The coffee thread

[Martin]

Another new portable coffee maker on the market, again looks like a bit of a faff, sold in Lakeland

 

[MattBW]

I have a metal espresso kettle and a "Handpresso" both to make coffee in the van I tend to grind my own beans and put them in the fridge rather than bring a grinder. Also support the brilliant Aeropress but I dont own one at the moment.

Nespresso are good machines for convenience and make a good coffee generally but the coffee is very expensive in the long run. They are kind of like the printer model of business, cheapish printer but expensive ink. If you use it only occasionally though its a good way of doing it.

 

[MattBW]

Sorry just checked mine is a minipresso http://www.wacaco.com/

 

[Hotel California]

Sorry just checked mine is a minipresso http://www.wacaco.com/

That looks cool , but is it easy to clean....?
Tryed a Bialetti in the Cali but find it to much hassle to clean it aftherwarts .
Also playing aroud with coffeegrind in a Cali is not that smart...but it gives good coffee .
Now i bought one you put grind in and water on top then push down to filter , but still not easy to clean.

 

[MattBW]

I haven't actually managed to try it in anger yet, the grinder is at the photography studio. I suspect it is rather a pain to clean and no doubt will have to try for some time before putting back together.

An aeropress may still be the best option if you can afford the space Ill give it a try tomorrow and let you know,

 

[Skylark2.0]

We have a Pixie. We use it everyday at home. We also have an aerocino which makes great hot frothy milk. We warm the insulated nespresso cups with the machine and then make the capsule into the hot cup. A massive advantage is that one person can have decaff and the other caff. We used to have a Citz and milk which we eventually wore out. We used to have a gaggia but it was too messy and too much of a pfaff so we didn't use it enough.
We haven't taken the Pixie away in Starlight due to the lack of surface space. We will try it out in the sink this weekend as we don't use the sink or water.

 

[Skylark2.0]

We use a cafetière at present and carry decaff and caff grounds in the fridge. Pretty easy and quick no where near as quick as the Pixie though....

 

[rookeryview]

Can we all actually tell the difference between a pretty good and a very good coffee, that's the question....
Then, it's down to the ongoing costs, and suitability for camping.
On this basis, the Aeropress is the winner. It's totally flexible regarding the coffee you use, easy to clean, costs virtually nothing to run (reuse the filter papers many times, as recommended in the instructions!!), is unbreakable, small, no need for electricity, no chance of aluminium poisoning. Can make one coffee per minute if you need to. £22. Job done. Next.....

 

[motacyclist]

We've tried:-

• Mokka pot - coffee good but pain to get rid of the grounds, have to watch the pot doesn't boil dry
• French press - ditto the grounds, also in winter by the time it gets in the cup the coffee is only lukewarm
• Handpresso (with pods) - you can get a decent but small cup of coffee but need to warm everything to avoid lukewarm. Lot of faffing, even more with loose coffee
• Supermarket filter bags - some are quite good but takes ages for water to drip through

Another problem with loose coffee is that the Cali is not a very good place to keep it fresh and you end up throwing it out. Even at home we find this is a problem (as we mostly drink tea) so we use singly packed ESE pods which we buy from UK Coffeepods, we find these mixed packs good value and good coffee.

Last trip we gave up carrying all the paraphernalia around and, dare I say it, took Nescafe Azera for convenience, it's about the best instant coffee in my opinion. Well, it's warm and wet and OK with a Lotus biscuit

So much for coffee, how about tea? Is it just tea bags, or do people take loose leaf and a proper teapot with an infuser?

 

[vmaxkiddy]

Been using a zyliss cafetiere hot mug ( used to be smartcafe by Conran )for a long time at work and camping. Cafetiere and insulated mug in one. Works for tea as well, loose and bag. Coffee or tea in, water in, brew and plunge. Only one item to carry and wash up, light weight, & 50% bigger than a normal mug.

 

[campandfly]

+1 for the aeropress.
No cleanup required we leave the grains in to dry a little after use and then the plug of coffee pops straight out into the rubbish.
We also use the upside down method of brewing instead of putting over a cup.
No crema usually but even if your coffee is below par it will take the bitterness out.

 

[LindaF]

So much for coffee, how about tea? Is it just tea bags, or do people take loose leaf and a proper teapot with an infuser?

