Single cup coffee makes on the cheap

My first experience with the single cup coffee makers like Nespresso and Krueger was in an auto dealership. I was waiting for my car to be fixed and sitting in the waiting room. I saw this strange contraption in the corner and decided to investigate. To my surprise it was a coffee maker. For those of you who do not know I will explain how these machines work. You put in a little plastic capsule that looks kind of like one of those creamers they have on the tables in diners only bigger. The capsule has some kind of coffee in it and usually you can choose between a few different types. The machine makes you one cup of coffee then you pull out the spent capsule and toss it.

When I realized how this machine worked I immediately felt like it was way to wasteful. I mean, you are using all of this plastic up in a minute or so and then just tossing it right after. I couldn't in good conscience own one.

However, this morning I was poking around on the coffee blogs and came across a neat little video and I wanted to share it with you guys.

This technique not only eliminates most of the negative environmental impacts of using these machines, but I bet it saves you a lot of money as well. Also you can use any coffee you want and don't have to buy coffee just from companies that make the capsules... that means you could use Moka Joe Coffee.

Enjoy

Coffee Outdoors MMM

If you're like me then you love to camp. One problem I always run into is how to have fresh coffee while out in the woods. It is not always an easy question to answer. Most of the time I just settle for that instant stuff but hey, who am I kidding, that is probably the least flavorful way to prepare coffee. It is a solution of convenience. What I would really love is a way to brew real coffee fresh in the morning while out in the woods. So to solve my problem I did what any person now a days does to solve their problems, I turned to the internet and I found my answer after a short Google search.

Apparently there are several methods to get the fresh roasted coffee away from the kitchen, electricity, my trusty Mr. Coffee or any of those things in our homes we take for granted.

The first solution is one I should have thought of myself. Basically you can buy the part of the coffee maker that is essential without all the other stuff. I will show you what I am talking about...

This is a single cup coffee filter. Just put in the filter paper and coffee, put the cup underneath, pour hot water(just under boiling) through and Voila, you got yourself a fresh brewed cup of coffee that is much better than instant. 

But wait there's more...

You can also use and outdoor percolator. These are the old stand-by for making coffee while camping and they look like this

 Basically you put the coffee and the water in this guy and start heating it up. You have be careful not to boil you coffee because that is very easy to do with the percolator. Boiling also makes your coffee much less tasty. the basic measurements are 2 tbsp of coffee for every 6oz. of water. You also have the option of making the coffee very strong and then diluting it with hot water in order to serve more coffee to more people.

The final option is for those that love their espresso no matter where they are or what they are doing.

That's right its and outdoor espresso maker.

 first fill the base of the espresso maker to the level of the safety valve with cool water. Next, fill the filter funnel with fine ground coffee. Replace the filter and screw the spout section of the coffee maker onto the base. Place a cup beneath the spout and heat the espresso maker over low heat. Once the coffee has stopped flowing from the spout, the espresso is done brewing and the heat should be turned off. add milk (probably powdered) if you wish and Ta-Da you have espresso no matter where you are. Also I would just like to point out that if you are backpacking you had probably better use the classic blue cup with white speckles just to remain true to the backpacking tradition.

If you have anymore questions just Google outdoor coffee makers (or espresso makers) and you will have all the info you need

Enjoy!