In my quest for the lightest cross country ski coffee maker, I have a new set up. A Vargo triad 1 oz stove, an Evernew mug (actually very old), a piece of windbreak, a ti spoon, and a lid from a ti pan to set it on, total 4.5 oz.


its all ti except for the wind break - stay tuned for further detals.

At the risk of insulting those of you who are into gourmet coffee I would offer that the easiest/lightest way I have found to "make coffee" is to add freze dried coffee to my granola. It gives me the caffien(sp?) I like and seems to work fine with unheated water.

Then what? Cowboy coffee? Filters? Instant?

I have an old aluminum perk that I use for car camping that simply makes great coffee but I'm not willing to haul such a piece of hardware around in a pack. So, I use a setup like yours and spoon the grounds either directly into the water (cowboy), or, pre-make some filter packets. If I'm really trying to cut weight and trash, it'll be Folgers instant. I have a friend trying to talk me into Starbucks Via packs but it seems pricy for what you get. Esbit or cook fire for heat.

you can buy filter paper at the grocery store, spoon coffee grounds into them then tie them off.. dunk the pouch into the water, wait 5-10 min and voila you have your coffee. lightest coffee pot hands down

I use a stainless "Tea Ball" filled with grounds and let it sit in a stainless cup and simmer a few minutes over a penny stove.

The stainless cup is not light, so it can't qualify, but the tea ball works really good, and it can't weigh much, so I offer it to those who, like me, don't like chewy coffee.

I always grind some Eight o`Clock French Roast beans and put them in a baggie before I head out. I ain't givin up good coffee when I'm camping out.

Oh it's pricy - just like the neighborhood Crack dealer.. but once you try it you're hooked.

I've discovered that if you're willing to suffer through the herds at Costco you can get it there sometimes for about half the price you can buy it in Starbucks. I have to lay on a supply
for hiking..

I was at Costco today and the pack of VIA was $15.79 and there was a note about and it that said "$.66 per servicng" and thats too rich for my blood.
I bought two large size boxes of Tasters Choice instead, and some coffee beans.
Jim

Taster's choice was always what I carried before VIA.

Now having said that, I know VIA gets flavour from both instant and "micro ground" coffee.. Wonder how it would work if I could grind the living heck out of some good expresso beans and mix a little into some tasters choice, how much it would "improve" flavour..

I use an MSR filter. Place the grounds in the filter basket. Place the basket in the mug. Pour boiling water through it and let it sit for a few minutes. It works well but many a time I simply take tea bags instead. I find them less messy and easier to handle.

Howie

[quote=Jimshaw]In my quest for the lightest cross country ski coffee maker, I have a new set up. A Vargo triad 1 oz stove, an Evernew mug (actually very old), a piece of windbreak, a ti spoon, and a lid from a ti pan to set it on, total 4.5 oz.

I have a pretty similar setup:
- Fancy Feast cat can stove (0.3oz)
- SP 600 (2.8oz)
- Homemade windscreen (0.5oz)
- Foil lid for the pot (0.3oz)
- Folding Ti Spork (0.4oz)
- Mini bic (0.4oz)
- Bandana (saves burning my hands) (0.3oz)
- 8 fluid oz fuel bottle (1oz)
Total = 6oz

I use a bigger mug because I also use it to cook in (holds just over 2cups of water). If I was just using it for coffee (no cooking) then I would switch to my MSR TI mug at 1.9oz, which would bring the total weight down to 5.1oz.

Just by switching out your Vargo stove to a fancy feast would bring your coffee system to under 4oz and only cost you a $1. If you really want to lighten up then change out your mug for a BPL trappers mug at 1.3oz and that should save you another 1.1oz. You could easily get the whole system under 3oz.

All this talk about 3 and 4 ounce coffee sets - you're all wimps! Real men (and women)carry 8-ounce kitchens, and laugh at the extra weight! I've even heard tell of hardy souls who carry kitchens that weigh a full pound, and scoff at all this ultralight nonsense.

