The world will never agree on how to produce the best cuppa joe....and neither will LD'ers. The subject has been often discussed on the LWALDRV Yahoo group and this FAQ is based on the discussions that appeared..and re-appeared...there over the years. It generally pays to avoid electric coffemakers unless you plan on mostly having hookups. You are much more flexible if your coffee can be prepared on the propane stove (percolator, french press, Melitta drip, etc). We'll try to discuss some of the many methods here. So fill your mug, settle back and read on.....Melitta Drip Cone
This is undoubtedly the simplest way to make coffee and many folks swear by it. Melitta makes a number of different products of various sizes that are all basically the same in that they use a cone/funnel-shaped device that holds a paper filter. The cone has a flat base that will sit on top of a mug, cup, Thermos or carafe. Put the coffee in the filter, pour in the hot water and in a few minutes your joe is ready. There are other similar systems, such as Chemex, which use a similar method. Some of these are one-piece systems that look something like an hourglass. Some comments:
- Shop Melitta on-line.
- Some of the Melitta filter cones seal tightly to the wet filter and STOP the flow of hot water. Look for cones with ridges molded into the inside to prevent this.
- Melitta types allow you to use a paper filter if you choose to so you don't get the sediment that a gold permanent type or French Press will have.
- We can attest to the excellent quality and value of the Melitta 10 cup filtering pot. Kent is a Cajun and takes his coffee seriously and this system is a lot like making coffee the old fashioned Cajun way.
- I use a Melitta drip coffee maker and grind the beans pretty fine just before brewing. Sometimes I had the Community Coffee with chickory, but more often went to a local coffee shop that roasted its own beans. I soon learned their schedule for roasting, and appeared on that day! The procedure was to put in a pretty large amount of grounds and pack it down just a bit. Then I would put in enough hot (not actively boiling) water to moisten the grounds, and let the moisture even out. Then pour more hot water through the grounds to extract the most essence. This made a pretty thick coffee which I then poured into our two cups and diluted with some more of the hot water (or, more likely, hot milk) to taste. If there was any leftover, I just put it into a jar and refrigerated it for later use.
- We boil water on the stove, and use a plastic ladle to 'spoon' the water into the cone on top of the carafe. It's worked very well, and makes very good coffee.
- Simplest of all (and this is my preference when I'm in the mood for coffee) is a Melitta-style filterholder and any old pot that you can boil water in. But Steve says "the Melitta seems like so much work." Aw, come on! ;-) Dump a couple of scoops of coffee in a funnel, pour boiling water over it and wait a minute or two. Throw away the filter and rinse the funnel when you're through. I can't think of any coffee preparation method that's less work than that.
- The thing I like best about the Mellita type coffee makers is the ease of clean up. Percolators and French presses are a pain to clean when you are trying to conserve water and holding tank capacity. With the Mellita, you brew the coffee and then throw the filter and used grinds in the trash. A quick rinse of the holder is all it takes.
- If you use the clever collapsing filter cones --which are simply a helix of stainless steel wire--no water is required for cleanup. You can just shake them off in the sink, and all traces of coffee will be gone.
French Press
- Quoting from "The New Cooks' Catalog":"A plunger pot, also called a French press, is the method that...professional coffee testers use to brew coffee. With the plunger pot, coarse-ground coffee is infused with near-boiling water inside the device's spouted heat-resistant glass cylinder. After about 4 to 6 minutes, a screen made of plastic, nylon or metal is slowly pushed from the top of the glass chamber to the bottom, thereby straining the coffee and trapping the grounds on the bottom. The result is a rich brew with a varying amount of sediment, depending on the fineness of the strainer mesh and the grounds."
- Decant the coffee from the press once it has brewed! The coffee will otherwise continue to extract and become more bitter and unpleasant. For this reason, I find the Thermal Stainless Steel French Presses not functional: brew in a glass one, then decant into a Vacuum Bottle/ Thermos if you need to keep it hot for a while...but ideally, just brew enough for one sitting!"
- The French Press is a pain to clean and uses a lot of water to do the job.
