Making good coffee out of your pockets?

August 5, 2006 7:35 PM

Hate the nasty coffee at school. There aren't any places to get better coffee on my trip to/from school(public transit). Does anybody have ideas on a way to do decent coffee portably?

I'll have access to a microwave and water, but I have to carry everything else in my bag (No lockers) - Lighter/smaller is better.

posted by Orb2069 to food & drink (19 comments total)

Portable French Press!
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 7:38 PM on August 5, 2006

Buy a thermos.
posted by bradth27 at 7:40 PM on August 5, 2006

The Aeropress. All you need is hot water and coffee grounds, it's quite small and light, and makes excellent coffee. (Actually, it makes a sort of espresso-like concentrate which can then be mixed with hot water to make what I suppose is technically an Americano, but it's very good. The espresso keeps very well, also, so you might make it in the morning and bring it with you in a sealed container; a very small amount will yield several cups of even fairly strong coffee.)
posted by IshmaelGraves at 7:41 PM on August 5, 2006

I recommend the SwissGold One Cup. Dead simple to use and clean. I made coffee for about a year with one of these.
posted by Hildago at 8:08 PM on August 5, 2006

(The link above is to the travel kit, which I didn't have. I just bought the filter pictured at left, which is all you really need.)
posted by Hildago at 8:10 PM on August 5, 2006

Seconding the Aeropress. Portable as can be, and it'll work fine in the microwave.
posted by bink at 8:24 PM on August 5, 2006

Aeropress is very good for single/double serving. Very easy clean up.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 8:32 PM on August 5, 2006

The Thermos and Aeropress suggestions having been made (and the Thermos Nissan 1.1 qt. bottle being a personal favorite), let me take another tack:

Is there a coffee pot for which you could take custodial responsibility? Supposing your tastes don't run to hazelnut flavored concoctions, or dreadfully overroasted, reduced caffeine derived extracts, or similar non-mainstream tastes, adopting a coffee pot can be a rewarding situation. If you find that the Mr. Coffee in the teacher's lounge is turning out Bad Folger's Batches, that sit around for 4 hours, why not fix that, as a community service project? Do your research, find out if there is current custodian, do what you need to do to gain permission to Improve Your Colleagues' Lot in Life, and spend a few bucks doing it.

The 4 or 5 times I've turned a group of people on to great, mid-line American coffee, or espresso, I've made long lived friends, and obtained significant social benefits.
posted by paulsc at 8:43 PM on August 5, 2006

You can try adding hot water to cold brewed coffee concentrate.

Soak a pound of coffee in a quart or two of water for a couple of days and add some of this concentrate with hot water on site.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:29 PM on August 5, 2006

I came here to recommend cold-brewed coffee too. Here's an article on it. French Market Coffee has the best deals I've found on the brewing system, which is optional, per StickyCarpet's instructions, but includes a felt filter that makes a big difference to the result. This is my preferred coffee method for flavor purposes -- portability is just a side benefit.
posted by Eater at 9:37 PM on August 5, 2006

Everyone's suggestions are great! This month's Wired magazine had a "special" section about this as well. You can end up making decent coffee there if you do the cleaning and such for the maker that's there.

If there's no maker, time to consider the thermos or the excellent looking coffee traveler (probably going to order one of those for myself, btw), or the reliable thermos (used mine to make a triple shot large Americano to carry with me in the AM and it's great, but still prefer to get a fresh one made at the shop close by).

In all these cases, cleaning is one of the key things to pay attention to. Clean a maker if it's there. Clean the thermos if you use it daily. Clean, clean, clean. Coffee leaves a lot of sediment and oils behind, and after while it starts to stay behind more and more if you just rinse the pot.

The french press is a good idea too. They can turn out excellent coffee.
posted by smallerdemon at 10:34 PM on August 5, 2006

Seconding paulsc & smallerdemon. I once organized a coffee club in a large office in which I worked, and keep a French press in my current office, in which I work largely by myself.

You'll be pleasantly surprised to discover how many of your co-workers share your distaste for overheated coffee made from below-grade beans.
posted by NYCinephile at 2:02 AM on August 6, 2006

I use a vacuum bottle. I have to drink a cup of coffee before I can make it out the door, and it's no more work to make three cups than one. So I make three cups and put two into a small, warmed-up vacuum bottle. I like the bullet-shaped ones with a push-button top, so I don't have to unscrew anything to pour.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:42 AM on August 6, 2006

The Aeropress is exactly what you want. Everyday, I fit mine in a regular size lunchpail (and still have room for a sandwich and fruit), put it in my bag, and bike up to school with it. It works perfectly in a microwave and makes a fantastic cup of coffee even with cheap, crap coffee grounds. I've been using this thing for about four months now and have to say that it is one of the best $25 I've ever spent.
posted by The Bishop of Turkey at 7:57 AM on August 6, 2006

As soon as I read your question, I shouted out, "An Aeropress and a thermos!"

It's really teh only way to go.
posted by Pocahontas at 12:01 PM on August 6, 2006

Thanks everybody!

I've started a concentrate process - If it doesn't do the job for me, I'll probably order an aeropress.

I've managed to break two glass thermoses, so I'm not real keen on them.

Taking over a group machine dosen't seem too practical in my situation, but I'll keep an eye open to the idea.
posted by Orb2069 at 6:12 PM on August 6, 2006

Vietnamese drip filters make a surprisingly decent cup of coffee, and they're much more portable than a miniature cafetière (I assume that's what folk mean by 'french press'?). Plus they only cost about £2.
posted by jack_mo at 6:56 PM on August 6, 2006

I'm headed to bed so I didn't have time to scan these posts to see if this has already been posted, but your friendly neighborhood Starbucks should have a Solo Press mug that looks like a stainless steel travel coffee mug, but it has a coffee press built inside it. It's around $20, and I use it at work.
posted by cebailey at 9:07 PM on August 6, 2006

So don't get a glass thermos. Try breaking one of these.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 10:25 AM on August 10, 2006