For campers, the best part of your trip is preparing your cup of coffee at the campfire early in the morning. Gives you an unmatched warm and comforting feeling. Your coffee tastes, standards, existing equipment, and budget come into play when you have to make coffee over a campfire.
There are many ways to make yourself a good cup of coffee when you’re out camping. Below are some of the methods to help you make coffee easily. Each method lets you try unique brewing methods, with different accessories to help with.
Types of Coffee You Can Make While Camping
Cowboy Coffee
Requires minimal efforts to be made. You need hot water, a campfire as a source of heat, a cup, and some fine coffee grounds. Following the whole procedure, you’d be glad as it would taste a lot better than instant coffee. You just dump your coffee into the water and let it brew. For a detailed procedure:
● Bring the water to a boil.
● Dump in your coffee grounds and let it simmer on low heat. You’ll notice the coffee grounds sinking after a few minutes of being on the heat to the bottom of your pan.
● If not, you can add a small amount of cold water.
● Now you can pour a hot cup of coffee for yourself, leaving the coffee grounds behind
● You will be left with a cup of dark and thick textured coffee.
Minnesota North Woods Egg Coffee
This Swedish egg coffee is brewed with an egg. The legend has it, that the recipe originated and traveled from Sweden to America in the late 1800s.
A raw egg is added before the coffee is brewed, some people even add crushed eggshells but this is optional.
The egg helps clarify the coffee, and the coffee grounds are separated from the water without any trouble. The coffee does not have any bitterness or acidity and that is because of the egg whites, leaving behind a velvety coffee texture.
You will need water (as many cups as you like), fresh coffee grounds, an egg, and cold water.
Now what you have to do to make an egg coffee;
● Bring water to a boil in a saucepan or an enamel coffee pot.
● While the water is boiling, mix the coffee grounds with the egg and a small amount of water.
● As soon as the water begins boiling, add in the mix you made from coffee and the eggs and let it simmer on low heat for a minimum of 3 minutes.
● Your coffee grounds will now bind together and float at the top of the liquid in the form of a mass. This is when you must stop providing heat to it.
● Now to make the leftover coffee grounds settle down at the bottom of the pan, pour in cold water, and allow the ground to sink in for 10 minutes.
● Use a fine-mesh sieve or a strainer to pour coffee into the cups.
Percolated Coffee
At the bottom, a percolator has a pot with a small chamber placed close to the fire or the heat source. There is a vertical tube from the chamber to the percolator top. It also consists of a perforated chamber.
Water is added to the pot level below the coffee chamber and the coarse ground coffee in the top chamber.
The percolator follows the working principle of a gas lift pump. Here, the water boils and creates bubbles that move up through the vertical tube, up to the top of the tube, and on the lid of the coffee chamber. The lid has perforations through which the water is distributed on the coffee ground, seeping through the coffee grounds, and taking the extracts along with it. The fresh brew of the coffee drops in the bottom chamber. The cycle continues until the liquid reaches the point of parking, meaning the coffee is ready.
Drip Cone Coffee / Kuju Coffee Pour Overs
Hot water is poured into the coffee grounds and left to drip through, as a result, you get a cup of coffee and water mixture. Pouring over coffee is an extremely convenient and easy-to-make option whether you’re at home, traveling, or out camping. It is one of the quickest ways to make coffee as well as the easiest to clean up.
You will need a pour-over cone made of plastic or porcelain, paper filters, ground medium-fine coffee, hot water, and a cup or mug whatever suits you. Your coffee will be ready in just 5 minutes. Follow the steps below:
● Place your filter over your mug/cup in a cone shape.
● Put your coffee on the filter paper and disperse it into the cone.
● Bring water to a boil and let it settle for a couple of minutes because too hot water can make your coffee go bitter.
● Saturate the coffee with water by pouring it in a circular motion onto the cone that contains the coffee. For a bold cup of coffee make sure to pour the water slowly.
● All there’s left to do is remove the cone from your mug and enjoy your hot mug of coffee.
Camping French Press Coffee
A French press requires the least of your efforts to make a good amount of coffee, except you would need more coffee grounds than usually used to make coffee in any other method as well as cleaning is a real struggle too.
A French press makes you a deep-tasting cup of coffee made out of a simple brew method.
● Add a spoonful of coarse coffee grounds at the bottom of the container.
● Pour in a small amount of hot water to de-gas.
● Now pour in hot water until your desired quantity is reached.
● Stir and wait for 8 minutes to 10 minutes and then depress the plunger.
Homemade Camping Coffee Bags
If you’re into coffee made from coffee bags or maybe use them as a measure of convenience while you’re camping but you’re out of coffee bags, you can make your own. It’s cheap and easy as well as a coffee-making option that requires the least effort and is convenient.
