Coffee at Sea - How?

Re: Good coffee

You are picking on the wrong bloke. I have a Mr Moka on my boat and I only use good Italian coffee in it. I just wanted to know where could I source a machine to keep a supply of nearly boiling water when I'm sailing. BTW is your caffé corretto made with chardonnay or pinot nero grappa?

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Stainless Air Pot

This is a Really Useful bit of boat equipment!

I actually lugged ours all the way back from Hong Kong, where I had bought it in one of the Japanese department stores in Causeway Bay (Mitsukoshi, I think) only to find that the Woodbridge Kitchen Shop had them in stock, cheaper!

However, a Japanese friend whom we sailed with this summer urges a note of caution. They are not all the same. The ones with good Japanese brand names (such as ours is , though I did not know that when I bought it) are excellent, and will keep water piping hot for 24 hours. Some cheaper ones, made in China, lose heat very fast.

So I think the best advice is "Consult a Japanese friend" before buying in the UK and alternatively nab a friend making a business trip to East Asia and direct them to a Japanese department store.

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Re: Stainless Air Pot

I don't have any Japanese friends, strangely enough. THe only people from the far east I know are in Harwich. I can feel a visit to the Woodbridge kitchen shop coming on. My mrs is jealous of the bent wood spatula I bought from there for the galley, anyway.

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Re: Stainless Air Pot

I'll ask SWMBO (who, as an Oriental herself, knows about these things!) to look in there, and see if they still have them, before committing you to a fruitless journey!

(They have a nice assortment of proper stove top Expresso coffee pots!)

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Re: Good coffee

The short answer to your last question is: whatever comes to hand! Nardini, Grappa Julia - that sort of thing. ie the large grappa producers one better than the sort of stuff you wouldn't feed to your car, but not as good as the really good grappa which I wouldn't dilute with coffee.

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The espresso stove-top pots are the business. I have two... a small one-cup which can provide a brew which can make two decent cups of strong coffee. The second is a bigger beast which gives about half a litre. The big one has a bracket which looks like a chemistry flask holder to keep it stable.
The plus over plunger type caffitiers is that the grounds cake together in the steaming and can be knocked out of the holder without going all over the place. Never wash mine and its never been a prob.
I thought keeping the coffee dry and fresh might be a problem, but it gets used before getting damp.

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Re: Good coffee

<<but not as good as the really good grappa which I wouldn't dilute with coffee.>> I know. I was teasing. I'll have to put a little icon on when I'm doing it. The trouble with this medium is that a gentle leg pull never shows up as such!

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by JohnM on 28/10/2003 10:54 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
Re: Good coffee

Phew! You had me worried for a while. Had to go and look at my bottles for reassurance like Winnie-the-Pooh checking out his hunny pots!

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I think Compass do an insulated caffetiere (excuse spelling). I know someone who has got one. They have a screw fit lid and plunger so it will stay warm and can't spill even if its tipped over.

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I bought a brilliant aluminium percolator (about 7" tall) in Venezuela - similar to the types the cowboys put onto the camp fire.
Holds 6 cups bounces well and now boasts a few dents. Not having any glass components it is unbreakable.
Can't remember the price but extremely cheap (a few pounds if I recollect)

So if ever you are in that neck of the woods look out for one

<hr width=100% size=1>JaneK
 
Re: Stainless Air Pot

We have... one large s/s (italian bought) expresso pot, somewhat triangular shape, and, as the water is less proportion of the total weight, the change in height of the CG is not so much. We use Kenya Peaberry as the best we have EVER tasted, and, of course, the big AirPot. We have tried 'the other way round' when sea state permits - hot water prepared into AirPot, then just a few minutes through the expresso.
We find the cafetiere nowhere near as satisfying a taste, but still rather better than instant anything.

<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all
 
yes they are tall and yes as Sybyrite points out the centre of gravity does rise as the water starts at the bottom and rises as pressurised water/steam thro the coffee into the top section.. so not ideal for rough conditions but with a decent pair of pan clamps they are ok... if the sea is that rough strong coffee is the last thing you'll be wanting.. guaranteed to make the green of gill projectile vomit!

