oreocereus
Thru Hiker
The below is long, it's about making high quality coffee with minimal weight or hassle. You can also use the same principal without all the below in making something similar to a french press the way you like at home.
I picked up something like this re-usable tea bag at a local waste free shop, and have used it with a french press (immersion brewing) like technique quite effectively.
It's about a sediment-y as a french press, and easy enough to clean in a flowing river. The benefit is that it weighs nothing (mine is wet currently, will update with weight when dry), creates minimal waste (nothing to pack out, unless you're somewhere you can't scatter coffee slurry responsibly) and offers a very simple way to make about-as-good-as-possible cup of coffee in the hills without carrying in a handheld grinder, seperate brewing vessel, a pour over cone, filter papers and some special coffee brewing water (yes, special coffee brewing water is a thing - filters for balancing mineral content in water going into espresso machines are crazy expensive).
There's always loads of discussion on backpacking forums about brewing a cup of coffee. Some opt for "cowboy coffee" others buy lightweight fancy brewing devices (titanium french presses and the like). Others buy expensive 3-in-1 sachets, or "coffee bags."
This method resembles the latter, but has the option of using much better coffee while costing less.
NB I've spent a number of years as a barista in the highly pretentious "specialty coffee scene" working alongside some of the best roasteries in the UK and NZ and a few national champions (sadly barista championships are a serious thing - they're hilariously serious).
As such this thread is coming from someone of that angle - if you like your coffee with cream or extra flavouring syrups and sugar, then this won't get you what you want. When most people are asked to describe the flavour of their coffee they'll say "strong" or "weak" - this technique, and all of specialty coffee is aimed at finding the space in between there where you might find some more interesting flavours
I understand that doesn't appeal to everyone, if not just skip all the extra stuff below and buy yourself a re-usable fabric tea bag.
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If you don't mind a bit of extra weight, learning how to make a proper pour over coffee with a plastic v60 is a good option. I believe my 2 cup plastic v60 weighs about 80g. But a proper v60 takes a lot of care - it's something I only do on social trips (e.g. a few days bumbling along the SWCP recently), and it's nice to take the extra care.
If you are interested, the Perger technique is one of the easiest, simplest and most consistent.
---------
But I've found an easier, far lighter option. The good news is, you can use this without any of the fancy timings and weights below - if you just like to heap three tablespoons in and steep it till it looks dark enough, it'll work for that too.
Reusable Tea Bags
With these you can use a technique similar to one that most are familiar with at home - something resembling a french press.
A French press is an immersion coffee brewing method - it tends to be fuller bodied and less delicate than a pour over filter coffee.
Here's the method I use, with some explanation below.
1) Put 15g of medium-coarse ground coffee into the reusable teabag. I portion my coffee into ziplock pouches before i go. Place in cup (in hills I don't bother with a cup when solo).
2) Boil 250g water, preheat my cup (in the hills, my pot is my cup). Let the water sit for 30 seconds (100c is too hot for coffee 93c is the average "ideal" temp for most coffees - some prefer hotter some prefer cooler) before pouring roughly 50ml of water over the tea bag, shake the bag around a bit (the goal here is to get all the coffee inside the bag wet as fast as possible).
3) 20seconds after steeping, slowly pour the rest of the water over (in the hills, all the water is added at once).
4) Brew for a total time of 4-5 minutes (including 20 seconds of steeping). How long you brew for exactly will depend on your palette and the coffee chosen. I do a gentle stir half way through the brew to create a small gentle whirlpool.
5) Stir coffee once removing bag (heavier oils fall to the bottom) and enjoy.
This method gets about as much sediment as a french press. It doesn't do as well, as the narrow nature of bag means you don't easily get an even extraction across all the coffee.
You definitely don't have to follow the instructions above, but if you care about coffee paying attention to water:coffee ratios, grind size and brewing time are the most important thing in getting a delicious cup. As an aside, if you walk into a coffee shop and the barista isn't weighing every shot on a scale accurate to 0.1g then there's no chance they are sending out consistently good coffee and likely aren't using a good quality coffee - even if they are charging £3 for an Americano - this is the easiest way to spot a good cafe (ignore any advertising and decor first - they're tricks).
Again, you don't need to follow the above, but if you're interested in doing so, I recommend going to a cafe that sells a coffee you like and asking them to grind their coffee for you. In a high quality coffee environment, you don't use anything that has been ground more than a couple of minutes ago (it oxidises and the flavour is sapped from it) - but grinding it a few days before your trip is much better than months and months ago as is the case in the supermarket. And the roast shouldn't be more than a few weeks old, which is important.
If you trust the barista, ask their advice on preparing it for a french press - they may recommend different steep times and grind sizes based on the profile of their coffee.
Finally, the above is only a guide - every coffee is different and prefers different ratios temps, grind sizes, steep times, etc. As a broad starting point, if the coffee tastes a bit acidic or even grassy, it is underextracted - it likely needs to brewed longer or ground a bit finer. If it is ashy and astringent it is over extracted, and likely needs to be a bit coarser and/or brewed for less time.