What’s needed are coffee filters, pieces of cotton twine (10-inch long), and ground coffee.
Now if you want to learn how to make coffee bags with your own hands, keep following the procedure below;
● Hold a flat coffee filter in your hand.
● Now put a generous amount of coffee ground measured with tablespoons, enough for one cup of coffee, on top of it.
● Gather the filter up making sure you secure the coffee ground inside it and twist the seal at the top.
● Use a string to tie it.
● You have your customized coffee bag.
● Now you can make your coffee by placing this coffee bag into a mug.
● Pour hot boiling water on top of it and let it soak until you get your desired black color.
● Remove the coffee bag, add milk if you want, and enjoy.
Tips for Making “Perfect” Camp Coffee
Water Temperature
The optimum water temperature at which the coffee is boiled in any method whatsoever is 200 F. Now, if you boil your coffee directly into the water for as long as you want, the temperature remains the same and this method is known as percolating but leaves the coffee a bit bitter in the end. In another method, the coffee and egg mixture is boiled in water, the temperature is kept at 200 F, not more or less.
But here the coffee isn’t bitter, the egg removes all the bitterness. At sea level, the boiling point of water is 212 F, and therefore taking off the coffee kettle from the fire or the heat source will lower the temperature up to the right point. But not to forget that the boiling point of water begins to decrease as you go up the altitude. So if your campsite is high above the land, you will have to boil your water for coffee above the boiling point to get the temperature to reach 200 F and make a perfect cup of hot coffee for yourself.
Coffee to Water Ratio & Brewing Time
If you use a good amount of coffee ground you will get a dark strong cup, the more the amount of coffee, the more will be the strength of your coffee. Another factor that would impact the strength of the coffee, other than the amount of the coffee grounds used against a particular amount of water, is the duration for which the coffee is boiled in water. The brew time and the taste depend on your personal choice and the taste of the coffee you like. In reality, the perfect coffee is based on your taste and not the perfect recipe.
The Right Grind
If your coffee is not too finely ground, less exposure to the water is a result. Applying a bit of physics here, the finer the coffee grounds are, the greater the surface area, so the exposure to water and better brewing will be the result. You’ll get the taste of stronger and darker coffee. But make sure to use a paper filter or use a proper strainer if you’re using fine coffee grounds to avoid eating the coffee grounds along with the coffee as you take a sip of it.
Fresh Ground vs. Preground
Being a coffee addict, you would never settle for a cup made out of pre-ground coffee. You’d always need freshly ground coffee beans for that perfect cup of coffee. But then again, you will be going through some extra effort if you plan to grind your coffee beans at the campsite. You will have to either pack some coffee that you will grind back at home and bring to the campsite or you will have to buy a pack of pre-ground coffee to avoid inconvenience.
Brand/Type of Coffee
Your preferred coffee brand or the type of coffee you drink is entirely your personal choice. The preference may depend on your budget as well. Some of the best-tasting coffees could be a tad bit pricey. But if your pocket allows you, why not get your hands on it. But this does not mean that you’d like the taste of it as well. The possibility of you liking the taste of a cheaper coffee brand is also higher. As I said, it’s a matter of personal preference and likeness.
The 3 Cardinal Rules To Brewing Camp Coffee
Making a good cup of coffee at the campsite has three cardinal rules that must be followed if you don’t want to end up with a horrible-tasting coffee.
High-quality Coffee:
Brew your cup of coffee and you will save some money. A drive-thru coffee is expensive as compared to the perfect cup you would be brewing.
Use Whole Beans:
Grind your coffee beans right before you brew them because as the exposure of the ground coffee increases with the surrounding air, the degradation process of coffee increases. Because grinding the beans increases the surface area (physics again, I know), the impact of air is greater on them.
Do not Boil Your Coffee:
Make sure to only brew your coffee between 200 F to 205 F, the ideal temperature, because as the temperature reaches 212 F, the boiling begins and your coffee becomes bitter, you might even get a burnt taste. Therefore, it’s ideal not to boil your coffee and simply brew it.
FAQs
1. How Do You Make Iced Coffee When Camping?
● Once your coffee is made, leave it aside to cool down.
● Now fill your cup/mug/glass with ice, as much as you like.
● As soon as the coffee is a bit cooled, pour it into the cup with ice in it.
● You can add more ice if you want because the coffee might melt some of it as you pour.
● All there’s left to do is add a generous amount of cream if you prefer only.
2. How Do You Make Coffee Without A Campfire?
You can use a solar-powered stove to make coffee. There are various types of equipment available in the market that might not require a campfire at all to function.
3. What Do You Do With Coffee Grounds When Backpacking?
You must avoid spilling, scattering, burying, or burning the coffee grounds. It is important to pack the coffee grounds carefully and not leave them behind at the site. You must pack them, and take them along with other biodegradable items that you have.