- With a standard type French Press you have the press and the thermal carafe to clean. It's pretty much equal how much water is needed if you first scraped the grounds from the French Press with a rubber spatula/scraper. Scrape the used grounds out of the bottom of the carafe into the garbage, followed by a wiping-out with a damp paper towel or sponge, then a light rinse. The key is to dig out as much of the used grounds first before washing.
- As for using a thermal French Press, I personally don't really care for that option myself. My reason is that even though you press the grounds to the bottom and brewing is "supposed to stop" there is still water (or now coffee) in contact with them and the coffee starts getting stronger and bitterer as time goes by.
- Working in the industry, I must advise the usage of a French Press. Heat the water on your stove (tea pot?) wait about 20-30 seconds for it to cool slightly (you want the water @ 200degrees (195-205), then pour into the French Press. Many people in the industry use this method for 'cupping' (comparative taste tests) as the grinds are exposed to the water far longer, yielding much more extraction. Play with the times (2-4 minutes typically) for the flavor profile that you like. French Presses are pretty easy to clean also, but I will recommend a more thorough cleaning upon return to your home base (or at least once a month if full-timing). Lack of a truly clean brewer has a huge effect on the bitterness of a coffee. French Press will extract more flavor from the coffee grounds than any drip brewer (where I work, we only produce commercial drip brewers, big ones) and offer a more consistent flavor profile. Being glass (there are some insulated stainless presses, but not such a great idea as you really want to get the beverage away from the grounds after you are done brewing, or they will continue to extract, and negatively effect the flavor), you will need to find a safe spot. Also, please drink it ASAP, as the flavor really is effected by air. Or pour it into a thermal carafe.
- French press: Used it a few times, gave it away and stayed with the Mellita. The press coffee was not as good to my taste and it was MESSY!
- French press makes good strong coffee, but mine is made of glass...gotta be careful with it.
- We boil the water on the stove - let it sit and cool down for about 5 minutes in the kettle - then pour, wait 3 min. or so, and press. It does get some sediment, but we don't mind. Also - it does get cold with nothing to keep it warm. But we've also found that you can nuke a cup of french press coffee later in the day - and it never gets that icky burned flavor. Have read that press coffee raises cholesterol though.
- You just heat water up on the stove. More good news is that REI (and probably other places) have lexan presses (instead of glass...a good friend of mine was always breaking her french press until I told her about the lexan ones) for travel.
AeroPress
- I recently pur
chased an AeroPress coffee and espresso maker that makes some of the best coffee I have ever tasted and the product sells for only $26.00. It works somewhat like a french press but the plunger pushes the coffee out the bottom thru a filter into the cup. Cleanup involves twisting off the bottom and ejecting the compressed grounds by pushing the plunger on down. The filters are disposable but can be reused if desired. A simple rinse of the parts and it is clean. This product is good enough that we have retired our very nice drip coffee maker for full-time use at home and will take it with us as we travel as it takes up very little space and needs only a source of hot water to function.- I really like it too. It's good coffee and there is no sludge in the bottom of the cup! It seems odd to add hot water to the coffee to fill the cup but it tastes really good. I also think it will be great for making iced coffee as it is a concentrate. Cleaning is a big improvement over the press as you just push the grounds and filter on out and into the trash, no filling with water and dumping
outside so the grounds don't get into the grey tank.
- We love our Aero Press !! I use 4 scoops of coffee and fill the container with water to the "4" mark, after I've pressed the coffee thru I use the coffee scoop to measure the espresso into our two cups and add hot water to our taste. For fresh second cups use the remainder and add more hot water. No more bitter coffee!
