Vacuum Coffee Pot on Board?

[winschwab]

How bout the good old percolator? Don't perk too little or too long, and the coffee's not bad. I make drip coffee at the land home, but have been using the percolator daily on extended cruises.

[hellosailor]

The nature of a percolator is that it boils water to send it up to the coffee basket. IF that's designed properly, I suppose you could hit the grinds with water that is at the precisely right temperature. (There's some argument but I hear 203F often.) Problem being that if the water is too cool, it does't extract all the flavor and essences. If it is too hot, it extracts too much including acids.

Then the percolator takes the coffee that has dripped own, and REBOILS IT multiple times, driving off the volatiles as it continues to reboil that coffee.

I had a perc for many years. Loved the coffee from it. Then drip machines got invented, and I stumbled across the Columbian Coffee Institute and Juan Valdez...and their suggestions about how to make a really superior cup. (And why Mr. Coffee wouldn't do it.)

I'll use a perc, but it is like an Army surplus Jeep. You can do better these days, for most purposes.

[teipafe]

Hi Carlos and Maria, I don't know what a cowboy coffee is, but I'm Italian and I can tell you how I make my very best coffee when sailing. First of all, most of the quality depends on the coffee that you use: I go for a local Italian brand "Caffè Passalacqua" that I buy from Amazon or from an Italian online store https://www.youdreamitaly. Then I have two options for the coffee machine: 1) traditional Neapolitan flip coffee pot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neapol...lip_coffee_pot) with a small trick: instead of putting the coffee pot on the fire and then flip it (with risk of pouring hot water on your hands), I boil the water separately and then pour it in the coffee pot already flipped. This way it is no different than making a cup of tea! The coffee that you will have will be a true Italian/Neapolitan coffee that you can dilute with hot water if you want more the American style.
2) Second option is if you want to have a superb espresso (forget about Nespresso). Same advice for the coffee as before, but here I use another machine: Kamira coffee pot (https://www.espressokamira.net/kamira?lang=en). Watch the tutorial and you will see how easy it is to use and, I can guarantee, the espresso that you will have is top quality.
Try that and I'm sure you will never go back to any other way you make your coffee .

/Paolo

[hellosailor]

Paolo-
"I don't know what a cowboy coffee is,...I boil the water separately and then pour it in the coffee pot already flipped. This way it is no different than making a cup of tea!"
In honor of Sergio Leone's "Spaghetti western" movies, I think we can say you almost have made cowboy coffee. The only difference is that cowboys boiled the coffee in the same pot that it brewed in. Whether you actually boil it, or just get it to a hot simmer, is akin to arguing what temperature should be used in any coffee machine.
I will probably always remember my first encounter with an espresso machine. Two of us had moved a friend's boat and were staying on it that night. In the morning, all we could find on board was this little espresso machine, and neither of us had ever touched one. Of course the machine had no instructions or labels on it, the results were...not pretty.(G)

[emilecantin]

Dockhead, what didn't you like about the Aeropress, exactly? I have pretty much the opposite experience with mine: It brews coffee much faster, gives an amazing coffee that's still more "filter-like" than "espresso-like", and it's a breeze to clean. Reading you calling it a faff makes me wonder what went wrong.

Were you trying one of these newfangled inverted methods? There's endless ways to tinker with it, but the basic way (put grounds in, add water, wait ~30s then press) is pretty simple and works well.

Alternatively, I found the Melitta pour-over cones pretty good, and they're still very simple. Sold in Wal-Marts here in Canada.

[Jamberoo]

A few years ago we bought this Aussie made “The Little Guy” for making espresso on a gas stove on board. Nothing like sitting in the cockpit in a quiet Anchorage at 6.30 on a sunny Dawn morning, watching sea eagles soar overhead, and sipping down a beautiful flat white with decorative coffee art on top.

It took a little work to get good at it but I have to say it makes great coffee. So much so, we bought a second one after 12 months to use at home.

Follow the link to https://www.thelittleguy.info/products/the-little-guy

Don't know if you can get them in the States but I'm sure you could get one shipped.

Cheers from Downunder

[jkindredpdx]

When I make cowboy coffee in a coffee pot, I wait til it hits a boil, turn off the heat, stir the coffee, and pour just a bit of cold water in the center of the whirlpool. The cold water pulls the grounds to the bottom of the pot.

[Juggerknot]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Having lots of Brits and Russians on board, I have a whole dedicated tea locker, and we go through hogsheads of the stuff, especially on passage.


