Like most people, I’m addicted to coffee. I just love a strong coffee with a dash of milk in the morning, then again a short time later, then again, …
The issue for me is – how to have a great coffee when I’m not near a cafe. Or possibly, how do I trade off coffee quality against weight, ease of packing into my bags.
I’ve met people carrying an Aeropress, a classic Bialetti / Moka Pot or a drip filter that sits over a mug. I tried coffee bags and instant but soon realised that my standards had dropped so far that I may as well have been drinking herbal tea at breakfast time.
The issue for cycletourers and bikepackers is how much coffee paraphernalia to carry ? As with most equipment, it’s a tradeoff between convenience and weight / packability.
I’d been searching for an answer for a few years and in early 2023, I found my solution on YouTube. I forget who it was, but it’s brilliant and I use it most days, whether camping or staying in a hotel, hostel or BnB.
All I need is hot water.
The ‘equipment’ consists of a piece of cheesecloth which acts as a filter. That was all I needed to get. You also need a mug with a lid that has an opening – most Keep Cups have this. I use my old Keep Cup from a former employer and it’s still going strong.
The process is simple. Spoon in enough ground coffee for your taste, add water, stir, place the cheesecloth over the cup, put on the lid and let it sit for as long as you like. You can add milk or anything you like (please, no sugar), and sip away.
If you’re in a hotel or hostel, you can do the same and pour it into a mug if you prefer.
The disadvantage, depending on the grind, is that the last part of liquid is hard to extract because there’s no compression. The massive advantage is that a piece of cheesecloth weighs almost nothing, packs down to nothing and delivers filter coffee of decent quality.
The other issue is milk. It’s rarely worth buying milk because I only use a dash. I used to use powdered milk but you can only get that in 500g packets. That’s a few month’s supply for me. I’ve been using coffee whitener for the last year. In Albania though, they had powdered milk in smaller 300gm bags. In France, coffee whitener is impossible to find. The french and their standards …
Coffee Whitener is available in smaller amounts so it packs away easily. Unfortunately, it’s not available in every supermarket, but I’ve managed to get it whenever I’ve been running out (except in France). And, if you don’t look at the ingredients on the packet, it tastes ok and works just fine.
