Brewing Coffee, the Nectar of the Gods
Let’s tackle a very serious subject: brewing coffee. Tea drinkers, with their convenient little baggies, will never know the challenges that coffee drinkers have to go through to obtain their beverage of choice. And land dwellers may also be unaware of the difficulties that cruisers have to go through each day. So today’s question is, what is your preferred method for brewing, what we have been known to refer to as, the Nectar of the Gods?
Morning beverage on Two Fish as we approach the Galapagos.
What we don’t do:
Let’s start with what we don’t do. In spite of my comment yesterday about running the generator to brew a cup of coffee, we do not use an electric coffee maker! We did, on the charter cat, to satisfy up to eight crew and guests, but we also fired up the generator every single day, first thing after getting up, and kept it running for hours on end. If your morning routine is to run your gen set, you can take advantage of this luxury.
It’s worth noting that when we purchased the Bunn coffee maker for the charter cat, we did so with the promise that it could brew a pot in 3 minutes. After getting it back to the boat, we learned that the manufacturer’s assurance was only partially true. It was able to do that if it had been left plugged in with power, keeping a reservoir of water heated to the proper temperature. This is easy to do in a house with 24/7 electricity running to every wall socket. On a boat, that only gets AC power when the generator is running, or the inverter is turned on, it’s not quite so efficient.
Another thing we don’t use are the single-serving Keurig machines. They work on the same principle that I described above, and thus have all the same shortcomings for a boater. Unless they are used with a refillable cup, they also produce a horrendous amount of trash. Believe it or not, there is a store here in Martinique that sells nothing but those machines, and coffee pods. There are literally walls and walls of them!
Before I describe what we do use to make a cup of coffee, I should confess that neither Rebecca nor I are connoisseurs. We’re not particularly picky about the coffee grounds that we use, and we don’t grind our own beans. We drink our coffee black, and as long as it’s strong, we’re generally satisfied.
Boater friendly coffee options:
Presently, our standard method for brewing coffee is to use a French Press, similar to this one. We scoop some coffee grounds into it, boil some water, cover the grounds, and in 10 minutes or so, we’re presented with a few cups of coffee goodness.
While visiting with some new friends on their cat, they showed us the Aeropress that they use each day. It essentially works the same way, but in a nice streamlined package. It looks perfect for a boater!
When I last wrote about coffee, someone mentioned the Melitta pour-over coffee maker. We don’t have one now, but have used one in the past. I think it’s also something that could work quite well for a boater, or a traveller.
We also have on hand a few little single-serving coffee baggies, like tea bags. They work exactly as how you’d imagine. Throw one in a cup, cover with water, and let them sit. We don’t use them on a regular basis but they’re nice to have around as a backup.
Single serving bags, du Martinique!
Frost also came with a pretty nice old-school percolator-type Espresso maker, not unlike this one. It works by some sort of magic that I haven’t yet tried to figure out. It does make pretty tasty Espresso, something that I often enjoyed after dinner, before my doctor told me to cut back on caffeine (the horror).
If you’re a cruiser, or traveller, I’d love to hear what you use to brew coffee. As for you tea drinkers, just keep giving thanks that your daily routine is so much more simple.
Now this is a topic I can easily relate to. On our sailboat, we use an old-school percolator when we don’t run the generator, then the French press when we’re up for a milder brew and a pod machine, when we have power (generator or shore). I also use the machine when I’m inclined to create a fancier coffee, iced coffee or a frothy cappuccino. To this end we also carry a manual milk frother. Before anyone shoots me for using the pod machine: we’re aware of the pollution issues that these can create so we buy coffee in plastic pods and recycle them (and avoid aluminum pods).
As for the coffee itself, I am quite picky, especially when it comes to the percolator. Some brands quickly taste too bitter so I found an Italian brand that tastes heavenly when prepared in percolator. That’s not really a problem when Italy is next door 🙂
Thanks for sharing, Alenka. I definitely won’t shoot you :), but I feel compelled to point out that not creating a demand for plastic is better than recycling. I have no experience with them but maybe the refillable cups would work almost as well?
By the way, I feel fortunate that we are not picky. It makes coffee purchasing easier and cheaper.
We use a Melitta filter holder, pouring hot (not boiling!) water thru into a stainless steel carafe. Works great, nothing to break. Can me made under way.
Why not boiling?
Boiling is too hot and causes bitter coffee. 195F is optimal. Not that I’m obsessed with coffee, but my coffee is often mentioned when crewing. My sailing, not nearly as often.
While chartering a Leopard 384 (without a Gen Set) in Grenada, I used a French press for the first time in my life. It worked very well. I tend to drink 4-6 cups a day so the on cup, k cups and packs don’t work for me. At the time I never heard of letting the hot water set any amount of time so I would pour water in press it and pour it. I didn’t notice any lack of “coffee’ in this process. In the future I plan to use a press again, Gen Set or not.
