# Camp coffee



## Son_of_Perdition (May 29, 2017)

In my quest to minimize my camping equipment, I have used methods I remember from my youth camping with my father & friends.  I was introduced to 'hobo' meals as a boy scout, our leader was a highly decorated Marine hero.  He somehow ended up as our Scout Master.  We were his proving ground. 'boy' scouts should learn survival skills, we toed the mark every camping trip.  As mentioned my father rode fence for the Utah Brownings.  He passed many camp skills onto me & my brother.   


 My memories conjure up sitting around the camp fire with a pot of water boiling in a pot.  He would take a hand full of fresh coffee grounds, dump them in the water, watch it until it had a froth (head) foaming on top.  Sheepherders or cowboy coffee he called it.  I tried it once & only once, the cold water he sprinkled on top didn't settle all the grounds so the coffee was somewhat chewy.  I know that filtering it through a 'tea' filter will remove most of the grounds, but as a youth the taste was a little (LO!) strong for me.  His coffee was my wife's first taste, so she never tried drinking coffee until just a few years ago.


 Finally getting to my question, does anyone know what the proper ratio of grounds to water is?  I've searched the web but can't find any reference to it.  I have a pot & grill, but want to know what is the common ratio & cooking time for a successful pot of coffee.


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## Camper6 (May 29, 2017)

Well now in my search for the perfect cup of coffee I have found out that it depends on the coffee and not only the coffee but the grind of the coffee.

And it depends also on the coffee maker you have.  They are all different because some have hotter water coming through than others.

Now.  I went to a friends cottage.  They had a coffee maker, an aluminum percolator, the type that boils the coffee and it comes back through the filter.  I thought the coffee was the greatest I ever tasted.  So looked all over for one of those coffee percolators.  I finally found one in camping supplies section.  I bought it and could never get a good cup of coffee out of it.  So I sold it.

Right now I have a Sunbeam drip type through a filter.  The coffee is decent but that's about all.

The ratio has to come from experimenting with the right amount of coffee for the amount of water.

There is no one set formula.  Just recommendations.  I was at my sister's house and she gave me a cup of coffee which I thought was excellent.  I asked her what the brand was.  "Instant" was the reply.  So there you go. 

My friend bought one of those new single cup coffee makers with the pods.  The coffee is awful in my opinion.  Too weak and no way of making it stronger.

Start out with two tablespoons of coffee to one cup of water and carry on from there.


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## Son_of_Perdition (May 29, 2017)

Camper6 said:


> Well now in my search for the perfect cup of coffee I have found out that it depends on the coffee and not only the coffee but the grind of the coffee.
> 
> And it depends also on the coffee maker you have.  They are all different because some have hotter water coming through than others.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the input.


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## Aunt Bea (May 29, 2017)

We always use 2 tablespoons of ground coffee for each cup of coffee and two more tablespoons of coffee for the pot.

I remember camp coffee made by boiling a handful of ground coffee in a pot of boiling water and then adding a splash of cold water or egg shells to help settle the grounds.

These days if I was camping I would make a few giant _tea bags _with a square of cloth, the pre-measured amount of coffee needed for my pot,  tied up with a string.  Put them in a plastic bag and stash them in the pot.  I would toss a pouch of coffee into the pot of cold water and bring it to a boil and then let it simmer/steep for about five minutes before serving.

Good luck!


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## Son_of_Perdition (May 29, 2017)

Aunt Bea said:


> We always use 2 tablespoons of ground coffee for each cup of coffee and two more tablespoons of coffee for the pot.
> 
> I remember camp coffee made by boiling a handful of ground coffee in a pot of boiling water and then adding a splash of cold water or egg shells to help settle the grounds.
> 
> ...


The prepared tea bags are a good idea but I'm trying to avoid anything that I have to spend more time preparing, I'm pretty darn lazy, one extra step.  Besides when I stop at a coffee kiosk I always get the chocolate (dark) coated roasted coffee beans & power them down with my coffee.  Same difference but without the chocolate.


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## Camper6 (May 30, 2017)

Son_of_Perdition said:


> The prepared tea bags are a good idea but I'm trying to avoid anything that I have to spend more time preparing, I'm pretty darn lazy, one extra step.  Besides when I stop at a coffee kiosk I always get the chocolate (dark) coated roasted coffee beans & power them down with my coffee.  Same difference but without the chocolate.




How about out those stainless steel round balls with a chain on it. Also how about a French press. The coffee spot I used to frequent roasted their own coffee in a huge machine and used French presses exclusively. Great coffee. And they served beaver tail pastries.


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## Son_of_Perdition (May 30, 2017)

*EUREKA!*  Just this morning I figured out why my coffee was weak out of my 'French Press'.  DUH!  I had bought one that was made completely out of stainless steel. * Metal conducts heat & cold very rapidly! * When I would pour my boiling water into the container of grounds to let it steep for the required 5 minutes the cool mountain air cooled the carafe down FAST, so no matter how long I let it steep I only was getting about a minute to a minute & half of processing, the last 3 minutes I was trying to use cool water.  New approach or should I say old approach, buy myself an enamelware 12 Cup percolator!   Now that's the Easy Peasy solution.  Remove the insides, keep the pot on the grill to keep the coffee hot.  Easy cleanup.  

I ALWAYS OVER THINK THINGS - 'Don't raise the bridge, lower the river' - great book.


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## Camper6 (May 30, 2017)

Alternately you could heat the French Press before putting the coffee in.

That's what people do with their tea cups before pouring a cup of tea in it.


