How do you make coffee?

Curious how the group makes its morning Joe on the hook? I installed an inverter for the purpose of being able to make coffee easily, and while it does do it, it really drags down the batteries by registering an 80A drag and pulls them down to 11, or so, volts during the process. Sure, I could boil water on the Magma grill and use the coffee press, but that's not easy or quick. So the question stands on its own merit. What is your best way to make coffee at anchor?

Tom-

I don't know about "best way" but I first grind the beans with an electric coffee mill (using the inverter), heat water in a kettle on the propane stove and use a Melita filter/cone into a thermos carafe. My morning ritual.

Same as at the house. Heat water on a propane stove and pour it over ground coffee through a paper filter in a porcelain filter cone. Grinding beans in the morning isn't worth the level of effort before the first cup of coffee, IMO.

Ted

GonzoF1 said:

What is your best way to make coffee at anchor?

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If you don't want to wait for the Starbucks barge to come along, try one of these:

Finally! A Portable Propane-Powered Coffee Maker | Propane.pro

Brunton Brewfire Dual-Fuel Coffee Maker H001 - $78.99

I have one of those French Press coffee makers. I actually just use the pot without the press. Boil water in it, then put the hot water into a pump operated thermal carafe. It keeps the hot water hot all day long. I then use the Starbucks instant coffee, which I have developed a taste for. If I know that I will be drinking a lot of coffee, I can handle the taste of the Nescafe 'Classico' instant packets as well, which are about .10/piece versus a buck.

We have a propane stove so we use a small perculator, then put what's left after the first 2 cups into a butler. The coffee stays hot for a couple of hours.

Since my wife doesn't drink coffee, I use a single cup electric coffee maker. Put the coffee and water in, press the button, and coffee comes out into the cup.

To address Tom's issue, I too use an inverter and a battery bank to supply my electric needs. The difference may be that I have a bank of four group 31 AGM batteries totalling about 400 AH and an 1800 watt inverter, wired as per the instructions with large, short cables. I use the batteries and inverter to operate my micrwave oven as well (but not at the same time as I've had to explain to my wife).

A coffee maker or microwave oven will draw a lot of power from the battery bank, but for a short time, usually just a couple minutes. It's important to have enough battery power and proper wiring.

RickB said:

If you don't want to wait for the Starbucks barge to come along, try one of these:

Finally! A Portable Propane-Powered Coffee Maker | Propane.pro

Brunton Brewfire Dual-Fuel Coffee Maker H001 - $78.99

Click to expand...

Both of those appliances bring up the safety issue of propane on board a boat. If one has the discipline to store the appliance and cylinders outside the boat where any gas leakage will be blown away, they would be fine. Stored in the galley or cabin, they could be an issue.

Bess does not have a good (any) sense of smell, so she will not consider propane on our boat. End of discussion. ;-)

Same as Ron, rwidman. We have a keurig and run it off the inverter. Only Matt drinks coffee and one or two cups isn't too much of an energy draw.

I'm sitting here drinking coffee from my "Handpresso" portable, manual espresso maker. I heated the water on an induction cooktop, but if I want to "run silent" early in the morning, I heat water on the one burner butane stove (cartridges stored on deck).

dvd

My wife does not drink coffee so I heat up a mug of water/milk/creamer in the micro wave and added instant coffee. A whole lot of favored creamer, so I can not taste the coffee. Actually anything hot will get the digestive track going/moving.

We have not lit the stove in 2+ years, and have never used the oven.

Phil Fill said:

My wife does not drink coffee so I heat up a mug of water/milk/creamer in the micro wave and added instant coffee. A whole lot of favored creamer, so I can not taste the coffee. Actually anything hot will get the digestive track going/moving.

We have not lit the stove in 2+ years, and have never used the oven.

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You're missing out on the Oven. We have a pizza stone that the previous owner left us, it works great! Especially in the NW where the heat from the oven helps warm up the cabin. We also make baked potatoes and sometimes buy a Safeway frozen Lasagna and throw that in the oven. As far as the stove, not only do I use it for coffee, we make canned chili when we want something easy. We also use it to cook/steam our crab that we catch in the summer. We love it!

I never thought about a propane coffee pot. COOL! Do they run on the same cylinders the Magma stove runs on?

I keep the Bristol going all the time on the boat.
The coffee pots is always full of water and sets on the cool side of the stove.
In the morning I just add the coffee basket and move it over to the hot side. In about 15 min she starts to perk.
On the boat is the only place I drink Perked coffee.
The difference between Perked and Drip shall forever more remind me of boat coffee.

I'm not that particular how it is made. Drip, perked, press or whatever as long as it starts with good coffee. Lou only drinks one cup in the mornings. So, I only have to make 10-12 cups (should have been a Navy Chief).