I picked up something like this re-usable tea bag at a local waste free shop, and have used it with a french press (immersion brewing) like technique quite effectively.
It's about a sediment-y as a french press, and easy enough to clean in a flowing river. The benefit is that it weighs nothing (mine is wet currently, will update with weight when dry), creates minimal waste (nothing to pack out, unless you're somewhere you can't scatter coffee slurry responsibly) and offers a very simple way to make about-as-good-as-possible cup of coffee in the hills without carrying in a handheld grinder, seperate brewing vessel, a pour over cone, filter papers and some special coffee brewing water (yes, special coffee brewing water is a thing - filters for balancing mineral content in water going into espresso machines are crazy expensive).
There's always loads of discussion on backpacking forums about brewing a cup of coffee. Some opt for "cowboy coffee" others buy lightweight fancy brewing devices (titanium french presses and the like). Others buy expensive 3-in-1 sachets, or "coffee bags."
This method resembles the latter, but has the option of using much better coffee while costing less.
NB I've spent a number of years as a barista in the highly pretentious "specialty coffee scene" working alongside some of the best roasteries in the UK and NZ and a few national champions (sadly barista championships are a serious thing - they're hilariously serious).
As such this thread is coming from someone of that angle - if you like your coffee with cream or extra flavouring syrups and sugar, then this won't get you what you want. When most people are asked to describe the flavour of their coffee they'll say "strong" or "weak" - this technique, and all of specialty coffee is aimed at finding the space in between there where you might find some more interesting flavours
I understand that doesn't appeal to everyone, if not just skip all the extra stuff below and buy yourself a re-usable fabric tea bag.
----------
If you don't mind a bit of extra weight, learning how to make a proper pour over coffee with a plastic v60 is a good option. I believe my 2 cup plastic v60 weighs about 80g. But a proper v60 takes a lot of care - it's something I only do on social trips (e.g. a few days bumbling along the SWCP recently), and it's nice to take the extra care.
If you are interested, the Perger technique is one of the easiest, simplest and most consistent.
---------
But I've found an easier, far lighter option. The good news is, you can use this without any of the fancy timings and weights below - if you just like to heap three tablespoons in and steep it till it looks dark enough, it'll work for that too.
Reusable Tea Bags
With these you can use a technique similar to one that most are familiar with at home - something resembling a french press.
A French press is an immersion coffee brewing method - it tends to be fuller bodied and less delicate than a pour over filter coffee.
Here's the method I use, with some explanation below.
1) Put 15g of medium-coarse ground coffee into the reusable teabag. I portion my coffee into ziplock pouches before i go. Place in cup (in hills I don't bother with a cup when solo).
2) Boil 250g water, preheat my cup (in the hills, my pot is my cup). Let the water sit for 30 seconds (100c is too hot for coffee 93c is the average "ideal" temp for most coffees - some prefer hotter some prefer cooler) before pouring roughly 50ml of water over the tea bag, shake the bag around a bit (the goal here is to get all the coffee inside the bag wet as fast as possible).
3) 20seconds after steeping, slowly pour the rest of the water over (in the hills, all the water is added at once).
4) Brew for a total time of 4-5 minutes (including 20 seconds of steeping). How long you brew for exactly will depend on your palette and the coffee chosen. I do a gentle stir half way through the brew to create a small gentle whirlpool.
5) Stir coffee once removing bag (heavier oils fall to the bottom) and enjoy.
This method gets about as much sediment as a french press. It doesn't do as well, as the narrow nature of bag means you don't easily get an even extraction across all the coffee.
You definitely don't have to follow the instructions above, but if you care about coffee paying attention to water:coffee ratios, grind size and brewing time are the most important thing in getting a delicious cup. As an aside, if you walk into a coffee shop and the barista isn't weighing every shot on a scale accurate to 0.1g then there's no chance they are sending out consistently good coffee and likely aren't using a good quality coffee - even if they are charging £3 for an Americano - this is the easiest way to spot a good cafe (ignore any advertising and decor first - they're tricks).
Again, you don't need to follow the above, but if you're interested in doing so, I recommend going to a cafe that sells a coffee you like and asking them to grind their coffee for you. In a high quality coffee environment, you don't use anything that has been ground more than a couple of minutes ago (it oxidises and the flavour is sapped from it) - but grinding it a few days before your trip is much better than months and months ago as is the case in the supermarket. And the roast shouldn't be more than a few weeks old, which is important.
If you trust the barista, ask their advice on preparing it for a french press - they may recommend different steep times and grind sizes based on the profile of their coffee.
Finally, the above is only a guide - every coffee is different and prefers different ratios temps, grind sizes, steep times, etc. As a broad starting point, if the coffee tastes a bit acidic or even grassy, it is underextracted - it likely needs to brewed longer or ground a bit finer. If it is ashy and astringent it is over extracted, and likely needs to be a bit coarser and/or brewed for less time.