The french press works very well for us. It’s a bit of a pain to clean, but that’s not too big of a downside.
An Italian buddy swears by the stove top espresso just like your linked one..Bialetti 6-Cup Stovetop Espresso Maker.
He uses little paper circle disks that appear to be made out of the same paper as Melitta filters. The disk goes between the water resevoir and the top part and he says it makes the coffee perfect.
We have an electric espresso. We pack the coffee in and steam the milk (for my wife) …I drink my espresso str8…no sugar / milk …but limit myself t o 2 in the AM
Never thought of using the single serving disks in the espresso maker.
I owned a Coffee shop for some years and I’m a sailor. French press is the best way to have coffee on a boat. Also boil water, it needs to be at least 210 degrees to fully extract flavor from the beans. Enjoy.
Thanks, Dave. We definitely boil the water, unless we run out of propane part way through heating it up. Then we’re just as likely to say “it’s warm enough.” 🙂
We use a stainless steel double insulated French press. All guests rave about the coffee and it stays hot for over an hour
If we need to buy another one, we’ll get one like you have.
We’re a split crew with one half drinking tea (?) and the other drinking coffee. Since I’m normally up first, I put on a kettle so the Admiral can have her tea and I make coffee in a french press. I guess that’s a long way of saying I use a french press.
🙂
I wish I liked tea as much as I do coffee. It’s so much easier IMO.
My boat just carries a 5 gallon plastic water jug with a spigot and on overnights I use a camp stove and small stainless steeel camping percolator. It is not a hardship, makes fast delicious coffee. At home I have a french press like yours except I went to the stainless steel model so it can’t break.
Our french press is plastic, not glass. I am anti-glass on the boat.
I always use an Aeropress as well onboard. Cleans easily
We’ve had others put in their vote for the Aeropress too. It is popular.
Confessions: Not a cruiser but a sailor. Less than 2 years until I retire and move back to the coast. That out of the way, I really like the Melitta (backordered for Amazon Prime junkies like me). For folks with high cholesterol, paper filters are a must. There are some serious studies on this and I did my own personal test as well. The Melitta offers French Press convenience and freshness and wow…it’s cheap. I use a more conventional pot at home but there are times when 1 cup is enough. BTW, I’m bi-caffenated – both tea and coffee are good from me but no Folgers/Lipton will do.
“For folks with high cholesterol, paper filters are a must. There are some serious studies on this and I did my own personal test as well.”
What do you mean?
Sorry, just got back to this. There were lots of studies. Here’s one: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6242467/ns/health-heart_health/t/coffee-cholesterol/#.WHUCrpIcs9Q
So, it sounded a bit sketchy to me. I tend to run a little high but, without meds, I’ve gotten it under control. So, with no knowledge of the studies, I started drinking coffee made with a French Press. My cholesterol went up a fair amount (don’t remember the numbers). My doc told me about the studies and I went back to paper filters. My cholesterol went back down.
On a very rare occasion, I still have an espresso but it’s really rare.
Interesting. I’m not likely to change what I’m doing, but it is interesting.
Nobody mentioned instant? We did a percolator and instant. There are some pretty good instants out there, we liked Cafe Bustello and Medaglia D’oro. The great thing about both is they disolve in cold water to make instant iced coffee, very needed in Mexico.
Believe it or not, Rebecca’s Mom actually preferred instant to brewed.
What a great sailing subject. One I can get my senses around.
As space is a premium on my Jeanneau SO I have settled for a Handpresso. It uses the 44mm diameter coffee sachets known as E.S.E. Each sachet contains 7grams of the addictive substance so I usually have 2, 3 sometimes 4 a day. The Handpresso makes a ‘petite cafe’ with some cream depending on the coffee brand. Using scolding hot water from a flask I can have my coffee while sailing without lighting a flame. It works for me. On the pontoon I haunt the local Tabac, more fun.
Handpresso… pretty cool. I had to look it up as I’d never heard of it before.
I’m surprised that cold brewing coffee hasn’t been mentioned. I’ve been cold brewing coffee for years, and I think the taste beats hot brewing. There’s a big pitcher like thing with a hole in the bottom and room for a dense fabric filter. Plug the hole, pour a 16 oz of coffee in, then fill the container to the top with clear cold water. Let it set overnight or longer. When ready, pull the plug and the rich, concentrated liquid strains into a carafe. This concentrate will keep for several weeks refrigerated. When you want a cuppa joe, fill about 1/4 to 1/3 of your cup with the stuff and add hot water to fill’er up. Yum. Also makes tremendously delicious iced coffee, fill glass 50/50 with coffee concentrate and milk over ice. The set up is not that expensive, it’s called Toddy Cafe system, do a google search and you’ll find it.
I’ve never tried that, Lee. I’ll look it up.