Prepper’s Guide to Coffee: Keeping Morale During Catastrophe
The following is a guest post from the owner of Blue Squatch Roasting Company . For more information on David and his great small business, see the information at the end of the article.
TRAVEL:
To begin with the Travel set-up. I use a collapsable mini-kettle, and an Aeropress Go. Of course, water, and coffee will be needed each time, and for each method! I prefer to use my own roasted coffee, and a certain bottled water. I picked up the “Go” version of the Aeropress for about $30. The beauty of this is that you don’t need very hot water to brew coffee (picture hot water machines at an office or hotel), or any kind of steep time. So you can have a cup of coffee in under 1 minute.
I prefer to use one scoop of coffee, and do the ‘inverted’ Aeropress method to keep water from dripping through the grinds too quickly. A slower plunge seems to produce a sweeter cup, whereas a faster plunge produces more bitterness and acidity. The kettle only takes 4 minutes to bring room temp water up to a boil.
Collapsible Mini-Kettle
Aeropress Go
CAR CAMPING:
For the car camping set-up, I will consider any sort of camping, hiking, or even just traveling in the car (or those who work from their cars) as the main idea behind it. For instance, a nice drive up the parkway to catch a sunrise and cup of coffee is perfect for this set-up as well.
I use a Stanley French Press that I picked up about five years ago and is my daily-use french press at the house. I can’t speak highly enough about this product! It will also fit about six eggs inside it if you want to hike any food in. (boil your eggs in it!). When winter camping, boil water by the fire and then put it in your Nalgene for a heater before tucking into your sleeping bag!
For the heat source, I prefer to use a camp stove as opposed to campfire. The Stanley’s lid is plastic and using it without makes boil times vary too much for me. The camping stove I’ve used for years can fit in my pocket and is versatile enough that I don’t need anything else for all of my cooking needs when I’m out on the trails. It uses a blend of butane, and propane that is cheaply purchased at stores such as Walmart. This is a great product to have around even for when losing power at your house, and at only $13, it’s a no-brainer!
Stanley French Press
Mini Camp Stove
ULTRALIGHT CAMPING:
This is an exciting one because it’s so easy! You can literally have a cup of coffee with a mug, a filter, and some hot water. I’ve found the most practical set up for me is using a Coffee Buddy filter that can fit in your pocket, and a camping mug, along with the mini camping stove mentioned above. Simply pour in the desired amount of coffee into the filter and slowly pour hot water over it ensuring that you’ve wet all the grounds. As the net sits softly in the water steeping, allow four minutes before discarding the grinds and enjoying your coffee.
Mini Camp Stove
Coffee Buddy Pour Over
Pro-tip: Don’t over boil your water! You don’t want it to lose too much air.
I sincerely hope this information is found to be useful, and suggestions are always welcome! For an incredible coffee experience, please visit www.BlueSquatchCoffee.com The premier place for premium, roast-to-order, single-origin, 100% pure coffee with a DRY cooling process!
– David Cole, Owner of Blue Squatch Roasting Company
About Blue Squatch Roasting Company
It’s only natural that growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains has left us loving a nice view. Combine that with our love of good coffee, and Blue Squatch Coffee Roasters was born. Through lots of research, learning, trial and error, we believe we’ve found a great cup of fresh coffee that goes perfectly with any view.
Our honest, diligent, and determined approach brings you the best cup of coffee we can offer. We’re deeply rooted and loving where this adventure is taking us. So, brew a cup or two, sit back, and enjoy the view.