We re-grind all coffee here. We use a Bunn coffee maker at home. Hills Brothers is our favorite and we found that regrinding for a couple seconds wakes things up a bit and boosts yield. So, yeah, grinding beans to a fine powder and adding to instant might just make instant taste fresher. The sediment sinks anyway. Folgers instant seems richer than others, so that's where I'd start.

that's a pretty good trick, getting an 8 oz fuel bottle to weigh 1 oz. how'd you do that? freeze dry?

I'm planning to bring one of those filters from REI, put it in an insulated mug, use my pocket rocket, or a wood stove if i can perfect the one i'm workin on.

my coffee: preground french roast from Starbucks, 2 heaping tablespoons per 6 oz cup water. strong is the word. served with honey and nonfat instant powdered milk. King of the Woods.

Chris recommended a mug, I have to go find that post, see what it was. he's always got good suggestions.

The fuel bottle holds 8 fluid ounces-- the empty bottle weighs 1 dry ounce. A fluid ounce is a measure of volume, a dry ounce is a measure of weight.



I hope you do not plan on boiling water in that insulated mug



If you are refering to that blue plastic mug, then I wouldn't boil water in that either-- but it is a nice, light and cheap option for a mug.

I was given a great Italian "Italexpress" Pezz Eti coffeemaker. It's a pressurized percolation unit. Makes good coffee taste better and I think it's because the top unit (which unscrews from the bottom) is pressurized.

My version sits on a burner but they make an electric home version too.

Eric

I drink tea

problem solved.

I don't see the French Press part. How much does IT weigh?

My French Press is a 9" X 9" square of an old favorite madras shirt that wore out. Put the coffee in, pick up the four corners, put in cook pot with water (not the fingers, unless ya want to show off), dunk it up and down, twirl it all around, get water to every ground, after a minute or two of mashing it and smashing it, pick it up, let it drip out, then squeeze the water out of the rag.

I use these rags to make pots of coffee here at the cabin. I'll use 2-3 to make a regular size pot of 10 cups of coffee, which lasts me about 3 days. But for one cup at a time, one rag will do.

It's a dual use rag: filter, plus I get to recycle. So, filter and recycle effort.

Oh, weight, I estimate at 1 gram. A one gram French Press. I'm French, and I press the thing when coffee's ready.

it's still heavier than hyours though, 'cause my tin can stove is about 7 oz probably and the Terra Weekend pot/pan is 7.8 oz, which brings my total to 14.8 oz and 1 gram. heh heh. <figuring sounds> uhh.... that would be 14 oz, 26 grams. no wait! 4303 g

but i'll be drinking REAL coffee, jim. you'll have to throw your food bag cord in your coffee to give it any flavor, right? Instant? lol guess i'm a weinie, gotta have that dark roast.

to sum up, i'm an oz shy of a pound for a cup of coffee, and that's without a cup! hope i enjoy it...

oh, on second thought, that would be a mess. better to get a 1 oz filter from rei

the stove and pots don't count for coffee weight, either, 'cause i had to have them for coocking, so my french set-up would be the filter and whatever cup i bring. i do like the REI Thermo Mug, 6 ounces. It holds 12 oz, and keeps it hot.

Geeez....all this stuff to make coffee.

Cowboy coffee, just like in the movies:
Boil water.
Spoon in a couple tablespoons of grounds per cup.
Bring back to boil, then simmer a minute or two.
Stir once (because you're bored).
Let sit for a minute.
Add a glug of cool water to settle the grounds...or don't...they'll settle in the cup.
Drink.
Rinse.
Hike.


I had women fighting me for my cowboy camp coffee a couple weeks ago, at a youth campout. It's quite good.

Just received (and tried) a packet of Starbucks Via in the mail from a friend. Yup, they've got something here. Best I can tell, it's about 1 teaspoon of dark instant with 3 or 4 espresso beans ground to dust. I would not have guessed it to be instant. Quite strong considering how little comes in the packet.

Try this Instant Expresso (down the page a bit). I get it at an Italian grocery.

I was in WallyWorld last night and found Folger's 'pods' in both medium and dark roast. I also saw some Senseo brand. The cost was $4.24 for 18 pods = 23.55 cents per serving.

