Forget the VIA, nescafe, other instants, fancy presses or screen inserts, or complicated drip contraptions.

My old standby has been nescafe instant espresso for years, having tried various other methods/products. Down to my last 4 singles sticks, I go to order more and now it seems it's unavailable in the USA. There are some other nescafe single serving sticks, but they are not nearly as good (to my taste buds) as the instant espresso.

So I start experimenting with cowboy coffee, which I remember doing a long time ago. Keeping in mind that I'm somewhat of a coffee snob - I roast my own coffee and have an espresso maker at home - my drink of choice is straight espresso or an Americano (2 oz espresso + 4 oz hot water). Don't really like drip. So I start experimenting with cowboy coffee and the results with a little practice are excellent! In fact, I'd go so far to say that I can get a better cup of coffee than an Americano out of my espresso machine. The great part is how easy it is to make: Just a small kettle or pot, water, and coffee grounds. No extra equipment required. I think I've reached camping coffee nirvana.

Oh, and the coffee tastes much better drunk out of a Kuksa.

Any suggestions on where to obtain an "real" Kuksa? I understand they must be made out of birch burl but that's about all I know...

Ebay. Nordicaheat ebay store only takes 1 week from Finland to arrive in the USA. Or Cloudberry Market or Kellam Knives in the USA.

Edited by dag4643 on 07/14/2010 21:43:40 MDT.

Awesome! Thank you.

Dylan,

Word is that a "real" kuksa must be made by you, or given as a gift from a good friend. Just trying to keep it real for you, bud. hehe.

Edited by Steamboat_Willie on 07/15/2010 00:28:28 MDT.

Dylan,
If you decide to purchase one, just have the seller put it in a gift box :)

Edited by dag4643 on 07/15/2010 09:54:10 MDT.

VIA!

Ok, so I'll bite. How do you do it Daniel? How do you make the perfect cup of cowboy coffee?

I actually enjoy instant, it reminds me of drinking roadside instant nescafe with goats milk and raw cane sugar driving down a dark tijuana road with my dad. good times, thanks dad.

I've always done cowboy coffee just fine. The technique I use:

Two scoops of coffee in a small pill ziplock is enough for my morning brew.

Fill water, add grounds.
Bring to a boil...it will foam and and boil over.
Just before it boils over, add a shot of cold water.
Bring to a boil again, adding another shot of cold water at the very end.
Then I give it a centrifugal swish, let it sit for a second, and drink.

The cold water shots seem pretty imperative for making the grounds drop. I've noticed that without the cold water they stay in suspension.

Cheers.

and i can use any coffee-maker type grounds for this?

what about cold brewed coffee? I've been trying this out and I'm very pleased with the results so far. I don't know how possible it would be to dry your own cold brewed coffee to make it "instant", but I would like to try brewing some grounds as I walk for the first day, and just using the cold brewed mix as I need it. A fine mesh tea strainer works fine for this.

I've experimented with various methods and I've found they all give similar results.

Keep in mind I tend to like real strong coffee. I just use the espresso grind my grinder is set too. A courser grind would probably be more typical, but I've made Turkish coffee before, which is an extremely fine grind, and Turkish is made similarily to cowboy coffee, so I use an espresso grind, which is somewhere in between.

I boil the water, and once boiling, I remove the pot from the stove, add my coffee (I don't measure, you'll have to experiment to see how strong you like it), and stir it a bit. I then set the pot on the stove till it boils again, which should not take long. I usually just let it boil a few seconds more and remove it from the heat. Then I just let the pot sit for a few minutes to let the grounds settle.

You then want to pour it slowly into your cup. You should not really get many grounds in the cup, most should have remained in the pot. Just make sure than you don't "drink to the last drop" and you will be fine. I find it best to brew a bit more than I will drink, so the grounds stay at the bottom.

This page shows essentially how I do it:

http://www.paulig.ee/about_coffee_preparing_coffee_coffee_pot

Dan

Edited by dag4643 on 07/20/2010 13:10:02 MDT.

If you want the "True" cowboy coffee you want to try some Arbuckles' - Ariosa Coffee. The coffee that won the West. USA - West that is.


Link

Edited by bfornshell on 07/20/2010 16:25:35 MDT.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/cowboy_coffee.html