I stick to good old pg tips (Lady Grey for the other half), and no milk in either makes it a bit easier in the Cali. We do have loose tea/infusers/teapots at home but find it too much of a faff out on the road. We also take individual sachets of hot chocolate as well as the beer & wine

 

[Skylark2.0]

We've tried:-

• Mokka pot - coffee good but pain to get rid of the grounds, have to watch the pot doesn't boil dry
• French press - ditto the grounds, also in winter by the time it gets in the cup the coffee is only lukewarm
• Handpresso (with pods) - you can get a decent but small cup of coffee but need to warm everything to avoid lukewarm. Lot of faffing, even more with loose coffee
• Supermarket filter bags - some are quite good but takes ages for water to drip through

Another problem with loose coffee is that the Cali is not a very good place to keep it fresh and you end up throwing it out. Even at home we find this is a problem (as we mostly drink tea) so we use singly packed ESE pods which we buy from UK Coffeepods, we find these mixed packs good value and good coffee.

Last trip we gave up carrying all the paraphernalia around and, dare I say it, took Nescafe Azera for convenience, it's about the best instant coffee in my opinion. Well, it's warm and wet and OK with a Lotus biscuit

So much for coffee, how about tea? Is it just tea bags, or do people take loose leaf and a proper teapot with an infuser?

Ok. Teddy out of pram time. The blooming coffee grinds get everywhere and are driving me crazy Are these ESE pods coffee bags? If not can anyone recommend any bags that are any good. We like to have caff and decaff on hand. I like the idea of the aeropress but suspect that will go mouldy when forgotten about.

 

[campandfly]

I like the idea of the aeropress but suspect that will go mouldy when forgotten about.

Have not had ours go mouldy so far. It just dries out and then the plug just shoots out. We often re-use the filter multiple times.
If we are feeling lazy we carry good quality Instant.

 

[MattBW]

That looks cool , but is it easy to clean....?
Tryed a Bialetti in the Cali but find it to much hassle to clean it aftherwarts .
Also playing aroud with coffeegrind in a Cali is not that smart...but it gives good coffee .
Now i bought one you put grind in and water on top then push down to filter , but still not easy to clean.

They do one for coffee pods which is much cleaner.

I've used it a bit now and it makes pretty good coffee. You need a little extra water to rinse it after but that's about it. Coffee grinds can be messy

A little fiddly perhaps but good for good coffee on the go. Yesterday we made coffee whilst sat here.

 

[motacyclist]

Are these ESE pods coffee bags?

No, you need an espresso machine or a Handpresso type thing to use them.

 

[Wolfgang]

We've just used our Nespresso pixie for the first time in the cali over the past week. Previously we used a bialetti stove top pot. The nespresso is so much easier, the only downside being its storage. As we use four 35 litre really useful boxes under the back sleeping shelf to store everything we take away, the Pixie fits perfectly into one of those. We took the aeroccino too but probably won't bother again as the washing up is a pain ( although the frothy milk is lovely)!

 

[Skylark2.0]

We've just used our Nespresso pixie for the first time in the cali over the past week. Previously we used a bialetti stove top pot. The nespresso is so much easier, the only downside being its storage. As we use four 35 litre really useful boxes under the back sleeping shelf to store everything we take away, the Pixie fits perfectly into one of those. We took the aeroccino too but probably won't bother again as the washing up is a pain ( although the frothy milk is lovely)!

Where did you put the pixie when you were using it? Shame about the aerocino but understand!

 

[Wolfgang]

We put the pixie on the kitchen glass top next to the plug socket, it fits perfectly there but kept it in the useful box when not in use!

 

[Velma's Dad]

Just re-started this thread after causing coffee chat 'pollution' in the Cooking in Van thread...

So, (and taking time out to annoy some on the Americanisms thread ) does anyone have a tip for a simple Cali-friendly manual milk frother for use with an Aeropress or other low-tech coffee brewer??

 

[Hotel California]

Was just checking out the aeropress in a video , looks nice .
Thinking of buying one....
Is there diffrence in filterpaper?
Seems there is a metal filter also...

 

[calimera]

Use the paper filters for aeropress.

Milk frother
We heat some milk in a small pan to add to our espresso from the stove espresso coffee maker or aeropress .Husband prefers latte . We then pour milk into a Bodum milk frother .

 

[zeratul]

I bought myself a Handpresso and love it.
It's compact and the espresso I bought tastes even better than the best Nespresso (which we're using at home).
It's the same price (about .35 eurocents per espresso) and no lungo though. Works fine of the leisure battery without engine running. Takes about 2-3 minutes to build up pressure and heat.

 

[BikerGran]

Aeropress all the way for me! Nothing like Filter coffee as the water is forced through the coffee just as in a steam driven machine.

 

[calimera]

Just re-started this thread after causing coffee chat 'pollution' in the Cooking in Van thread...

So, (and taking time out to annoy some on the Americanisms thread ) does anyone have a tip for a simple Cali-friendly manual milk frother for use with an Aeropress or other low-tech coffee brewer??

Added photo of Bodum milk frother in my post above .