- As instructed, I put in four coffee measurers (1/2 cup) of freshly ground coffee beans into the vessel. I then pour not-quite-boiling water in about halfway and let it soak the grounds. I then fill the container and stir around the grounds and water. I then busy myself with something else for about five minutes to let some of the coffee drip out on its own. Depending on how anxious my husband is for his morning eye opener, I continue to slowly pour in more water, allowing it to drip on its own, following his mother's example in dripping Louisiana coffee. At some point, I tire of this process and use the press to extract the rest of the liquid. I use one third of a cup of liquid coffee in a medium-sized mug, and fill it with boiling water. I then add some of our own cocoa mix that I make with powdered, non-fat milk, and serve it forth. The remainder goes immediately into a tightly covered jar, and into the refrigerator. When next needed, the jar cap pops when I open it, so it has sealed itself a bit. To serve from the efrigerated coffee, I pre-heat the mug with boiling water to take the cold edge off the coffee, put in the one-third cup of liquid coffee, and then fill the mug with boiling water.
- AeroPress is good if you drink coffee black. It's a bit too "smooth" for my taste since I use milk. It is the easiest to clean, but it uses the most coffee to brew a single shot. You'll go through 1 lb. of coffee much more quickly with this coffee maker. It's made of very sturdy (but light-weight) plastic. It doesn't take much space.
- With the Aeropress you heat the water in a kettle on the stove, we always carry one of those anyway but if you don't you could use a pot I guess. He recommends not letting the water boil, of course he is an engineer so he knows the exact temperature he likes for espresso or american coffee. I just wait until I see the first few wisps of steam coming out the nose of the kettle and we are happy with the results. More than happy, I think it's the best coffee we've had in a lifetime of different expensive coffee makers including Italian espresso machines. You can use espresso grind coffee in it although I would recommend only making one cup at a time as it gets hard to press with enough grounds for two cups.
- The Aeropress can actually filter turkish grind coffee very cleanly. Someone recently gave me a pound of kopi bubuk (the Indonesian version of Turkish coffee) and I've been using the Aeropress to brew the coffee. The moka pot cannot handle that fine of a grind...it's almost like a dust, easily finer than an espresso grind.
Percolators
- We have a old Revere Ware stainless percolator that makes awesome perked coffee on the stove top. I needed a replacement part and they are no longer made but found several on Ebay.
- I use a Farberware percolator that I bought at Walmart. The first one I bought had the lid attached to the pot, but it was not substantial. This one is sturdy and makes very good coffee. There's a number on the bottom, C QQ008.
- This is what we use and make great tasting coffee and easy to clean. It's only 20 bucks. FarberWare Classic Yosemite 50124 Percolator.
- A percolater has the same problem that a 'freedom' press has. It uses a lot of water to clean. Getting the oily grounds out requires a lot of soapy water and a good rinse.
- Percolators work by boiling the water. That is too hot, you are losing some of the taste.
- We use an antique {50 years old?} percolator in Ruby that belonged to my in-laws and I swear the coffee is better from a percolator than from a drip maker - just need a little more patience as it takes a bit longer.
Espresso
- Italian Moka Espresso
The Moka pot is a stove-top or electric coffee maker that produces coffee by passing boiling water pressurized by steam through ground coffee. Most are made from aluminium with Bakelite handles. It’s available in sizes ranging from 2 to 12 cups.The Moka espresso pot was invented by Italian Luigi di Ponti in 1933, who sold the patent to Alfonso Bialetti, an aluminum vendor. Alfonso’s son Renato took over the company and made the Moka into an Italian icon. Its mustachioed L’omino con i baffi is a widely-recognized symbol today in Italy.
Renato died in 2016 at the age of 93 and his ashes were buried in a giant Moka pot!
- I *love* my stove-top Espresso maker from Ikea. It says it makes "6 cups," but I'm sure that's demitasse espresso "cups." It actually makes 2 American "cups" of coffee, and you can adjust the strength by adding more or less coffee. Put water in the base, coffee in the stainless steel "strainer", light stove and voila -- my morning caffeine transfusion in less than 5 minutes! And talk about easy to clean: Tap the side of the strainer into a waste basket, and the solidified coffee "cookie" falls right out.
- Espresso machine takes up quite a bit of space.
