Making Campfire Coffee

Use coarse ground coffee rather than fine.

Use 2 heaping tablespoons of coffee for each cup you want to make. Then add the water for the same amount of cups. You may want to add a little extra water if you find the coffee too strong the first time you try it.

Place the pot over heat and slowly bring it to the boil. Once it boils take it off the heat and let it steep for about 5 minutes. Add a bit of cold water which will cause the coffee grounds to settle and then serve the coffee.

Egg Coffee

Egg coffee is another slant on the idea of Campfire Coffee.

Bring 10 cups of water in a kettle to a boil. While you wait for the water to boil... In a bowl, combine 1\2 cup of coffee grounds, 1 egg and 1/4 cup water. Add this egg and coffee mixture to the 10 cups of water once it has boiled. Keep it on the boil for 2 or 3 minutes longer. Then remove it from the heat and add 1 cup of cold water. (This helps settle the coffee grounds to the bottom of the kettle) Serve the coffee hot.

There are going to be times in your life when you want to make coffee but you don't have a coffee maker. I've had this happen when I'm travelling or moving to a new home. A few times I've had to use my own ingenuity to brew coffee in my own unique way.

The simplest way to make coffee when you don't have a percolator, French press or other type of coffee making gadget is to design your own French press.

You will need a kettle or some method to boil your water. Then something to filter out the coffee grounds once you have left the ground coffee steeping in the boiled water for about 5 minutes. I've heard people use an assortment of ideas to strain/ filter out the coffee grounds.

One method was a (clean) sock. Another idea was to use a paper coffee filter - set it as a lining in the same strainer you use when making spaghetti noodles. You can also use a funnel, place the coffee filter inside and pour the water over the grounds slowly.

If you pour water over a coffee filter too quickly there is a good chance you will create a hole in the filter and spoil the effort of trying to filter the coffee grounds.

If the only thing you can find to make your coffee is the pot you boil the water in, you can still make coffee. Just use the pot lid to hold back the coffee grounds and pour the coffee into your cup, carefully. You may get a few grounds but they tend to sink to the bottom of your cup anyway.

Best of all is to be prepared with a cone filter made of wire mesh. You can use this over and over and just rinse out the ground each time.

Small Town Girl's Adventures as a Coffee Connoisseur (Keeping it Warm)

I like my French Press coffee maker. But, it has one flaw. It doesn't keep the coffee warm for very long.

This wouldn't really be a problem but I'm usually making coffee when I'm working on other things and want to sip while I work. Once I get into my work I often forget the time and when I do remember I made coffee, it's cold in the pot. If I'm lucky, or less distracted, it will still be lukewarm when I push the plunger down and actually drink it.

I began thinking about using a smaller coffee mug too. The big ones cool off fast. Plus, I could make less coffee. In theory I'd drink it sooner, before it's cold in the mug.

In this case, a coffee mug warmer would be a bonus too.

I do have a coffee sleeve which I keep in my purse for those times I get a latte when I'm out and the paper cup is too hot. It's really good when I remember (or bother) to use it.

Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I love my plug in percolator coffee maker because I can take it almost anywhere and I don't need anything extra (other than ground coffee beans, a mug and coffee cream) to have a cup of coffee. As long as I can plug in the electric percolator I can have coffee as I travel around or visit family.

My percolator pot is actually a Melitta JavaPerk pot. I found it at a second hand store, it had never even been used. Likely someone bought it but didn't understand how it worked or was nervous about the way it works, something like that I would guess.

A percolator pot is different from other pots. Each type of coffee maker brews the coffee in their own way. A drip pot runs heated water through the grounds to drip into a pot below. A French press (my other favourite coffee maker) steeps the boiled water in with the grounds and then the press comes down to push the grounds to the bottom and press the freshly brewed coffee to the top. The percolator heats the water and then uses force to shoot the water through the coffee grounds which are in a basket inside the machine. You can see the water shooting to the top of the machine because percolators usually have a see through tip on the lid. It's kind of fun to watch it while you wait for your coffee. The water that shoots up to the top becomes darker and darker as the coffee brews.

My percolator sits on a stand which has the electric pad (and plug) so they call it cordless. This means it does not need to sit on the stove to heat the water. This feature makes is great for travelling. I don't need to boil the water in a second cordless pot or find a stovetop to brew the coffee on. The percolator is the most all in one solution I have found yet. Plus, it's quick! I was surprised at how short the wait was once I set up the coffee maker and let it run.

If you travel and love your coffee, I suggest you pick up an electric percolator coffee maker. They are quite durable and you can keep all the parts inside the machine when you pack it up. Keep it clean though - old coffee never tastes good mixed with fresh brewed coffee.

