How to Make the Best Camping Coffee

The day @modernnorthwoodslumberjack and I discovered our favorite way to make camping coffee, was a happy one indeed!

We tried these two popular approaches first:

1) A mini Mr. Coffee coffee maker we brought from home.

PROS: could make it inside the camper

CONS: it required electricity, was kind of a pain to lug, clean, and store, and coffee was only so-so

2) Boiled water on the camp stove, and poured it into a french press.

PROS: really good coffee, simple to make

CONS: Messy to clean, missing that fresh brewed aroma

The method that turned put to be our favorite, was the kind I grew up with using while camping- the percolator, but with a new twist on the preparation.

How to make the best percolator coffee:

Step 1. Start with high quality coffee beans. Our current favorite is a blend roasted locally in Minnesota, Canoe & Cabin blend, from Paradise Coffee Roasters www.paradiseroasters.com. (NOTE: This is not a sponsored post, we just really enjoy it, and appreciate that it is roasted locally. I suggest checking out your local roasters and trying out some different blends)

Step 2: Just before you are ready to make the coffee, grind the beans with a manual grinder. (We use the the JavaPresse manual burr coffee grinder available www.javapresse.com.) Sure, it takes a little bit of time to hand grind the coffee, but it’s worth it because it stores easily in space spaces, it uses no electricity, and it’s simple to do a semi-coarse grind, which works perfectly for this method.

Step 3: Fill the percolator full of good drinking water to just below the basket.

Step 4: Add a half cup of coarsely ground coffee to the basket that fits inside the percolator (We use a 12 cup outdoors enamelware percolator we purchased at REI, but I’ve seen these everywhere that sells camping gear). We typically use about a 3” square of torn cheap paper towel as a liner inside the basket to help with easy clean up and keep most of the beans out of the brewed coffee, but you wouldn’t need to.

Step 4: Cook the coffee over any camp stove (or over a small campfire) on medium heat. When it starts to percolate, watch it fairly closely to note to see when the bubbles that appear through the clear top become a nice dark caramel brown color, and the aroma of coffee becomes obvious. Depending on the heat of your stove and the outdoor air temperature, this could be anywhere from 5-15 minutes.

Step 5: Pull off the heat, empty the grounds, and carefully pour the coffee into your favorite mug, and pour any remaining coffee into a thermos to keep it hot. Note: if the coffee boiled over and you got grounds in your pot, add a little cold water to settle the grounds before your pour it.

Step 6: Enjoy!!

PROS: Best tasting coffee hands down (in our opinion), with best aroma, low energy use

CONS: Takes some time, may get a few grounds in your coffee

Whatever method you use, I highly recommend taking your time to enjoy it. Wearing jammies while snuggled under a woolen blanket is a nice way to enjoy coffee inside on cool days, but it is even better if you can be outside. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any tips & tricks of your own to share.

Enjoying a perfect cup of fresh brewed coffee, cozy in our T@b trailer.