They looked pretty convenient. Drop one in your mug and pour boiling water over it and let it sit for awhile.

I'll try them out next weekend and report back.

I use the one cup coffee bags,no clean up and it taste better than instant.

I use an aluminum 2 cup percolator for making coffee. It also doubles as my actual cooking pot. I can't seem to find where I bought it from so I don't know the weight, but I've been pondering trying to find a similiar pot made out of TI. Since I use it for boiling/cooking, the only real weight that comes from making coffee is the stand and strainer that goes into the pot, so it adds very little weight.

Tim, we camped at Fairfield SP last weekend. Made Cowboy style...I think I'm sticking with that way. Cleanup was dumping grounds, a rinse and wipedown.

So....are grounds actually trash, compost, good for the earth? What?

“…A Vargo triad 1 oz stove…”

You would get much better performance at all temperatures (including 0F) if you get a soda can stove with a flame pattern that matches the small cup footprint.
Titanium stoves are the most fidgety things I’ve ever experienced. Aluminum works so much better for alcy stoves.

-Barry

Dryer,

My wife stops by Starbucks once a week for coffee grounds to scatter in our flower beds. Great amendment for alkaline soil.

Coffee grounds aren't such a good idea in our acid soil of western Oregon, although they do work well on the rhodies!

Yep, context does matter.

Medaglio D'Oro is good coffee. I can't find it here, but that instant will be worth a try.

You said,

"I had women fighting me for my cowboy camp coffee a couple weeks ago, at a youth campout. It's quite good."

It's not the coffee, dude, it's the hat and the boots.

I have settled on the 6 oz. REI Thermo Mug and the 1 oz Mugmate. I trimmed the ears on the Mugmate so it would sit down into the mug another 3/4", down where the water is. I made a little wire hook that folds out of the way. See pics. For really great coffee, 7 oz is worth it.

Nice modification - it really fits the insulated mug nicely.

Thank you. I can hardly wait to have a cup up on top of Jay Mountain, which is 3565.25 feet high, with views of 2 countries and 2-3 states. And Lake Champlain. Hey!

hey Glenn, you have 1374 posts, and I have 74 posts! only 13 behind you!

Remember to take a camera, so you can post a picture of the monster in Lake Champlain. (Champ? Champy? I forget the name.)

Now you're 14 behind.

Ok, I put it on a scale and my stainless steel "Tea Ball" weighs 15 grams.

I fill it with about 1-1/2 tablespoons of coarse ground coffee. Fill my mug with about 12 ounces of water and stick the tea ball in the mug, set the mug on my stove and wait for it to start a slow boil. I knock the tea ball around with my spoon while it's simmering and when the color is right I take it off the stove and remove the tea ball so it can cool down because I drink more than one mug and those tea balls will hold the heat a long time.

Now, 15 grams isn't really ultralight, but it's not too bad and the little tea ball should last a lifetime.

Pros: It's easier than making up little coffee bags with filters, very easy to clean, and it's *Real* coffee.

Cons: It's not as fast as instant because you have to let the coffee brew a bit. Agitating it speeds up the process if you're in a hurry.

I'm pretty picky about my morning coffee, and this is really the best method I've found, and with the exception of some of the high falutin instant coffees, I've tried every method mentioned here.

Personally, I don't think instant coffee really even qualifies as being in the same class as fresh brewed coffee, even if Civet cats have pooped it out first

And yes, I knock the spent coffee out on the ground and spread it out a bit. I don't think that will change the ecology of the forest too much for very long.

Look, these tea balls only cost a couple bucks, and some are surely lighter than others. Mine is pretty heavy duty. You can get them at Wal-Mart, Target, and even in some grocery stores.

If you're already carrying ground coffee instead of instant, then I suggest you try this out at home and decide if it works for you too.

Honestly, if I found something that had a better coffee/weight ratio I'd use it. So if you do try this, and you still have a better method then post it and let me know, cuz I will try it!

And if, by chance, you switch to this method, then let others know too, because then I won't look so eccentric when I'm out backpacking with my friends (most of whom already have decided I am) and I can honestly say that other backpackers recommend this method too

Bill