Cajun Coffee Pot- A Cajun coffee pot or what we called a French coffee pot when I grew up in Lafayette LA is a smaller version of a "cowboy coffee pot" on the bottom. Inserted above the bottom part is the dripper part with a strainer "screen" on the bottom. Into the dripper is placed a good brand of Cajun dark roast drip grind coffee; today you could use filter paper in the dripper to reduce the fine coffee ground residue entering the bottom coffee reservoir. There is usually a small lid that fits into the dripper mostly for looks. The pouring spout coming off the bottom part is shaped somewhat like a slight "S". These pots are usually made of steel with white enamel covering them to prevent rusting. To make coffee, you heat water in a pan on the stove until it is boiling then you dip the water out of the pan with a demitasse (small) cup and pour it slowly over the coffee grounds in the dripper on the pot. You do this a cup at a time until all of the water has been poured over the coffee grounds. The coffee is usually served in small demitasse cups with cream and sugar as desired.
Chorreador de café
- It consists of an unvarnished wooden frame about 33 cms. tall, with a round hole at the top where a wire rimmed cloth filter or strainer was placed. Fine ground coffee was placed in the filter and boiling water was poured in filtering down to the coffeepot below. The reusable filter is made of a thick, tightly woven cotton material. After brewing, dump the grounds; wash the bag and its ready for another brewing. Using freshly ground Costa Rican coffee; the Chorreador de café makes one of the best tasting cups of coffee ever. It looks like a natural for RVing.
- Just looking at this, I'm wondering: how is the chorreador filterholder superior to a Melitta-style filterholder? As far as I can tell it works exactly the way, so it's hard to imagine that coffee would taste any different. But it's considerably bulkier--at least twice as big as a standard Melitta filterholder, and ten times as big as the stainless-steel collapsing filterholders I use. That's a major drawback for RVers. And it's considerably more maintenance-intensive: you have to wash out your cloth bags after each use, scrub with salt, allow to dry completely before reusing. OK, it's funky and folky, but practical...?
- The filter holder can be made out of small piece of wood or metal, that is attached to a wall and hinged, so that is swings out of the way when not in use. This would eliminate the storage problem. Yes, the filter does need to be cleaned but it eliminates the disposable filter. I guess the taste doesn't matter to a non coffee drinker but, from personal experience; drinking a fresh cup of Costa Rica's fine coffee, while watching the sun rise over an exotic looking jungle...yes is does taste better. YMMV
Turkish Coffee Pot (cezve/ibrik)
These hand made Turkish Coffee Pots (cezve/ibrik) are hammered into shape by experienced artisans in Anatolia. They are carefully etched with detailed designs, polished and then painted with bright colors! They look like pieces of art but made for everyday use. In addition to their distinctive designs, they have wood handles that will not get hot as you make your coffee. They are tin lined inside for durability and ease of cleaning. WHY COPPER ? Copper, more than any other metal is known for its ability to diffuse heat evenly and conduct it quickly throughout its surface. Hence, it is used all over the world as high-efficiency conductors of heat and are especially coveted for their ability to quickly bring water to a boil (there are some cezve/ibriks that are made with brass but these don't heat as well. In fact, some manufacturers use brass only for the handles so that they stay cool to touch). Copper cezves/ibriks are also easy to care for, needing only an occasional cleaning with a soft, damp cloth. Besides, copper pots look better and gain more character as they age - just like people do!
Moka pot
- The moka pot is my preference for daily use. It's as easy to clean as a french press, but the coffee is a bit stronger without quite as much sediment. It's as close to espresso you can get without an espresso machine. Ikea has a stainless steel moka pot for less than $30.
Toddy Maker
- In 1964, as a chemical engineering graduate of Cornell, Todd Simpson developed and patented a cold brew system that, using regular coffee beans, creates a superior-tasting cup of steaming HOT coffee. And, with 67% LESS ACID than coffee made by conventional hot brew methods, it's easier on sensitive stomachs.
Coleman Stove-Top
- A few years ago Coleman introduced a stove-top drip-brew coffee maker. It looks just like the one you have at home on your counter top except that it sits on top of a stove burner. Instead of using electricity, it uses a burner to provide the needed heat.
