask “How much to fill this up?” the response is usually “Same as a large cup”.

May not be the best coffee, but it’s hard to beat that price.
 
Mike, i agree starbucks is the best instant coffee, but not nearly as good as concentrate
 
I agree with lowangle al, I would think if SarahSimm wanted to post in Camp Kitchen, she would have. She probably wanted a quick way to make good coffee while Winter Camping. I do know that if Robin had moved my first post to somewhere that I could not find it easily the next morning I might have given up posting here myself.
frozentripper.......
When I was in Sweden my friends all made Swedish Cowboy Coffee. Not only while outdoors but, in their modern kitchen as well. When buying coffee in Sweden you need to look for the KOK on the bag to know you are getting the correct grind. Be careful how you pronounce kok in mixed company.
Mike......
The only way I care for Via coffee is when mixed with Swiss Miss hot chocolate. I would rather have a cup of strong black tea than any instant coffee of any brand.
I have found for myself that a strong couple of cups of tea refreshes me better than coffee. I get a nice gentle push of lasting energy as opposed to the wild jolt that coffee brings.
 
The only way I care for Via coffee is when mixed with Swiss Miss hot chocolate.
I am not a fan of fancy options for coffee drinks No flavored creamers or any of that sort of stuff for me. That said, coffee and swiss miss sounds pretty good. I bet a 50/50 mix would be a good camp treat.
 
Boreal Birch, I have heard that cowboy coffee is easier on the stomach since it's been boiled, may or may not be true. I'm not a big coffee drinker and early mornings there is coffee and then that's it. Will not have any past noon since it will probably keep me from sleeping, same goes for tea with caffeine. Afternoons and evenings it's some kind of herbal, non caffeinated tea, chamomile maybe. Peppermint is something that will grow in any garden and it's good for an easy-going tea that's relaxing and stimulating at the same time.
 
re: Coffee in the news.

SUDBURY -- A snowmobiler who went missing Jan. 8 was rescued by the Ontario Provincial Police on Jan. 9 near Wawa.
It turns out the snowmobiler had gone through the ice but was able to get out of the freezing water. Police were able to locate the sledder, in part, because he wrote 'SOS' in coffee grounds on the snow.


Try that with tea bags.
 
I like French press coffee, but since the introduction of Starbucks Via, I've gone to instant on camping trips. Pretty darn good and a lot less weight and trouble.
 
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