Jump to content

Camping coffee/espresso maker - recommendations?


Janaka
 Share

Recommended Posts

Does anyone have good recommendations for a festival-friendly coffee maker?  Sure, instant is ok, and I'm not a massive coffee-aficionado, but I kinda like the idea of a good strong espresso to start the day (though usually that's early afternoon!).

I don't have a budget as such - more a case of getting something that does a very good job, will last, and is compact enough to fit in a rucksack.

This one has caught my eye http://www.wacaco.com/products/minipresso-gr and can be found for £40 but would be grateful for any 1st-hand recommendations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 56
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

4 minutes ago, GETOFFAMYLAWN said:

Seems pointlessly time and money consuming when you can just buy a coffee from a stand. There are lots of decent ones.

Yes that's absolutely not in doubt.  My point though is about being able to make a half-decent one when back at the campsite.  And for use on camping holidays when the nearest barista is a good few miles away.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, rebus said:

http://www.aeropress.co.uk/

Can't recommend highly enough.

This. You won't get anything better in terms of price or portability. Dead easy to use and clean. If you want to grind your beans fresh than marry it with a hand  ceramic burr grinder. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B001802PIQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1465134277&sr=1-2&pi=SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=415JCWEK1sL&ref=plSrch

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, GETOFFAMYLAWN said:

Seems pointlessly time and money consuming when you can just buy a coffee from a stand. There are lots of decent ones.

Very true but it's easy to do a tenner a day on coffee, well for me anyway. There's 6 of us at camp, our coffee bill would be £250+ between us. Just having a kettle can save a small fortune 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always take an Italian expresso pot when I go regular camping, works really well on a camping stove, but the only fire making object I trust myself with at the festival is a lighter, much safer for me to get coffee from a stall. 
Charm x

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Either an aero press or a moka machine (stove top metal jug like the pic above).

A kettle with an aeropress repeatedly may be quicker, but a tip is to make it upside down and therefore leave it brewing for a bit before tipping it right way up into a mug. Otherwise you've got to buy a large moka machine for all your mates drinks too which you may not use at any other time.

The moka makes better coffee but the press is still good.

Edited by carlosj
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Probably heresy, but you could try coffee bags (not the plastic 'disposable' filters).  wouldn't make espresso but would save a lot of faff and better than instant. You've got time to get some gourmet ones online, which would still be much cheaper than buying drinks at the festival

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, hurdy said:

Where did you order it from? Been reading up on it and have to say I'm intrigued. 

Here:  https://www.newmen.co.uk/products/wacaco-minipresso-pocket-sized-coffee-machine?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=16307082243&gclid=CMK-pZOckc0CFUKZGwodQd0GWA

Lowest price I could find - Amazon and others seemed to be about eight quid more expensive.  Order went through ok with delivery in 2-3 working days.  Yes, I'm intrigued too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm also intrigued by what I've read about this thing.  However, it just looks like too much faff to get one small espresso shot.  If you use the thing, you're probably going to have similarly-intrigued new-found friends coming in to see what you're up to, and I'd feel duty-bound to make them all one.  3 hours later, I'd be sick of the bloody thing.

If you haven't tried a 'mocha pot' then do so.  Apparently, the Italians, who are famously fussy about their coffee, use these as standard.  There are a few knacks to getting them to work properly (correctly filling/tamping the coffee, filling it with already-boiling water and taking it off the heat when it's only half-finished 'espressing.')

However, I've been using an Aeropress for a few years, and I'm convinced it's the perfect festival coffee-maker for three reasons: firstly, you can make 4 cups at once - you actually put 4 loads of coffee in, to make a thick concentrate, then split that up between 4 cups and top them up with hot water.  Secondly, to clean it, you just pop out the little round puck of coffee grinds, rinse the paper filter and the end of the rubber bung with a small amount of water, and that's it - clean.  Finally, the coffee quality is absolutely excellent, but it's just coffee, not espresso.