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Thanks to everyone for the terrific and comprehensive feedback. Looks like the cafeteire/French Press/Plunger (depending on where you are) and the stove top expresso are the favourites so we will get an expresso to go with the existing big cafeteire.

The expresso with the bracket sounds interesting (will look out for something like that) and will give it a go with the pan clamps as also suggested.

Learnt a couple of other things! "Air Pots", probably seen them but never realised what they were, and coffee is a more important part of sailing it would seem than I realised.

Any additional ideas/comments welcome. Thanks again.

Regards

John



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An ordinary glass plunger-type cafetiere is fine. We keep ours in a jiffybag (padded postal envelope) and have never had a breakage. Apart from never using boiling water, the other secret of a really good brew is to use Colombian coffee.

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Re: Good coffee

d' accordissimo!!!

Only, tell me, why is the coffee I get with my genuine Italian macchinetta always bitter. Tried everything, used mineral water, use (always) Illy but to no avail.
And there's no foam, like in a normal good espresso machine.
Is there a secret?

Don't let me down on this one, we live aboard and I depend on coffee to get me going.....


grazie mille

PS: Now that we are defending Italian delicacies, maybe you can also help me with the genuine recipe for a traditional Panna Cotta. Tried every Italian cookery book I could lay my hands on, it's probably so traditional that the authors think everyone knows..





<hr width=100% size=1>Peter a/b SV Heerenleed, Steenbergen, Netherlands
 
Re: Good coffee

Hmm! Tricky one, this. I must say that at sea, my coffee is not as good as at home, even when using the same machine, so there must be something in the air. Generally, the Illy doesn't foam as much as some other coffees (try Cremcaffé if you find it) and anyway an espresso machine will be much foamier, but I know from trade sources that Illy really does have better beans than competitors. Moreover, it has a laser-guided puffer that blows the bad beans out of the belt as they go by!
Try this (and I hope I'm not teaching you to suck eggs):
- as mentioned above, only rinse in fresh water and don't scrub the pot clean - a wipe with your finger under running water to get rid of the old grounds is enough;
- fill the water up to the safety valve;
- LET OP! check the rubber seal under the upper part - if it's old, that will make your coffee taste awful, but also if it's brand-new (new ones should be run in with a couple of thrown away coffees);
- add the coffee but don't pack it down;
- place over a low to lowish flame.
And I hope that does the trick! However, there are some identical pots (of the same brand) that make better coffee than others so it's... pot luck! Generally, the large ones don't make a good cup either.

Now for the panna cotta (but surely crême brulée is much tastier?! Please bear with me as I'm translating and I'm no cook:

for 6 people:
7g fish glue (truly)
3 dl (is that 300 ml?) milk
2 dl cream
50 g sugar
and, if you like, small red fruit to decorate each serving (currants, strawbs etc)

- put fish glue in cold water; after 2 minutes, drain;
- in a pan place, the glue, milk, cream and sugar. Place over medium flame and mix until the sugar and fish glue have melted. This will happen quite quickly, before the lot boils;
- pour into a mould of your choice or 6 individual moulds;
- allow to cool at room temperature, then put in fridge until the cream firms up: 2 hours in individual moulds, about 5 if a single one;
- to serve, dip the mould(s) in hot water, taking care not to wet the cream; dry the mould(s) and overturn on to the plate;
- decorate with the fruit or sauce or whatever.

This should be better in the Netherlands with your decent milk than with the watery stuff we get here. Enjoy!

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I use a Bodum cafetiere, made of an unbreakable plastic. It even survived airport baggage handlers when I chartered a couple of weeks back.

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You really shouldn't be drinking all this coffee, or tea either it's very bad for the "water works". In fact you should minimise intake of:

Tea, Coffee, Alcohol, Chocolate, Caffeinated soft drinks (even decaffeinated coffee and tea contain some caffeine), Tomato-based products, Spicy and acidic foods and drinks, and Artificial sweeteners.

Is there a Urologist on board the forum?

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>Ne te confundant illegitimi.</font color=purple>
 
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