Making Great Travel Coffee

I’m guessing that you love great coffee. That’s fine at home, but what about when you travel? I have some good news for you. When you travel, you don’t have to give up your love for great coffee. All you need are a few “travel-tools”.  Step-By-Step instructions at bottom.

whole bean coffeeTravel Coffee Pain

In January, we took our honeymoon in Costa Rica. My airline carry-on case included a big three pound electric coffee grinder, 1 pound large French Press, and 2 pounds of fresh whole bean coffee. Lugging all that through the airport was a pain. Then at the hotel in the morning we waited an hour to get hot water, but we did have a great cup of coffee.

Travel Coffee

Coffee Brewer

Then we traveled to Hawaii. This time we replaced the French Press with an AeroPress, thus reducing our travel coffee brewing method by half the weight and ¼ the space. Surprisingly, the AeroPress made better coffee than any brewing method we’d ever experienced.

coffee grinderCoffee Grinder

A few months later we traveled to Southern California for a family wedding. This time, we brought a JavaPresse Manual Coffee Grinder. Compared to the electric coffee grinder, the JavaPresse cut our luggage weight by almost 3 pounds with ¼ the space. Surprisingly, the hand grinder was very easy to use and produced a very consistent grind for our travel coffee.

hot coffee

Hot Water

Lastly, we couldn’t rely on getting timely hot water. So, we purchased a Lewis N. Clark Portable Travel Coffee  Heater. I like my coffee HOT and man does this do the trick and at three ounces and very compact, this is the way to go.  One last thing. Unless, you’re source of water is a mountain stream, I suggest always using filtered or bottled water. You can really taste the difference.

Happy Coffee DrinkerSo, the proof is in the pudding. The bottom line is that our travel coffee, using our travel coffee equipment tastes no different than our coffee at home. As for convenience, we can pack our travel coffee making equipment into the space of a large coffee mug; small, light, and convenient.

You can find all of these Travel Coffee equipment on our Coffee Brewing Equipment page.

Below are two travel brewing methods.

Both of these methods produce extremely smooth coffee.  If you really want to go crazy and make the most amazing cup of coffee of your life, use the cold-brew method, but instead of pouring off the coffee just before drinking, run it first through the AeroPress.  It may be cold coffee, but it’s smoooooooooth!!!!

Goals

  1. Minimize packing size and weight (4”x4”x8” and 1 pound)
  2. KISS (2 minutes)
  3. End up with coffee as good as at home

Hot Coffee Method

Equipment

  • Fresh Whole Bean Coffee
  • Bottled Water
  • AeroPress Brewer
  • JavaPresse Grinder
  • Water Heater
  • Large Insulated Coffee Mug

Process

  • Put some bottled water in your coffee mug with the heater inside, then plug the heater into a power outlet.
  • While the water is heating, put some beans into the grinder. Set the grinder on medium fine and start grinding.
  • Put a filter and ground coffee into your AeroPress
  • Put your AeroPress over a coffee mug
  • Pour your hot water into the AeroPress and push down the plunger
  • Enjoy

Cold Brew

Equipment

  • Fresh Whole Bean Coffee
  • Bottled Water
  • Quart Mason Jar
  • JavaPresse Grinder

Process

  • Put a ½ pound of fresh whole bean coffee into a ziplock bag and put the bag into your quart Mason jar
  • When you get to your hotel, pull the ziplock bag of beans out of the jar
  • Put some beans into the grinder, set the grind to very course
  • Put the grounds into the Mason jar
  • Put some bottled water in your Mason jar
  • Shake the Mason jar
  • Let the jar sit overnight
  • In the morning slowly pour off the top 2/3 of the coffee, leaving the grounds behind
  • Enjoy

Travel light, travel safe, and enjoy good coffee.

Lake City Coffee

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