But I love my coffee (you can take the boy out of Yankeeland, but you can't take the Yankee out of the boy). I go through different phases with how to prepare it, and can't ever seem to get it just right.


Have a Nespresso on board and use it a lot, but I'm not crazy about espresso drinks, like espresso occasionally but not constantly, and consider the "Americano" -- i.e., watered-down espresso, to be an abortion.


Have a good double walled stainless French press -- good, not great, bit of a faff to clean.


Tried Aeropress -- big faff for mediocre (in my opinion) results.


Kind of went back to cowboy coffee after that -- just brew the grounds directly in the cup and strain with your teeth. I like the brew as much as anything else, and it requires no apparatus, nothing to clean except the cup.


Not having tried everything, however, I start to wonder about vacuum (syphon) pots, something I've never tried.


Bit fragile for on board usage, but perhaps worth it if the results are any good.


Anyone using?

chorreador, simple as dirt and brews an outstanding cup...

[RobPatterson]

What is a vacuum pot?
I use a manual burr grinder and press (GSI brand). They are made for outdoors and there is no issue of breakage or corrosion. Very little room required. Grinder is adjustable. Very good coffee. One Panama canal advisor was surprised to get such good coffee on a boat with a US flag.
Grinding beans for two mugs of coffee takes about a minute. Cleaning the press is just rinsing it.

[jkindredpdx]

Originally Posted by RobPatterson

What is a vacuum pot?
I use a manual burr grinder and press (GSI brand). They are made for outdoors and there is no issue of breakage or corrosion. Very little room required. Grinder is adjustable. Very good coffee. One Panama canal advisor was surprised to get such good coffee on a boat with a US flag.
Grinding beans for two mugs of coffee takes about a minute. Cleaning the press is just rinsing it.

+1 for the GSI hand grinder!

[Spot]

Originally Posted by Juggerknot

chorreador, simple as dirt and brews an outstanding cup...

Those chorreadors look like fun DIY projects.

[jkindredpdx]

Following the belief that every item on the boat should have at least two uses. I have a double wall SS French Press that also serves as an Ice Bucket.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by emilecantin

Dockhead, what didn't you like about the Aeropress, exactly? I have pretty much the opposite experience with mine: It brews coffee much faster, gives an amazing coffee that's still more "filter-like" than "espresso-like", and it's a breeze to clean. Reading you calling it a faff makes me wonder what went wrong.

Were you trying one of these newfangled inverted methods? There's endless ways to tinker with it, but the basic way (put grounds in, add water, wait ~30s then press) is pretty simple and works well.
.

Well, you're right about the cleaning, at least what concerns the grounds. They end up as a little pellet which you just toss overboard or in the trash. This is great, and is the best thing about the Aeropress.


But otherwise I just didn't think the coffee was so great, and the process I found fiddly. It probably didn't help my attitude towards it that I caused a coffee explosion the first time I used it, by plunging it too soon and/or too hard!

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

The nature of a percolator is that it boils water to send it up to the coffee basket. IF that's designed properly, I suppose you could hit the grinds with water that is at the precisely right temperature. (There's some argument but I hear 203F often.) Problem being that if the water is too cool, it does't extract all the flavor and essences. If it is too hot, it extracts too much including acids.

Then the percolator takes the coffee that has dripped own, and REBOILS IT multiple times, driving off the volatiles as it continues to reboil that coffee.
. . .

I think I mentioned, that my Father swore by percolators on his boat. That was when I temporarily became a tea drinker!


After the first time he tried coffee from a French press on my boat, he tossed the percolator in the trash, which is where, in my view, percolators belong. If you specially designed a device to burn coffee and get rid of absolutely everything tasty in it, you could hardly do better than the stove-top percolator.

[Martkimwat]

Originally Posted by 2020

nothing comes close to this.
can be heated on gas, fire, electric, anything. is light. Isn't fragile, doesn't rust, doesn't need cleaning all the time, uses coffee from anywhere and most importantly, produces a seriously good coffee. Ask ANY italian.

Got to agree with you on that, I sail single handed so have a small two cup version of one of these (Mocha Express) which works a treat, I use the same thing at home as it is so easy to use. I use to have a dedicated Coffee Machine but it was large and took about 5 minutes to clean every day, the Mocha Express takes about 20 seconds to clean and if it's good enough for the Italians its good enough for me.