Utility budget for coffee?

[slowgoesit]

We've been enjoying a Cuisinart grind-and-brew coffee maker for over a decade. Load it up with beans and water the night before, clean the metal mesh filter, and stick the pot in position. Hit the start button or use its built-in timer when ready, and about five minutes later it beeps to say that coffee is ready. Fair warning: the grinder is loud and spins up to quite the RPM as it progresses through the grind process - the first few times you'll jump, especially if it's on the self-timer.


Can't say it's easy on the "utility budget", but it makes a nice cup of coffee and is done in five minutes.

My sister has one of those that starts up on a timer. When the grinder starts, it sounds like a turbine engine lighting off! The first time it happened, I rolled out of bed, hit the floor, and was definitely wide awake in about 10 seconds! Probably looking a little wild eyed as well. Just proves that a good cup of caffeine, I mean coffee will wake you right up!

 

[Marco Flamingo]

Sorry Marco, I couldn't remember where I found that steel induction toaster. Such a great idea. I know this is a coffee budget thread, but could you please run through your toasting routine with that perforated steel grid?

The first piece of toast is by "smell". Set the induction burner on one or two and watch how long it takes. Then set it on one or two and set the timer for that amount of time for the other side or the next piece.Works the same for tortillas, English muffins, naan, etc. The only issue I've had with induction is that it is too powerful. If set above number five it turns red hot and burns rather than toasts.

I haven't had a chance to put my amp meter on the induction stove to check how much it takes to make a pot of coffee. Now that the induction stove has its own lithium ion battery, it doesn't seem that important to find out. I know that it takes 6 minutes, set at level number five, to make a pot of espresso. I can set the stove and be in the engine room doing my morning check, and the coffee pot makes itself and turns itself off.

 

[Insequent]

I use a Nespresso, and its 1.3 Ah for a lungo.

Six years ago my machine failed a couple of weeks before the end of a long cruise. Instant coffee, the emergency spare, was hell. So as well as replacing the Nespresso machine I bought a second one as a spare. Its still new in the box ......

 

[DDW]

I have an original version of this stovetop model by Atomic at home, long replaced by espresso machines, might give it an overhaul, they sell for up to $1000 now and parts are even available.

There is a company down near you that is selling an updated version of that for a bit short of a grand. I have two of the La Sorrentina copies, now over half a grand for a new one (I called it the Il Sorrentino above, got the gender wrong obviously!). Yes, the original Italian made ones are collectors items. I use one in the sailboat and one in the camper.

It works pretty well but requires some fiddling with the grind and tamp to get the best result.

 

[mvweebles]

The small 750W electric tea kettle has been great. It takes a bit longer to heat than our at-home model, but is super compact and doesn't interfere with other energy demands (we have a 3000W Magnum PSW inverter). I suppose it will hold 24-ounces of water to heat in about 4-minutes or so at 1Ah/min for a total of 4-5 Ah total. I'll try to remember to time it tomorrow.

Peter

Took 3 minutes to heat 20 ozs of water to boiling in the 750w electric kettle. Approx 3Ah (12v)of total energy. For two cups I'm out Aeropress, I'd say around 4Ah. Would be the same for a small French Press.

BTW - in prep for coming to Mexico, we purchased several packages of vacuum packaged Bustello Cuban coffee (Costco). Keeps forever and is decent coffee. Have found that finding coffee we like in other countries is not always easy.

Peter

 

[HeadedToTexas]

The first piece of toast is by "smell". Set the induction burner on one or two and watch how long it takes. Then set it on one or two and set the timer for that amount of time for the other side or the next piece.Works the same for tortillas, English muffins, naan, etc. The only issue I've had with induction is that it is too powerful. If set above number five it turns red hot and burns rather than toasts.

I haven't had a chance to put my amp meter on the induction stove to check how much it takes to make a pot of coffee. Now that the induction stove has its own lithium ion battery, it doesn't seem that important to find out. I know that it takes 6 minutes, set at level number five, to make a pot of espresso. I can set the stove and be in the engine room doing my morning check, and the coffee pot makes itself and turns itself off.

Outstanding. So you don't have a conventional toaster at all? Is it safe to assume that is because toasting on your induction grid "toaster" is easier, far more compact, and produces great toast? Thanks Marco.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

BTW - in prep for coming to Mexico, we purchased several packages of vacuum packaged Bustello Cuban coffee (Costco). Keeps forever and is decent coffee.

Cafe Bustelo is my instant back-up and preference for backpacking and back country travel.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

I have a Nespresso machine on the boat (actually 2, redundancy on critical equipment). The home unit is a little more elegant than the boat units.

View attachment 144154

Warm up and delivery is under 2 minutes. But then I usually do 2 or 3 Amercanos per morning.

Ted

We had a Keurig briefly and gave it away to a friend who preferred weaker coffee. I see Nespresso addresses that problem and presumably can make good strong coffee and espresso. Looks like you are clearly a fan. That says a lot.