-- Coleman's pitch: Operation of the coffeemaker is simple. First, place the steel platform directly on top of the stove burner. Then - just like at home - add water to the reservoir in the back of the coffeemaker, place a paper filter in the swing-out basket and add coffee grounds. Light the stove, then sit back and relax. Within minutes, freshly brewed coffee drips into the glass carafe. For those who can't wait, the handy pause-and-serve feature makes it possible to pour a quick cup before the entire pot is finished brewing. With the burner on high, brewing a full 10 cups of coffee takes approximately 10 minutes, which is comparable to the time it takes at home. After brewing is complete, the burner should be turned off or switched to the lowest possible setting, to avoid overheating.
- Now the bad news. With the burner (no high-output) going full blast he whole time, it takes over 20 min to brew slightly over 10 cups, .e. 5 mugs worth. Time itself isn't the issue, of course - we're camping. Resource use is the problem. Brewing with our percolator to make 8 cups takes about 7 min on medium-high, followed by about 7 min with the flame so low it is almost out. I would judge the drip method is using about 3 times the amount of fuel that percolated does. If all we took were weekend trips, I wouldn't be concerned, but right now we can dry camp for about 3 wks in coldish weather between refills of the LP tank. I'm not sure I want to reduce that margin. The real problem seems to be in the design of the heating saddle of the coffeepot - it sits about 1.5" or so above the burner, about 1" higher than a pot would on the grate.
- When was the last time you saw any consumer appliance constructed like the Coleman coffee pot? Nothing has that many screws or pieces in it today. It looks like something they sold 30+ years ago. Amazing. Knowing Coleman, you will probably be able to buy parts for it 20 years from now.
- It takes 10-12 minutes to brew. The time takes is dependent on the burner size. The newer stoves have a higher output burner than the older LDs, like the one Steve has. His took several minutes longer. Even if you use a Melita, it takes time to boil a pot of water.
- I found it reasonably fast, although difficult to store. Right now it sleeps under the dinette. I the coffee is as good as I make at home. The first time I used it,
I used the front burner on the stove which heated up the camper too much (we were in Florida) and made me a little nervous that it might fall off. The next time I used one of the smaller rear burners. It seemed to heat up just as quickly. Overall, I think it's a good unit.
12-Volt Makers
- We found a 12 v model made by a marine supplier. It should be rugged as it intended for boats (bounce, bounce). I'm sure our 'boondocking' friends would be horrified at the 17 amp draw, and it takes 15 minutes for the first cup of coffee and 45 minutes to make a pot of coffee.
- Regarding the Koolatron coffee maker: the 3 customer reviews were all not pleased with this coffee maker; it was much too slow and drew too much power for the results. Take this one off the Christmas list!
Miscellaneous machines
- My fave coffee maker is the Cuisinart Two to Go...makes one or two tall insulated mugs of coffee. Mine is an older model; don't know what's on offer at this time.
- For coffeeholics, look into the Keurig single cup coffee makers. They make the best coffee I have ever had, and offer everyone freedom of choice, since they make one cup at a time (quickly, I might add).
- Those old vacuum coffee makers like Chock Full O'Nuts used to use and sell are making a big comeback as people realize what good coffee they made and it is a novelty thing as well. Many high-class restaurants are brewing it at the table in them. At my family's hotel when I was a kid we used these - you heat the water in the pot, then insert the upper metal chamber holding the coffee into the top of the pot. Part of the top was a pipe thar reached almost to the bottom of the pot when you pressed the upper chamber securely into position. Heat produces vapor pressure to push water from the lower chamber to the top, where the coffee is added and infused. The removal of heat source causes a vacuum, drawing the water back down to the bottom chamber. They are considered by most coffee "connoisseurs" to make the absolute best coffee, even better than French Presses because the water goes up to the "funnel" section at the perfect temperature and stays there for the correct time to extract best flavor from the coffee. They do make excellent coffee that's far better than a percolator or even the Melitta type. They make them in stainless or glass and have both stovetop and electric models as well.
- I have been wondering what is wrong with the old fashioned metal, (aluminum, tin?) percolator coffee pot that you set on the stove, fill with water and coffee and perc gently for 5 or so minutes? The kind we used to use before coffee became "fashionable".
