The scenery of the great outdoors, the fresh air you breathe, the break from fishing as you take in both of these. How could it get even better? The answer here is with a fresh, well-made cup of coffee. A majority of people love coffee and start their day with it, but some don’t know how to make coffee while backpacking.
Since electricity isn’t available – where to start while on the go in mother natures paradise without the accessories available in their kitchen becomes a challenge but is easily resolved as you will see
Four of my favorite ways to brew coffee, all portable and all rich in taste:
- Aeropress
- French Press
- Percolator
- Pour Over
Aeropress
One of the most popular ways to make coffee while backpacking, camping and in my case, fishing is the Aeropress full immersion coffee press. For an extremely rich cup of coffee Aeropress is a great choice and has added value for its small size – that’s huge when you have a backpack on all day.
What I like about the Aeropress besides the size and taste is that you can use most types of coffee and the result will be impressive. That includes pre-ground coffee of almost any grade, whether it is a high end estate coffee or a lower grade purchased from your local supermarket.
Grind Size: Fine
Equipment Needed:
- Aeropress (Includes stir stick + scoop)
- Filters
- Manual burr grinder (if grinding on the go)
- Stove burner
- Kettle
- Thermometer (some kettles have these built in like this one here)
- Watch or smartphone timer
- Coffee mug
You’ll be using the Aeropress scoop and filling to the marked measurements so in this case there isn’t a need to bring a scale or measuring cup. You can always grind your beans before you head out if you prefer efficiency over maximal freshness.
Brewing Steps:
- Turn on stove burner and begin boiling water.
- Ensure plunger is out of the brew chamber.
- Remove cap on brew chamber, insert filter, twist cap back onto chamber.
- Place mug on flat surface and sit brew chamber on top of mug.
- Scoop rounded serving of coffee grounds.
- Aeropress comes with this scoop (17g per 1 scoop)
- Grind beans onsite if you didn’t beforehand
- Pour scoop of grinds into brew chamber.
- Add water to the ‘1’ mark on the brew chamber.
- Water should be 185 F°
- Stir using Aeropress stir stick for 10 seconds.
- Insert plunger into top of brew chamber.
- Push down plunger gently for 20-40 seconds
- Enjoy your rich cup of coffee!
Tips:
- The time to push the plunger down is important for a rich tasting coffee without the bitterness that some longer processes produce (over-extracted).
- Bring a ziplock bag. You can push used grinds out of the brew chamber into the bag, along with the used filter.
Recommended Percolators:
French Press
Another popular way to make coffee in general is the French Press method. While you see most French Press’ in the glass form, there are many options for backpacking/camping. The French Press gives you a similar resulting coffee as the Aeropress if you like rich tasting coffee, but one of the differences are that French Press brews the coffee grinds with most of the acidity in tact.
At the bottom of this explanation I have posted a French Press suitable for your backpack, so don’t do what I did below in bringing a glass version with me!
Grind Size: Coarse
Equipment Needed:
- French Press
- Manual burr grinder (if grinding on the go)
- Stove burner
- Kettle
- Thermometer (some kettles have these built in like this one here)
- Watch or smartphone timer
- Coffee mug
You can bring a scale if you want or you can simply pre-grind + pre-weigh your beans & water if you’re really particular. You’re reading this now so why not go the extra mile in being prepared versus lugging around unneeded gear.
Coffee to water ratio: Preferred is 1:15 (for every gram of coffee, add 15 grams of water – 3 tbsp for every cup of water to keep it simple).
Brewing Steps:
- Turn on stove burner and begin boiling water.
- You will want a water temperature of 200°F
- Grind coffee beans and pour into French Press (ensure press is on a stable surface), or pour pre-ground beans if you’ve prepared ahead of time.
- With your water at 200°F, pour slowly into press, circling to wet all of the coffee grinds.
- Once you have poured your water into the press, let the coffee and water brew for 4 minutes.
- After 4 minutes elapses, insert the plunger and push down slowly and steadily which should equal about 15-20 seconds to reach the bottom.
- Enjoy your rich cup of coffee!
Tips:
- If you use a grind that is too fine, the water will extract the coffee too quickly so ensure you have that perfect coarse grind.
- At the end of step 5 you can stir the grinds and water, but I find the best cups of French Press coffee comes without stirring.
Recommended Percolators:
- GSI Outdoors – Glacier Stainless Java Press – 30oz
- Stanley Classic Stay Hot French Press – 48oz
- GSI Outdoors Java Press Coffee Maker – 50 oz
Pour Over
The pour over method competes with the Aeropress in a sense with it’s compact size. There are several models available (I’ve posted a few at the end of this explanation), from solid plastic, ceramic to collapsible devices.
