Coffee

mcain · #1 10-28-2003

My wife and I like good coffee--not 100% gourmet, but at least decent coffee. Having used 100V perculators all our lives, we are woefully ignorant of the various other ways to make good coffee. We tried the 100V perc method with an inverter and just ended up frying the inverter. We tried the stove-top drip method, but the end result was slightly better than used dishwater. Clearly this must be something well known and easily done by you all. So, what IS the best way to make good coffee at anchor?

dpboatnut · #2 10-28-2003

Try a french press. REI sells a lexan version for not much, it''s super simple, produces world class flavor, and is pretty easy to clean- just swish it around over the side and follow with a fresh water rinse. There''ll be a little ''particulate'' at the bottom of your mug, so don''t get too greedy with that last swig...

Best,
-Chad

RichardElliott · #3 10-28-2003

Perhaps not French Press quality, but Coleman makes a coffeemaker that fits on top of a propane burner and makes about 10 cups. It functions just like a 110 volt coffeemaker.

SailorMitch · #4 10-28-2003

Here''s another vote for a French press. Several years ago I bought an acrylic one at West Marine. It makes great coffee. Play with how long you want it to brew to suit your taste. Also use a courser grind for the coffee. Just boil water and pour it in over the coffee. Wait 4-5 minutes and you''ll have a tasty caffeine fix.

mcain · #5 10-29-2003

Thanks folks!!!! We''ll check out the French Press (West Marine still sells them--two sizes) and the Coleman. You all may have saved the marriage, or at least cruising!!!!! (Calling my wife''s coffee dishwater one more time will get me thrown overboard!!!)

DuaneIsing · #6 10-29-2003

mlc101 wrote: "... We''ll check out the French Press ... You all may have saved the marriage, or at least cruising!!!!! (Calling my wife''s coffee dishwater one more time will get me thrown overboard!!!) ..."

After you buy one and she starts to use it, make sure you say, "You know, honey, ever since you stated using that French Press, you look so much thinner!"

SailorMitch · #7 10-29-2003

Couple of other points. With the French press you also can play with how much coffee you use to make the brew as strong as you want. That plus playing with brew time will let you get it just the way you like it. Also, when I travel I now confiscate those little coffee packs from the in-room coffee makers and use those in the press. I usually add some really good grounds to it, too, for more flavor. But the coffee packs are neater, store well, last a long time, etc. Did I mention they''re also free (so to speak)? Experiment with them and still use regular grounds with them to suit your taste buds/caffeine dependencies.

Oh.....and keep some realy good dark chocolate onboard to go with that afternoon caffeine fix.

Yours in caffeine addiction,
SailorMitch

Jeff_H · #8 10-29-2003

I have always used Italian stove top expresso makers. I just replaced my nearly 30 year old aluminum 12 cup (small cups) with a SS 10 cup that I bought when I was in Italy. They are very quick and produce excellent coffee. You can vary the amount of ground coffee to get anywhere between dishwater to coffee that you need to slice with a knife. Coffee beans store better than ground coffee and so I used to have a little hand coffee grinder that worked very well. (For the short stuff I do these days I just grind the beans at home.)

Jeff

DonFoley · #9 10-29-2003

We''re coffee fanatics. We''ve done it all, portable camping drip systems (a pot with fitted funnel shaped for filters), stovetop expresso, french presses...but we always go back to a drip machine. Ours is a 4-cup Mr. Coffee that runs just fine on a 2000 watt inverter. Next runner up is the french press.

We grind our own beans and then vacuum-seal them, about a week''s supply in each bag, works perfect.

mcain · #10 10-30-2003

Well, after these great posts, I gotta share the results. Wife bought a French Press machine at the local shop and we tried it. Fantastic, right out of the chute. No practice or refinement necessary. But I can see how it could be tweeked with time and amount of grounds.

Thanks to all!!!!!!