Get your camp on, a no nonsense guide to brewing on the campsite.
The sun has started peaking through the clouds again and it’s time to pull out the camp gear, air out the tent and get ready to head down south. We’re going to talk you through the best way to make coffee on the campsite, whether you’re brewing for yourself, or the whole crew.
Keep it simple stupid
When it comes to making coffee we love to go OTT, but when we are on the campsite, away from our electric grinders and gooseneck kettles, we’re forced to keep it simple. Get yourself a sturdy brewer that fulfills your needs. There are a lot of brewers out there these days that are great to take on the go.
If you’re an espresso or milk coffee drinker and want a brewer that makes an espresso-like coffee, that you can drink straight or add milk to; brewing devices to check out are the WACACO Minipresso or the Trinity Zero. Both of these coffee makers use a simple, button push pumping system to build pressure to create strong, short, shot of coffee.
If you like it strong and black (perfect for people who add a splash of milk) then your best bet is the Delter Press. It has a sturdy plastic build that is both beautiful and indestructable, it’s small enough to fit into even the most crowded backpack, and you don’t need any additional fancy equipment to get fantastic coffee out of it. Another good option is the Clever dripper, this guy is about as simple as it gets, and BONUS, it's big enough to brew two cups of coffee at once. It is fully plastic as well, so unbreakable (I had one of these rolling around the boot of my car for years and it’s still going strong) and it’ll give you a great cup of filter style coffee, with no fuss.
Pre Grind Your Coffee, or be Prepared for a Workout.
For years I would painstakingly hand grind my coffee, and don’t get me wrong, hand grinding is great. But what is not great is when the people you’re camping with see you making coffee and say ‘oh, you’re making coffee! Can I have one too?’ Then, before you know it, you're trying to hand grind your way through a never ending pile of coffee. Yes, fresh is always best, but if you're going away on weekend trips bringing pre-ground coffee is not going to be too much of a compromise. Often if you’re buying beans from a cafe they can grind your coffee to order, so you know it’s as fresh as it can be.
If you’re unwilling to compromise or you’re going on a tour and need something to grind on the go, the Hario smart G electric hand grinder is a good option. It is a bit of a hybrid between a hand and electric grinder and can be used either way, but what’s great about it is that the electric grinder runs off a battery that is USB rechargeable, so you can easily charge it in the car if you need. If you’re feeling like you want to run it analogue, then the Rhinowares Compact Hand Grinder is a great option, it is as the name suggests, compact and it’ll grind you some great coffee. Then if ever you get sick of hand grinding you can always attach your hand drill to the top of it for a bit of extra power.
Glamping Solutions
There are people that like the finer things in life, camping in style with all the creature comforts that they can pile into their caravans. Some things, like a good flat white, are worth a bit of extra hassle. If that means carting your pod machine and milk frother to the campsite, then so be it. But don’t worry, we’ve still gotcha covered, we’ve packed the awesome coffee you’ve come to expect from us into some teeny tiny coffee pods (fully compostable of course) so you can have
your Grouch coffee at the push of a button.
Campsite Flex
The campsite is as good a place as any to show off your skills and get a little flex in on your fellow campers. We’ve just got a bunch of stunningly designed coffee gear from MiiR. So if you want to have people walking past your campsite being like “wow, what’s going on over there?!” then this will be your jam. Their Pourigami Dripper slides, flat, out of a beautiful pouch and is assembled by slotting the 3 pieces of matt black powder coated metal together to create a triangular pour over dripper. In addition to this they have a matching camp-mug that is similarly powder coated stainless steel and fully insulated to keep your brew as hot as possible. Look, it’s all pretty fancy okay, and I’m totally here for it.
If you’d like to know more about any of the equipment, jump onto our online shop or come into our concept store/cafe and have a chat to one of our grouchy baristas for more info. We also have enough coffee to keep you stocked for a 6 month tour around Australia (although maybe not a great idea at the moment) so get stuck in.