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## Son_of_Perdition (May 31, 2017)

How about this for my final post on this subject. Step 1, Boil my water on the Coleman stove. Step 2, when starting to boil dump in the correct ratio of coffee grounds. Step 3, lower heat on stove, let steep for 5 minutes. Step 4, pour one cupful through the small tea strainer - drink. Repeat step 4 until water pot is empty. Step 5, rinse water pot & strainer. Use same cup all day, then toss the cup in the firepit, toss the spoon in the garbage.


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## Camper6 (Jun 1, 2017)

Sounds good but too much trouble. Mr Coffee to the rescue.


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## Camper6 (Jun 1, 2017)

I bought two packages of Hawaiian coffee today.

The recommendations on the package.

2 tablespoons for every 6 ounces of fresh water.  Adjust to suit your preferred taste.

That's a bit stronger than the normal recommendations. I love strong coffee.  Gives me a 'jump start' in the morning.


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## Meanderer (Jun 10, 2017)

Maybe you need some cowboy coffee?


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## Camper6 (Jun 15, 2017)

I think we can all agree. For some reason coffee tastes better outdoors around a camp fire than indoors around an electric stove.

Why that is I have no idea. But it just does.


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## Son_of_Perdition (Jun 26, 2017)

Day before yesterday I had relented & purchased a 10.5" 'Lodge' skillet.  Yesterday as a trial run, I approached my bar-b-que grill.  It has a side burner.  As a trial test & to see what I was going to experience while cooking in a one meal vessel, I choose a pork chop, sweet potato & canned beans, along with a cup of my 'cowboy' coffee.  I heated the cast iron skillet first, adding a little Virgin Olive oil to start, placed the pork chop in.  After about 3 minutes on both sides, I added a cross-sliced small sweet potato. I left the washed skin on, I figured if I can eat the skin of a kiwi I can about take anything.  

The multitude of nutrition experts claimed that the skins are very nutritious to eat, but helps to wash off the dirt.  I've always ate the skins of a baked potato so 'What the hey' skins remained.  I kept flipping them along with my chop, browning both sides, then I added 1/2 C beans to the whole presentation.  Heated those for about 1 minute then spooned or forked all onto a large paper plate.  My coffee was ready, added a little real butter to the sweet potatoes & a little shredded cheese to melt on the beans.  Taking my only metal utensil in hand (steak knife) I proceeded to consume my concoction.  Didn't have a roaring camp fire, just had to visualize that!

I'm sure you probably won't see the same on any food channel but it was filling, tasty & met my expectations.  By the time my meal was completed the pan had cooled enough to clean, a few waded up papers towels, swish, rub & set aside for the next meal.  The paper plate, plastic spoon & fork went in the garbage can, I have started to use my 20 oz ceramic coffee cup rather than a paper cup.  It just makes me feel more manly & it's harder to tip over (which happened on my latest camping trip).  Rinse the cup along with my coffee pot & I'm done.  Pan, cup. knife & spatula (all cleaned with paper towels) stored, no mess, no wash & no problem.  

Figuring that having all the meats, frozen when loaded into my ice chest, they would be edible for at least 3 days hence.  Canned chicken for 9 meals straight convinced me otherwise.  I'm changeable!  I plan to give ham & eggs my next trial run.  Will start out trying to cook the eggs over easy will probably end up scrambled anyway, I have trouble turning a fried egg over at home, besides scrambled is more healthy, right?  An omelet is probably out of the question.


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## jujube (Jun 26, 2017)

Didn't they used to put egg shells in the coffee pot in the old days?  Seems like I heard that somewhere about that making the coffee less bitter.


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## Camper6 (Jun 26, 2017)

Son_of_Perdition said:


> Day before yesterday I had relented & purchased a 10.5" 'Lodge' skillet.  Yesterday as a trial run, I approached my bar-b-que grill.  It has a side burner.  As a trial test & to see what I was going to experience while cooking in a one meal vessel, I choose a pork chop, sweet potato & canned beans, along with a cup of my 'cowboy' coffee.  I heated the cast iron skillet first, adding a little Virgin Olive oil to start, placed the pork chop in.  After about 3 minutes on both sides, I added a cross-sliced small sweet potato. I left the washed skin on, I figured if I can eat the skin of a kiwi I can about take anything.
> 
> The multitude of nutrition experts claimed that the skins are very nutritious to eat, but helps to wash off the dirt.  I've always ate the skins of a baked potato so 'What the hey' skins remained.  I kept flipping them along with my chop, browning both sides, then I added 1/2 C beans to the whole presentation.  Heated those for about 1 minute then spooned or forked all onto a large paper plate.  My coffee was ready, added a little real butter to the sweet potatoes & a little shredded cheese to melt on the beans.  Taking my only metal utensil in hand (steak knife) I proceeded to consume my concoction.  Didn't have a roaring camp fire, just had to visualize that!
> 
> ...



I like my eggs sunny side up because I can't flip them either.  A chef friend of mine told me how to do it.  A silicon ring for the egg.  Butter in the pan.  Low heat.  Add a bit of water to the pan to create steam.  Cover the egg with a lid and just keep checking till it's perfect.


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## Son_of_Perdition (Jun 26, 2017)

jujube said:


> Didn't they used to put egg shells in the coffee pot in the old days?  Seems like I heard that somewhere about that making the coffee less bitter.


Heard of the egg shells, used salt once.  Seemed counter productive.  Googling the egg shells there seems to be a bunch of different opinions, comes from Swedish/Norwegian,,,etc.  Also different recipes, some almost like a poached egg process my mother used.  I guess I could try it but I'm already filtering out 1/4 C of grounds.  Couldn't hurt, always looking for something different to do with the coffee.
*
Camper6*, thanks will give it a try on the 11th (my next trip).  I'll keep you posted.


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