During my latest drive to Colorado for the 2022 DEATHMARCH☠️🥁 (video coming soon) I got worn out on the watered down, flavorless gas station coffee. While filling up the MotoVan in Amarillo, an idea struck me: “I should quickly whip out my camping coffee setup and make a good cup of coffee”. The ten minutes it took me to do this saved me from the internal coffee complaining for the next two hours. Here’s how you can create your own camping coffee setup, which might also one day be your roadside coffee station salvation. 

To make coffee, you need coffee beans, water, and a vessel. For this jaunt across the country I chose to purchase Dunkin Donuts Ground Beans. Morgan from Highland Cycles likes Supreme Bustelo Espresso Beans for his Aeropress Adventures. At home, I love buying whole beans and grinding them right before the brew. I don’t have time for all that when camping, or in this case, while making coffee in a gas station parking lot. If you’re wanting to grind your own coffee beans while camping, I recommend a coffee bean hand grinder. That way you’re not relying on electricity when primitive camping, at a race, or on the side of the road. If you use an Aeropress like I do (more on that in a minute), this JavaPresse is a good coffee bean grinder for Aeropress. 

The vessel I use to brew coffee while camping, and at home, is an Aeropress. It’s a simple device that allows you to make espresso style coffee without the fuss of a machine. It took me a few attempts when I first started using an Aeropress in 2018, but now I have my process dialed. The one addition that has been a lifesaver is a metal filter. An Aeropress comes with paper filters, which are great, but traveling with a pack of them can be cumbersome. Buying the $10 reusable metal filter allows for multiple brews quickly and less trash. They even have an Aeropress Travel Kit now (still paper filters though 😐).

Since we’re brewing hot coffee in this scenario, we need to boil some water. I LOVE my Jetboil for this. In Texas, it takes a minute to bring 16oz of water to a boil. At elevation, it’s a bit longer, but still quick! This isn’t the cheapest option, but I have found it to be the most effective at boiling water quickly. The Jetboil is a compact system, backpack worthy, that does one thing extremely well; it boils water quickly. I also use it for dehydrated meals, which I assume is where it first came into fruition. 

Now that you have the few odds and ends needed for a great cup of coffee on the road, you need a container. I use an old toy bucket Liam no longer needs. Morgan uses a lockable container so he loses nothing in transit. I would lean into your personality here, after all, you will be judged by your coffee setup. Everyone will think you’re crazy for bringing “all this stuff” everywhere, but you’ll be the one drinking great tasting coffee. They’ll come around.

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