When you say warm up and delivery in under 2 minutes, does that mean the Nespresso machine heats just the cup it is making? I am a Nespresso noob.

 

[mvweebles]

When I was still working, I traveled every week: out Monday morning; home - or somewhere - Thursday afternoon. Weebles was in San Francisco, my cabin in Colorado outside Colorado Springs. Bottom line is any coffee I kept at either place was stale and undrinkable by the time I returned. Also have a similar issue on the boat in hot climates - ground coffee (or even beans) just doesn't last long.

Keurig or Nespresso are great as they are both vacuum sealed. But for bulk espresso-style coffee, Bustelo has become my go-to. Grind is a bit too fine for French Press, but works very well with Aeropress.

BTW - for road trips, we favor Hilton Garden Inn's which have a single-serve Keurig so we carry SBUX French Roast K-Cups, but also carry the small electric tea kettle and Aeropress for other hotels that do not have K-Cup machines.

 

[rslifkin]

When I was still working, I traveled every week: out Monday morning; home - or somewhere - Thursday afternoon. Weebles was in San Francisco, my cabin in Colorado outside Colorado Springs. Bottom line is any coffee I kept at either place was stale and undrinkable by the time I returned. Also have a similar issue on the boat in hot climates - ground coffee (or even beans) just doesn't last long.

Sounds like it's time to start roasting your own beans on the boat! Green (unroasted) beans last a lot longer before getting stale than roasted beans do (and ground coffee is stale within a day or so).

 

[OldDan1943]

I have a MrCoffee ?12 cup machine and seldom make more than 8 cups. I really dont mind stale coffee. I think it uses about8 amps, then I shut the machine off. I also have a cheat plastic French press, directions unknown. When away from the dock, the glass pot lives in the sink.
My bro refuses to drink my coffee even it a fresh pot. He is spoiled by his K cup machine.

 

[mvweebles]

.....My bro refuses to drink my coffee even it a fresh pot. He is spoiled by his K cup machine.

Prefers K-Cup to your homebrew, even when freshly made? With all due respect, that speaks volumes about your coffee making skills.......

Peter

 

[AusCan]

I love a good, strong cup of coffee (or three) every morning. I don't care for drip type coffee or Nespresso type. A good stainless steel french press is all I use for coffee either at home or on the boat. Water is heated on my metho stove, which also serves as my toaster.
My wife & I prefer "campfire toast" done over a flame to give it a slightly charred flavour rather than a using normal toaster. The metho stove works perfectly for this.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Sounds like it's time to start roasting your own beans on the boat! Green (unroasted) beans last a lot longer before getting stale than roasted beans do (and ground coffee is stale within a day or so).

A friend of mine almost got me started on home roasting. Not sure I need another obsession, so in a way I'm glad I never got started. Heard it's outstanding though.

 

[GoneFarrell]

Yeah, Bustelo is good stuff. Been my morning cup for years.
Got 2 cans here in Baja. Should'a brought a third.

Look for Cafe Baja Sur, that's our daily drip coffee ️

The Combate branded stuff we can use to remove paint, it's pretty rough!

 

[BruceK]

A friend of mine almost got me started on home roasting. Not sure I need another obsession, so in a way I'm glad I never got started. Heard it's outstanding though.

Roasting green coffee beans at home is a huge step. I`m happy just grinding (pre roasted) beans shortly before using the espresso machine, both onboard and at home.

 

[JDCAVE]

I was using a Melita pour over and got tired with hovering over it. We now use a cheap “Black and Decker” and it makes much better coffee. We make 6 cups which yields one mug for each of us with a bit leftover. When it has cycled through, we turn it off. About 10 amp hours. We also weigh out and grind out beans every morning. We like our coffee strong. But we typically run the Genny for morning hot water and a bump to the battery bank so rarely make coffee on the inverter unless we are traveling. Solar panels bring the bank up to fully charged.

Typical battery mangment is to turn the inverter off unless needed for a particular load or unless we are running. We are largely a DC boat.

Jim

 

[Deano]

This is what we use.
“https://retail.bunn.com/coffee-brewer/my-cafe”
Unfortunately I couldn’t find its electric usage. Can’t be much.
The real positive of this unit is its stability underway. It’s heavy with a low center of gravity. It’s never moved under any conditions we’ve encountered.

 

[La Sirena]

My wife is a privileged coffee snob. No instant, K-cup, pod, drip or French press will do. She must have a cappuccino with just the right blend of silky almond milk foam and espresso. At home we have a prosumer espresso machine, but I wouldn't allow such an electricity hog (and potential missile!) on the boat. We must use propane.

So, to make the expresso we start out precisely weighing the whole bean COFFEE. Lavazza coffee is a solid 7/10 and a good value. Then we GRIND the coffee precisely to get a 20-30 second extraction time. After boiling a kettle of water on the propane stove, we PRESS the espresso to get the perfect extraction. Then we STEAM the milk to get the precise texture and temperature foam.