Technique and patience is key with the pour over method, to achieve that rich and bold taste.
Grind Size: Medium-course
Equipment Needed:
- Pour over device
- Paper filter
- Manual burr grinder (if grinding on the go)
- Stove burner
- Kettle
- Thermometer (some kettles have these built in like this one here)
- Watch or smartphone timer
- Coffee mug
Again, optional to bring a scale. If not, weigh out 30 grams of coffee, and half a litre of water before you head out.
Brewing Steps:
- Start to boil water with the goal to reach 200°F.
- Sit your pour over device on top of your mug with the paper filter inside the device.
- When your boiled water is ready, pour hot water in circles onto the paper filter to remove any altered taste. Lift your pour over device off the mug and pour out the water, then return the device back on top.
- Add your ground coffee (30 grams) into the filter
- Start pouring the water, circling from the outside towards the middle, fully immersing the ground coffee. Each pour should take 15 seconds, pausing and let bloom. You should have poured a quarter of your remaining water on the first pour. Repeat this 3 more times, allowing 20-30 seconds in-between pours until 100% of your water is poured. Each pour, reverse the method between pouring from the outside-in to then switching pouring from the inside-out.
- After the last pour, let the remaining coffee pour into your mug for 20-30 seconds. Most times I will remove the pour over device prematurely if my mug is filled near the top.
- Enjoy your cup of coffee!
Tips:
- The slow method allows the water more contact time with the coffee providing a flavorful taste to your palate.
- Brew time from start to finish once you make your first pour should be 3-4 minutes.
- Where the bloom time is 20-30 seconds between pours, you can adjust this time based on the roast type. Focus on close to 20 seconds for darker roasts and 30 seconds on lighter roasts.
- Each time you do this, experiment with the timing to see what suits your palate best.
Recommended Percolators:
Percolator
While this method takes up most of the capacity in my backpack, this is my favorite way to brew coffee. Using a Percolator has been known to produce a bitter dry tasting coffee, which is a result of boiling your water too hot(boiled). The key here is to monitor the Percolator to ensure you don’t over-extract the coffee or brew for too long. I often use a Costa Rican coffee and it usually turns out fruitful and smooth, yet bold.
There is more to this process, so I thought I would give a high level explanation:
The stove top Percolator method requires a gradual increase to high heat but not quite boiled, which pressurizes the water from the bottom, moving the hot water to the top of the middle stem (pump stem) and onto the perforated cover plate. The hot water creates bubbles which are forced into a tight fit up through the stem. Since the bubbles have a tight fit they also pressurize the water between them up to the top.
The cover plate spreads out the water, dripping into the perforated basket where the coffee is held. This process is repeated during the brew process, and the more rotations, the stronger the coffee. Too much time during this process and the result is a bitter brew of coffee. Most Percolators have a glass knob at the top, when you see the water start to turn a darker color, the brewing/extraction process has begun.
Grind Size: Coarse
Equipment Needed:
- Percolator
- Manual burr grinder (if grinding on the go)
- Stove burner
- Watch or smartphone timer
- Coffee mug
For 1 cup of coffee in the Percolator, you will want to pre-weight or manually grind on the spot: 10 grams of coffee (.35 ounces) and 170 grams of water (6 ounces). If you have company (a fishing buddy), double the aforementioned numbers.
Brewing Steps:
- Turn your stove burner to medium heat.
- Put the stem into the correct placement, then pour your preferred water amount into the Percolator.
- Pour your coffee grinds into the perforated basket, then place the basket into the Percolator, onto the stem.
- Place the baskets cover plate onto the basket and close the lid.
- This is the step where you monitor the brewing process. Adjust the heat level slowly at a periodic pace. If you look at the glass knob on top, you will start to see water sputtering. If the sputtering happens too rapidly, your water is too hot or boiling at this point. You should see a slow bubble start to progress, and eventually the color should start to turn brown.
- Depending how strong you want your coffee depends on when you should turn off the heat source on your burner. You can see the coffee sputter in the glass knob, so if you want a stronger coffee, wait until the color becomes darker.
- Pour and enjoy your cup of joe!
Tip:
The longer this process, or the more times the coffee flows through the stem, onto the plate, back through the basket and to the bottom creates a strong rich brew. Less amount of time or fewer rotations through the stem, the milder the resulting brew.
Recommended Percolators:
The bottom line is that any of these 4 methods will provide you with a great cup of coffee and as you perfect the craft of each, it becomes second nature!
Additional Products:
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