If you're a coffee connoisseur, you'll know that freshly ground, freshly roasted beans are the key, so make sure you bring a decent hand-powered burr-grinder.  (I use the Hario Mini.)  For the Aeropress, you need to set the grind almost as fine as for an espresso machine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mark E. Spliff said:

I'm also intrigued by what I've read about this thing.  However, it just looks like too much faff to get one small espresso shot.  If you use the thing, you're probably going to have similarly-intrigued new-found friends coming in to see what you're up to, and I'd feel duty-bound to make them all one.  3 hours later, I'd be sick of the bloody thing.

If you haven't tried a 'mocha pot' then do so.  Apparently, the Italians, who are famously fussy about their coffee, use these as standard.  There are a few knacks to getting them to work properly (correctly filling/tamping the coffee, filling it with already-boiling water and taking it off the heat when it's only half-finished 'espressing.')

However, I've been using an Aeropress for a few years, and I'm convinced it's the perfect festival coffee-maker for three reasons: firstly, you can make 4 cups at once - you actually put 4 loads of coffee in, to make a thick concentrate, then split that up between 4 cups and top them up with hot water.  Secondly, to clean it, you just pop out the little round puck of coffee grinds, rinse the paper filter and the end of the rubber bung with a small amount of water, and that's it - clean.  Finally, the coffee quality is absolutely excellent, but it's just coffee, not espresso.

If you're a coffee connoisseur, you'll know that freshly ground, freshly roasted beans are the key, so make sure you bring a decent hand-powered burr-grinder.  (I use the Hario Mini.)  For the Aeropress, you need to set the grind almost as fine as for an espresso machine.

Yeah, my aeropress is currently my festival coffee maker of choice, but as you say, great as it is, it don't do espresso.  I've had a mocha pot for years, but never really got it to make coffee I enjoy.  I'm sure it's me, not the pot, but still.  So I'm happy to give the minipresso a go.

But that's me - always in search of the ultimate-whatever-it-is.  If it's not coffee makers, it's cameras.  Or hats. Or bags.  At least I found the ultimate festival.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Mark E. Spliff said:

If you're a coffee connoisseur, you'll know that freshly ground, freshly roasted beans are the key

So which stalls on site will be selling coffee of this caliber? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, morph100 said:

So which stalls on site will be selling coffee of this caliber? 

In terms of filter coffee the Green Brownie Company in Williams Green sell the Tim Peaks coffee freshly ground and filtered, which is jolly nice

For the espresso and combinations of espresso coffees the coffee stall to the right of West Holts is good too and does decaf (can't quite see why you would want that though)

Can't remember the name but in the South East corner there was a large American style bus with a coffee bar in that did cracking coffee too, plus quite a few of the food stalls now have proper coffee machines so it's easy to get a good cup on site. Is a cost but often cheaper and better coffee than high street stores sell. Nothing better than an early morning coffee watching the site come to life

For camping I tend to just take a cafetière and some ground coffee and just brew that up, easy to carry brews a good cup to kick the day off 

Edited by phil the shrew
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you everyone for all the useful advice.  Based on the guidance above, I think the Aeropress is the boy for me because:

  • A bunch of helpful people have rated it
  • Thinking about it, a longer coffee is fine if it'll be good quality, for me there's need to insist on espresso - would rather have something to savour.
  • Not a bad price
  • Making 4 coffee's in one go sounds good, to keep all the troops happy
  • I know Moka's are great and would be an even cheaper option, but I'm not quite ready for that level of tinkering the morning/afternoon after the night before.  And all of this over a near-naked flame. (May get one for home though to go alongside our all-singing, alll-dancing and all-leaking DeLonghi machine)

Will probably invest in one of these metal filters too https://www.amazon.co.uk/Purposefull-Filter-Aeropress-Stainless-Natural/dp/B00UAJT5EI/ref=pd_sim_201_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=31VfUgxqQgL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR153%2C160_&refRID=8JEQ27SE6S0MCKBJZ0GF

Re comments about superiority of freshly-ground coffee, that's a step I haven't taken yet.  Is it really a night and day difference from the ready-ground stuff? (typically we buy Illy/Lavazza at home, so decent stuff I guess). 

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed their thoughts.  If you find yourself in Dairy, under a Nemo clown fish flag, watching some guy who has lost all motor skills trying to work out an Aeropress, spilling coffee and hot water everywhere, please say hi.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...