Going to the mountain cabin Saturday for a few days. Fall of the year with fire in the fireplace, bacon frying, and coffee made in an old fashioned percolator----not much better than that.

Phil Fill said:

.............. We have not lit the stove in 2+ years, and have never used the oven.

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I think we've had this discussion in the past.

We use our stove (burners and oven) just as it's used at home - all the time. We get hungry after a while and cooked food just tastes so much better than raw.

RickB said:

If you don't want to wait for the Starbucks barge to come along, try one of these:

Finally! A Portable Propane-Powered Coffee Maker | Propane.pro

Brunton Brewfire Dual-Fuel Coffee Maker H001 - $78.99

Click to expand...

Wow, who knew? I like everything about it except the 18 minutes it takes to make a pot. We normally just boil water in a tea pot on the propane stove and use a Melita cone filter, but when we have charter guests aboard we have an electric coffee maker that makes an entire pot in about 5 minutes with the first cup in a minute or so. It runs off the inverter. Sure it pulls a lot of amps, but since it's so quick the total amp hours used are low. With it set up the night before, the first one up just pushes the button, no muss, no fuss, no noise and no inexperienced guests trying to light the stove............Arctic Traveller

When the old Mr. Coffee maker quit, I saved the pot and reuseable filter. I searched through my collections and found a PVC fitting with one end that would sit in the pot, and the reuesable filter sits in the other end. Just add coffee in the filter and some heated water from the kettle on the propane stove.
The wife absolutely loves this little improv.

I usually make 6-8 cups at a time while on generator or shore power, what I don't drink at once I zap one cup at a time over over the next day or so as needed, in the microwave which works fine on the inverter.
I would like to find a "microwave proof" french press the ones I have at home have lots of metal parts which I am told cause problems in a microwave.
Steve W

On the hook we boil a pot of water in a tea kettle on the propane stove, and use a french press. Pour the first two cups for my wife and I, and the rest goes in a good old fashioned plaid thermos which stays hot for hours. We usually grind a couple days of coffee at a time so we don't need to grind every single morning.

She brings out the Mr. Coffee when we're tied to a dock, though... (And then we go back to fresh ground every day.)

propane stove, percolator, then thermos to keep it hot.

I think I am going to look into a propane coffee maker... That just seems like the best way for us... Well... short of just cranking the dang generator, but that's just TOO easy.

Our boat had an electric (AC) Mr. Coffee on it when we bought it. Took it off and tossed it. We boil water in a stainless steel teapot on the propane stove and use a French press to make coffee.

Greetings,
Yup, Mr. Coffee and then vacuum bottle. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the beverage consumed in great quantities during college/university. Beer isn't just for breakfast anymore...

What the heck,we`ve got a genset,so we feed our coffee addiction with a small electric Espresso machine onboard, like we have at home. Cost about $160. We love it,so do guests.We take beans to grind fresh onboard.
You can get stove top espresso machines,but nothing beats an electric one with 15 Bar pressure. It has a frothing steam nozzle for those who ruin good coffee with milk.
For the less organized, "coffee boats" with espresso machines and genset do good trade at some Sydney and Broken Bay/Hawkesbury River anchorages.BruceK

Old fashioned percolator. Once it starts to perk give it ten minutes, turn off the flame, let it sit for one minute, enjoy!

Rob

BruceK said:

What the heck,we`ve got a genset,so we feed our coffee addiction with a small electric Espresso machine onboard, like we have at home. Cost about $160. We love it,so do guests.We take beans to grind fresh onboard.
You can get stove top espresso machines,but nothing beats an electric one with 15 Bar pressure. It has a frothing steam nozzle for those who ruin good coffee with milk.
For the less organized, "coffee boats" with espresso machines and genset do good trade at some Sydney and Broken Bay/Hawkesbury River anchorages.BruceK

Click to expand...

Finally! A completely civilized response to the matter at hand.

We use a large expresso pot (makes two USA cups of coffee , dont know what that is in expresso cups 8 ?)

The advantage is it operates as rapidly as the output of the heat source , and "calls" you when done.

With a Kero 10,000BTU Primus in our 90/90 its real quick.

Loads slower in our 23 ft Regal on alcohol,

Not bad with the 120v Princess in the Bus conversion or

the propane in our homes.

Hearing the ssss of the finished brew is easy , figuring who gets out of the sack is harder.

I've used this one: Coleman Camping Coffeemaker - Coleman 2000003603 - Camping Accs - Campersland
for several years. It's a drip coffee maker and makes 10 cups, just like at home. We use a portable butane burner to heat it. Works great.