Grinding the beans
- Grinding your coffee beans just before brewing makes a huge difference in the quality of the coffee drink - regardless of your brewing method.
- Grind your own beans, but grind them into a powder or much finer than normal...Doing this creates more surface area for water to come into contact with giving a more robust flavor.
- We carry quite a lot of vacuum packed beans with us. What I do, instead of using the inverter, is grind enough for a couple of weeks and put it in a tupperware-type canister and put that in the freezer. So, every few weeks I have to either plug in somewhere or turn on the generator for it's exercise and grind a jar of beans. They stay fresh in the freezer and it cuts down on the 'daily grind'.
- I bought a Zassenhaus mill just to grind the beans.
- I bought a small (140W) inverter just so I could grind beans while boondocking. 140W is marginal as it starts whining before I'm finished grinding, but it does the job.
- You might consider an old-fashioned hand-powered coffee grinder. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, so I'm not really in a position to even suggest this, but if you're interested, this site has all kinds of neat stuff, including an assortment of grinders. The item # on the hand coffee grinder from Campmor is No.21045-J. If both REI and Campmor have it, it may be available from your local camping supply store, too.
- We carry a small *hand-powered* grinder. It's just big enough for three scoops of beans. By the time the beans are ground, the water in the perc on the stove top is hot, and coffee is "just around the corner." It was intended for backpackers, I think. It weighs a few ounces, and has a handle on top. Found it at REI in Berkeley for about 15 or $20.
- Although I no longer grind my beans fresh, I do keep coffee fresh with my FoodSaver appliance. This appliance removes ALL air from a special heavy-duty plastic bag, and is unbelievable at keeping things fresh (for years - no joke) in a freezer.
Coffee brands
- ". If you want a *really* awesome coffee, mail order from a place called "Vices and Spices" in Santa Barbara (or better yet, drop by). All of it is fantastic, but their dark roast Sumatra Blue Mandehling is especially heavenly.
- I use Illy coffee (expensive) but also like Costco/Kirkland espresso or an Organic bean that Costco's carrying.
- My wife and I love the Green Mountain Coffee Dark Magic in the mornings. In the evening, I go for the French Toast, the Pumpkin Spice or the Eggnog.
General brewing tips
- , I will most definitely agree with the recommendation to pre-wet the grounds. All of our commercial brewers do that, and we recommend that our customers not to try to save a few seconds by turning off this feature. Basically, not only are you allowing it to degass the grounds, but you are also allow the best chance to wet all of the grounds. Another trick to try, as you are pouring the water in, ensure that the water is floating above the grounds, ensuring full suspension of the grounds (to ensure that the water is touching all of the grounds, not just the ones in the middle), and try using a spoon to stir the wetted grounds, again to further ensure that you are using all of the grounds.
-- Prewet
-- Wait 15 seconds or so
-- Start the pouring, keeping as much water in the brewcone as possible without overflowing
-- Stir with a spoon (or whatever)
-- Allow the coffee to sit at least a few minutes before enjoying, as it settles.
- Good coffee is easy to make. Heat up the water via the MW. Put the grinds in a filter lined funnel. Pour in the water and you have the most wonderful coffee. None of that artificial caffeine free stuff that's made caffeine free with chemicals. Make one cup or 8 cups. All it costs is 98 cents worth of filters and one old funnel. Experiment to see how much water to grinds you like for your individual taste. Makes perfect mellow coffee weak or strong... your choice.
- Here's my wife's solution: She put ground coffee in a large regular paper coffee filter and tied it up with cotton thread. Just like a tea bag. Boil water in a small pot, when the water is about to boil, drop in the "coffee bag", wait 5 min, and it's done. She made a couple dozen bags at a time.
- Use 2 filters. This slows the rate at which the water flows through the filter allowing more flavor to come out.
Miscellaneous Comments
- I spent a few weeks in Greece back in '80 and they make strong coffee. They use an almost flour consistency grind and mix it into the water after it boils and let it steep until it settles a bit. Served in a demitasse which they like to add a bunch of sugar to often to the pot along with the coffee "flour". You need to sip it since the demitasse is about half "mud" in the bottom. It is good though!