The equipment cost is about $900, but makes espresso and cappuccino as good as the $4000 prosumer model we have at home, and much better than Starbucks. It just takes a little more time. If you don't like cappuccinos or lattes, you can make espresso and add hot water for an Americano.

Total electricity budget = 0 A-Hr, 0 filters to clean or discard, 0 pods to store and discard. We do use about 10 pounds of propane a month, and maybe half is for making coffee, the other half for cooking. We live on the boat 10-11 months out of the year, and this has worked very well for us.

 

[Captgary175]

As I'm the only one aboard who drinks coffee, I've found that a single cup Keurig machine works well. It uses 60 AMPS for about 2-3 minutes to make one cup. It automatically shuts off after the brew is done and does not retain a reservoir of water like the full size Keurig at home. I know there are coffee purists out there who don't like Keurigs, but it works for me.

 

[Bob Cofer]

And it powers my drill!

 

[Lakeolynn]

Coffee

We use a Jura Expresso Coffee maker and don’t need to turn on the generator. The best part is that the coffee is superb.

 

[SteveK]

I bought my first carafe style drip coffee maker for the boat some 25 years ago. On the 4th one now. The carafe is the best way, brew once, keeps warm if any left for severl hours tasting the same. I threw away the ones that brew pre-ground and then sit on a burner keeping warm while spoiling what may have passed for coffee.

 

[Mike3034]

We use a Insulated stainless steel coffee press. Just add hot water. It makes great coffee. We bought ours on Amazon.https://www.amazon.com/Mueller-Insu...3rM6SgwMVNQutBh2i_gHVEAQYASABEgJtmfD_BwE&th=1

 

[Darlin]

Recomnend propane stove with old fashion SS percolator. Great coffee. I also have a small italian stove top espresso maker.

 

[RickyD]

Electric drip coffee makers are pretty convenient. We simply do not have space, plus our coffee habits might be a bit unique. I am an incredibly early riser and ready for a cup o' Joe at 4am. Cheryll is content to burn daylight well into the midday hours (7am!!!). We each have just a single cup of strong coffee. A few years ago, we went to an Aeropress . Invented by the same guy who invented the Frisbee, the Aeropress is essentially a single-serve French Press device. I built a storage rack for ours that includes the electric tea kettle to heat water. I see they now make a jumbo size that presumably would make enough for two cups of strong coffee.

If you're open to some sort of manual pour-over coffee such as a Melita style coffee maker (example HERE), going with an electric tea kettle (beautiful example HERE, though we went with a smaller 750W unit HERE), will speed-up your water heating process and likely reduce total consumed watts. And frankly, you'll likely make a better cup of coffee.

Another option for pour-over with tea kettle would be a French Press. This one HERE is a vacuum insulated carafe which would keep it hot for a long time and a great option. Many coffee snobs consider French Press method to be the best for full flavored strong coffee.

Attached pic shows our "Coffee Center" on Weebles. Aeropress, filters, and measuring spoon on top rack next to porthole. Tea kettle, sugar, and coffee on lower rack.

Peter

EDIT - we used Kuerig coffee makers, but since the pods are not available in Mexico and they take up a ton of room, quickly nixed from our galley.

View attachment 144150

Peter there is a semi simple solution to your problem. You can reload your own capsules. Check My-cap.com. Grind your favorite beans and load up. I roast my own coffee. Grind my beans. Load my nesspresso capsules.

 

[Puffin_NT32]

While I can brew "boat coffee" either drip into an insulated caraf, or french press, for best flavor with less bitterness and less acid, COLD BREW is my favorite. I'll make enough for about 3-4 cups. Simply drop 3-4 scoops of coffee (to taste) in the french press, maybe about 2 cups + of water, a #2 coffee filter under french press strainer, and let in soak (cold brew) overnight on the counter. In the morning, push the french press strainer down. On the propane stove, I'll heat up 1 to 2 cups in a small Farberware Stainless Steel 2.5 cup saucepan (has a pouring spout). Or zap it in the microwave if you have one. Since the cold brew is concentrated, you add to taste anywhere from a half to 3/4 cup of coffee, then water. You're brewing a concentrated liquid. More water and more coffee, and you can bottle the concentration and store it in the fridge for several days of coffee.

 

[dutch-barge]

We decided we do not want to worry about food, coffee, showers, heat, cooking.
Two burner induction cooking, Heating/hotwater by Kabola (diesel), AC/ some heating by Mitsubishi split air, long hot showers. 90 Amp 24V alternator, 3500 W Solar. 21 KW Lithium house bank. NO generator.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

We decided we do not want to worry about food, coffee, showers, heat, cooking.
Two burner induction cooking, Heating/hotwater by Kabola (diesel), AC/ some heating by Mitsubishi split air, long hot showers. 90 Amp 24V alternator, 3500 W Solar. 21 KW Lithium house bank. NO generator.

But reliable sun. We neither have that much sun nor enough space for 3500 watts of solar or 21 kilowatts of batteries. Great setup though.

 

[dutch-barge]

21 KW Lithium batteries...4 X 13" * 8 1/2" * 23 " that is NOT much space