Coffee at Sea - How?

[MainlySteam]

Any bright ideas on making good coffee at sea without a machine.

We used to use a perculator (bad) until we found a big Bodum plunger (better but not best) that had a plastic cover over the bottom of the beaker and up the sides to protect it. It has to be washed in fresh water though as the slightest bit of salt water kills coffee whereas when we are away for more than a few days everything else is washed in salt. Some just pour the hot water over the grounds in a jug (pretty rustic?).

There must be some smart ideas around, apart from changing to tea.

John

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[Ohdrat]

Get a stove top expresso machine .. the Italians never wash them so no worries about contaiminating with salty water.. add a good stainless steel thermos which you use for coffee and coffee only.. never put coffee with milk in the flask.. only black coffee .. add the milk as and when you are going to drink the coffee.. if you take milk that is.... If you use an expresso machine you can make extremely strong coffee and add hot water to dilute it to taste if necessary..

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[sailorman]

we bought a brilliant caffetiea (x cuse spelling) from whittards tea shop. its all s/steel & insulated keeps useable at least 1/2 hr & looks stylish

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[Novice]

You might try Lyons coffee bags. I use these at work, and they give quite a reasonable cup of coffee without a machine or any other gear (apart from a kettle)



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[Mirelle]

Just so.

I have not seen a stainless steel one, though one would expect someone to make one. The only problem is that the centre of gravity rises during the process. It is perfectly OK to dilute the resulting brew with boiled hot water. We keep a big Japanese stainless "air pot" in the galley filled with boiling water all the time anyway - allows one handed cuppa soups, etc.

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[Robin]

We use a plastic funnel type coffee filter holder (very cheap) that fits either into a S/S coffee pot or nowadays into the top of a 2L S/S pump action vacuum flask that sits in one of the galley sinks. As someone else has said, make black coffee only and add milk if required at point of serving. The flask keeps coffee hot for hours, but if we are going for an early departure next morning we make it the night before then in the morning pump a coffee pot full out, reheat this on the stove and put it back in the flask. For drinking coffee at sea we use S/S vacuum mugs with lids as sold for car use instead of the usual mugs, these sit nicely in the cockpit holders on the pedestal and are non-spill as well as keeping the coffee hot.

The S/S flask only needs cleaning infrequently if in constant use, but yes fresh water not salt!

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[Cornishman]

Wouldn't have thought you have any problems - use mainly steam!

Once sent a cadet to make coffee for the old man and myself and he returned with a filthy brown and cold concoction which turned out to have been made with Bisto and luke warm water! The old man soon heated up!

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[poter]

I think you will find that the Bodum plunger type is one of the best. But it really does depend on the coffee, we always use either Whitards or Starbucks own blend, which is excellent. Also only buy your coffee in usable quants. and keep it in an air tight cntainer, as it goes stale very quickly on board.

poter

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[Sybarite]

THERE ARE VARIOUS WAYS OF MAKING COFFEE BUT ONE ESSENTIAL POINT CONTRARY TO TEA THE WATER SHOULD NOT BE BOILING;

SORRY ABOUT THE CAPITALS ONLY NOTICED THIS NOW AND i DONT WANT TO RETYPE! I AM NOT SHOUTING!!

JOHN

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[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

what's expresso?

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

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[MainlySteam]

Hi Ohdrat - are the stove top expresso machines you mention the quite tall ones, which we have looked at but had thought (perhaps wrongly) that they would not be stable enough, or are there squatter ones available?

John

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[david_e]

We bought a plastic cafetier from the Bodum shop at the Bicester retail park, works fine.

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[Jeremy_W]

I have seen, and enjoyed coffee from a combined mug/ cafetiere, but possibly it's only available on import from the USA. The plungers look a little fragile and might snap if pressed down without the necessary degree of delicacy.

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[wishbone]

The secret to making good coffee with most coffee
Is not to burn the grounds or even instant coffee with
Boiling water. Keep beans in fridge or cold, keep
Packet air tight; freshly ground is best; warm up
Cafetiere with boiling water; fill cafetiere with boiling
Water ( filtered or bottled) leave to cool for a ½ minute
Add coffee and stir. With instant; put cold milk in mug add
Coffee add sugar; stir or whisk add boiling water while
Stirring.
My wife has a Victorian tea room renound for great coffee
& Tea and other delights!!!!
Herbal, Floral and Victorian Delights; in Yorkshire!

Wishbone
Rolling, rolling, rolling keep them doggies moving!
Where’s me chuck wagon gone?

www.reflect-designs.co.uk follow banner to Victorian Delights.


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[MainlySteam]

I did the "Click Here" for fine coffee - looks very inviting!

John

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[Robin]

The trouble with caffetieres like Bodrums is that a) they make just small amounts at a time, 2 mugs at best, b) you end up with a load of grounds to somehow wash off, lots of fresh water wasted for just 2 mugs of coffee. The paper filter in plastic holder method duplicates the electric filter coffee maker at home. The only limitation on quantity made is the size of the kettle full of hot water or the size of the coffee pot or flask used as the recepticle. All that is required afterwards is to throw away the filter paper full of grounds, no water is required for cleaning at all.

We are BIG coffee drinkers at home or on the boat, SWMBO being from the USA is used to permanently available coffee and I caught the same habit. Fortunately we both like weak USA strength coffee for all day use, just one heaped scoop per filter, too weak probably for milky coffee but just right for drinking black.

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[zephyrsailor]

bodums insulated caffetiere is good. or argos do a stainless steel "8 cup" one for less than a tenner. both make a little over 3 normal size cups. i don't really wash the caffetiere just chuck the coffee grounds over the side and give it a quick rinse. can make it super strong in caffetiere and then dilute into a thermos. i like coffee strong enough to stand the spoon up in and i can usually manage this on boat. buying strong coffee to start with helps. asda do a strong blend that is passable.

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[Mirelle]

The stove top stability issue

Yes, it's a problem! The smaller sizes are a bit more stable.

On the plus side, like pressure cookers, they can fall off without spilling anything - up to the moment when the steam pressure builds up and the coffee arrives in the top of the gadget!

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[Gunfleet]

Re: Just so.

"We keep a big Japanese stainless "air pot" in the galley " where did you get that? They were doing them once in John Lewis but when I went to get one they'd stopped (typical!)

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[Metabarca]

Good coffee

Ragazzi miei. Ma per favore!! (Come on lads. Do us a favour!)

Regarding tea, the English are unbeatable but as for coffee, Mon Dieu, Mio Dio, or whichever language you prefer.

I have the luck to live in the town with the bar that produces the best coffee in Europe (according to the Economist) and it's just 200 m from where I live. When is a coffee not a coffee? When it's a coffee in a glass, a long coffee, a long coffee with milk, a short coffee with a little milk, a 'ristretto' - extra-strong - coffee, a caffé corretto ('chastised' with grappa), a milk with coffee, and so on. One of my local bars has a conveyor belt to take the empty cups away as customers are usually four or five deep at the counter...! This is serious coffee we're talking about.
So I feel justified in saying that the only decent coffee (short of having your own proper espresso machine and running it 24 hours a day) is to use a mocha coffee pot, as mentioned above. These should be of aluminium, not steel (and it's all recycled so you'll feel virtuous too) and never scrubbed clean, just rinsed in FRESH water.
I believe squatter versions do exist but the coffee won't be the same...
The coffee can be made stronger or weaker according to taste, but it's better to make it stronger and dilute afterwards. Use a good coffee for mocha machines (Illy, for instance, which is the best).
Hope this helps

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