I am going to capture many of the lessons that I learned on my 2015 Summer Trip.
The first lesson I learned is that while boondocking (camping without electrical and water hookups), making coffee in the morning becomes a bit more complicated. When we do have power, we have a regular coffee maker that can be prepared the night before. The morning, just plug it in, push the start button, and there you go…. coffee!
Without power, I considered a few options. A percolator? I tried it and the coffee taste was hard to get right. A french press? Maybe. I settled on http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BCS13IW. The product description says this:
The Clever Coffee Dripper combines the best features of French Press and filter drip brewing, eliminating the drawbacks of each. By adding a stopper to a filtercone, the Clever Coffee Dripper combines control over steeping time with a sediment free cup. The dripper will fit on cups and thermoses with tops wider than 1.5″ and less than 3.75″ in diameter. Of course, if you put the dripper on a very narrow thermos you should make sure it is stable. Cleaning: Cleaning the Clever Coffee Dripper is very easy. Just dispose of the used grounds and filter and rinse. Do not allow residue to build up in the filter. Lightly scrub the cone with very hot water and a sponge or brush, taking care to clean shut off mechanism lightly from the top. If necessary, use a detergent-free cleaner designed for carafes and filtercones.
It ends up being a great solution. I can easily heat water in a kettle on the stove inside the trailer (or on a camp stove outside). Add a filter with three scoops of coffee in it. Then fill up to the top with boiling water. Let sit for 15-20 minutes (that is the hard part). Then you just set the whole device on top of your mug and the coffee drips down into the mug. Awesome (and tasty).
The problem: it only makes enough coffee to fill one mug. This is a serious issue if you have more than one coffee drinker.
The solution: buy another Clever Coffee Dripper. With two, coffee can be prepared for two immediately (well… 15-20 minutes after the water boils). Once the first round is poured, the Clever Coffee Dripper can be prepared again for a second round of coffee. I now have the second Clever Coffee Dripper and will test out this solution in April or May 2016 during a test-run campout.
