Camp Coffee

There’s been talk of coffee being able to some day fuel our vehicles; can you imagine? Fresh grounds, used grounds, any kind of grounds really. But for now, Camp Coffee - the best way to fuel ourselves for the float.

Jacob and I drink coffee on the reg. Actually, side note - when Jacob studied abroad in Italy, he lived above a Cafe that served cheap Espressos. After unintentionally building his caffeine tolerance, he was downing eight Espresso shots each day! Mind = Blown. Once he came back to the States, Jacob couldn’t figure out why he was having migraines - his doctor brought it to his attention that going from eight Espresso shots to a single cup of Joe each day might be the root cause. Jacob ultimately had to wean himself off the coffee until his body had time to react. And yes I am still LOLing.

If you can’t function without coffee, then you’ve got to learn how to make this Camp Coffee before your next float. Yea, we know you can drive to the local gas station and drink their watered-down coffee, but we highly suggest you at least hear us out on this one. We’ve made various versions of Camp Coffee, and it took a few tries for us to perfect it. Let me tell you, the first time I thought I was drinking mud. The second time was a little better; not as mud-ish but also not even a dark brown color.

The best Camp Coffee we’ve made thus far was brewed with a French Press. I’ve never used a French Press before, but what we were doing before wasn’t working. So we buckled down and bought a French Press; matter of fact, I don’t even recall there being an instructions page when we bought it. We had to call in backup. Jacob’s buddy showed him how to perfect the French Press method - so here we go.

I should note that before we leave for each trip, we measure out exactly how many cups of coffee beans we will need and then pre-grind the beans, separating and putting each day’s worth into small food containers. This makes everything much simpler while at camp.

Alright first we’ll need boiling water. We use an old coffee maker to boil water on float trips; it works great for us (at least, for the boiling water part). You can use whatever method you want to boil the water, including putting a pot of water on top of the fire.

Next we add our pre-measured and pre-ground coffee beans into the French Press. Pour the boiling water into the French Press, and make sure to coat each coffee ground. Then put the lid on top - but do not press the plunger down yet.

*DO NOT SKIP THIS CRUCIAL STEP* - Let brew for roughly 5 minutes.

Once the beans and boiling water have brewed for about 5 minutes, slowly (and i mean ssssslllllllloooooowwwwwllllllly) press down on the plunger to separate out the coffee from the beans.

Pour freshly brewed coffee into your mug and enjoy! Try Jacob's tips for an added bonus:

- Add creamer/milk before you pour your coffee so you don’t have to stir your drink

- Add a splash of whisky and creamer to your coffee to whip up an irish cream