Using the percolator coffee maker is easy. They generally work the same no matter which brand of pot you use. The main difference is whether your pot is an electric pot or needs to be on the stove to heat the water.

I have an unplanned collection of coffee makers. I even have a couple which are old enough to be considered vintage.

The pot I use most often is the French press. I've got three of them now. One is the well-known Bodum brand. The others are brands I don't remember any more, one was no-name. The one I take with me when I visit or travel is the smallest French press. It's great because I can make coffee as long as I can boil water. No need for filters or a stove element to percolate the coffee through the machine.

That brings me to the percolators in my collection. The one I like best is Corningware. It has those blue flowers on a white pot. I found it at a thrift store and miraculously it was not only clean but had all the parts too. I've only used it once, so far. It's a large pot and I don't need to make that amount of coffee on a standard coffee-drinking kind of day. I like to watch the percolator pots, especially those with the clear knob on top so you can see the coffee get thrown up to the top of the pot each time.

I also have an espresso percolating pot. I had a second one but it got broken up for parts when my Mother needed the rubber ring for one of her espresso pots. It seems to always be that rubber ring inside of them that wears out first. Actually, unless something pretty dire happens I doubt much could cause the failure of those metal espresso coffee makers.

I don't have a ceramic drip cone filter and pot. That would be a nice addition. But, it wouldn't be simple for taking on the road. You would have to have filters and worry about it getting chipped or cracked. I do have my old Melitta cone filter and drip pot. I even still have the lid for the pot. They are made in a different plastic from that which is around now. They feel really solid and it takes a lot of effort to find any bend in them. I prefer not to bend them. I hope the set will last until I'm a very old lady and beyond.

• Flickr: Coffee Maker Museum
• Flickr: Coffee A Damn Fine Product (Vintage)
• Silver Coffee Pot
• Etsy: Coffeetropolis
• Royal Coffee Maker: History of the Coffee Maker

If you ask yourself why you actually like coffee do you have a reason? Sometimes I think it isn't the coffee that I really like so much as the social side of coffee drinking and coffee making. Starting with the beans and how you grind them, then to the type of coffee maker or the process you use to make coffee and then ending with the classic: cream, milk, sugar, sweetener...?  Even the way you serve the coffee, do you prefer a mug or do you use something fancier like a teacup?

Where do you drink your coffee? Typically, I drink my coffee alone in a crowd of people who don't know me. I like it that way. Sometimes I make coffee at home when I work in front of the computer. I also feel alone and yet in a crowd of people there too. Coffee is a part of going out. How many times are you out somewhere and end up going out for a coffee? You could just come home and make it yourself. But, there is something kind of special about being out for coffee. Something kind of grown up, cosmopolitan, elegant and sophisticated about sitting with a coffee in a cafe or even over lunch.

I have a small collection of coffee makers. The process of making coffee is as interesting and sometimes elegant too. My favourite is the Bodum French Press, for practical reasons. With the press I don't need coffee filters, just the beans themselves, to make a cup of coffee. I can take the press with me and make coffee any where that I can boil water. It is very handy when I go babysitting for the weekend at my sister's house.  My French Press pot is a bit small though. Fine for a regular sized mug. But, when I'm at home working on the computer I like a big, deep mug of coffee. A mug so huge as to appear bottomless, as close to it as any mug could ever be. So, for making coffee at those times, I use a portable cone filter which I hold over the mug, pouring the boiling water over the beans. I doubt this makes full use of the beans. They have less brewing time. So it seems a bit of a shame to make coffee this way. But, it does work.

I have an old percolator (Corning) which I picked up at the thrift store. It must have been used very seldom as it looks pristine. I have only used it a few times in th years I have had the pot. It is fun to hear the coffee brew in the percolator. You get more coffee smell this way too I have noticed. My other pot is a cone filter too but it comes with it's own pot, lid and scoop. The pot itself is glass but the rest of it is all my favourite shade of red. A Melitta pot which I bought when I was 16 and had my first apartment, living away from my family.

Flickr: Coffee Maker Museum

Flickr: The Coffee Machine Collector

Ning: The Vintage Coffee Maker

Jitterbuzz: Coffee Paraphernalia

Vintage Coffee Grinders

Talk About Coffee

A to Z Coffee Makers -- Reviews.

Coffee Sage -- Blog about coffee, beans and news.

Transcend Coffee -- Committed to fresh roasted beans.

Jim Seven -- James Hoffman's coffee blog.

Brewed Coffee -- For caffeine addicts only.

On Coffee Makers

Royal Coffee Maker -- When you want something really deluxe!