- The authentic Turkish, Lebanese, etc. coffee that I've had has been served unsweetened, but sometimes brewed with a bit of cardamom or anise seed for an interesting flavor. But you definitely have to stop sipping at the sludge point, as you mentioned. I had a cup of particularly good Turkish coffee once where even the sludge tasted good, so I kept sipping. The effect on my nervous system was almost psychedelic.
- Of course with Cajun coffee, the color of the roast probably matters, as well as (maybe) a dash of chicory added to the grounds (?)." Actually, true Cajun coffee doesn't have chicory in it. It is roasted dark and finely ground so it produces a robust flavor without the bitterness of chicory. Chicory was used during WW II as a replacement for coffee and was mixed with coffee. The Creoles in the New Orleans area stuck with it so when you have coffee at Cafe du Monde in the French Market in New Orleans, you will get chicory with your coffee.
- Now we have evolved to a trigger-topped carafe (1 qt or larger capacity). We use filter papers with a food service plastic funnel (no flavor given off) and make drip coffee with a quick clean up of picking up the filter paper and coffee grounds in one motion and DUMPING. Then we put the stopper on the carafe and it's hot for 4 hours at least. It is a 2 qt or half gallon size stainless carafe, no brand name, "made in China". It has a black plastic handle and top. The top closes and seals with a one quarter turn. I bought it at a high line independent hardware store. Also bought a funnel (white plastic for food service-no flavor released) that is big enough to hold a large folded coffee filter, (or paper towels work- too!).
1.Put funnel in mouth of carafe.
2. filter paper goes into funnel.
3.measure Coffee into filter paper
4.pour boiling water over coffee
5.when carafe full quit pouring boiling water.
6.salt and pepper to taste.
- I'm not concerned with sanitation WRT coffee brewing, but rather the buildup of oils that eventually produces a bitter-tasting cup of coffee. I'm no gourmet (as some of you are) about coffee, and don't boil my Melitta in bleach or anything between usings, but I do wash all the components with soap and hot water when possible and as often as possible...though when boondocking, this may be every second or third potful, and not every time.
- The collapsible cone filter holder is really meant for paper filter cones and they do remove many of the oils and other flavoring properties from coffee, as well as imparting their own paper flavor to the coffee. I know for many people that aren't true gourmets or coffee connoisseurs, such as you've already informed us is the case with you, that's just fine. For those of use that are, though, this type of filter holder simply wouldn't do! Not unless it was used with Swiss Gold or similar permanent filter and they do require cleaning and allow the oils and other coffee flavoring properties to come through. As for the hot water of coffee killing any germs, it may kill most microbes but certainly not all microbes. While it's true most of those that make you sick are killed if exposed to temps over 140° for a few minutes, many germs survive temps in well excess of boiling temperature water! If you doubt that, then you've probably never been to Yellowstone and read the info on the hot springs or listened to the park rangers explaining about them and the microbes in the very hot water in them. You also must not be aware that many microbes have been discovered that can withstand some very high temperatures for a sustained period of time. It's really not so much the germs that concern me but the oils left by the coffee. These oils not only can get rancid but they also impart flavors to the coffee. I only want those extracted from the currently brewing coffee grounds and don't want any from any previously brewed batches of coffee. To my palate that is just unacceptable. I always start with clean equipment. That's how any food tastes best and that's the only way I want it for coffee or anything else. I wouldn't neglect to wash or thoroughly clean any cooking utensil (pot, pan, etc), wouldn't the heat of cooking also kill those germs?
Contributors: Andy Baird, Mike Richmond, Jonna Harlan, Ken Sann, Anne Johnson, Monti, Judie Ashford, Linda Hylton, Ray Trent, Andrew Thio, Lisa West, Frances Smith, Dorothy Malpas, Lorna Dunham, Al Kurkoski, Tina Pratt, Pete Reed, Barry Barnes, Larry Wade, Steve Chandler, Sharon N., John Woodruff, Sonsie Conroy, George Kaplan, Chris Horst, Dave Evans
Revised: 20 Feb 2016
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