Coffee
The boat doesn’t have electric anything and after much research and internal debate, I decided I would stick with my Melita drip coffee maker with my favorite coffee grounds. I can’t stand the taste of coffee in metal or plastic containers, and ceramic cups are impractical on the boat. The coffee would could spill easily, wouldn’t stay hot for very long, and break pretty easily. So, I needed to solve the container problem. (I say “I” here, because Chris is not a coffee drinker.) With some further research, I discovered Bubba!
Bubba is a 12 oz. steel coffee travel mug with bands of rubber around for easy, strong grip and rubber on the bottom for sure perching. However, what is different about Bubba, is that it has a ceramic liner. The only part of the coffee that would be touched by plastic is the upper rim of the container, and the slot that the coffee flows through. An added bonus was that Bubba has a very tightly closing lid, and a strong snapping closing/opening latch. The coffee mug can fall over and not a drop of coffee spills! There is one tricky thing about Bubba. Nothing metal can go inside the mug or the ceramic will scratch and be destroyed. I purchased a plastic spoon for stirring my sugar in the coffee to avoid just that problem.
Each morning I fill Bubba with water and then transfer it to my stainless steel kettle. I pull out the butane, single burner stove, put the butane tank in the stove (it is safely stored outside) and start heating the water. While it is heating, I grab a coffee filter, put it in the drip container and fill the container with the perfect amount of grounds for coffee just the way I like it. I put a heaping teaspoon of sugar in the bottom of Bubba. When the water just gets to boiling, I turn off the burner and slowly start pouring the water into the filter letting it drip through before I pour more in. With each refill of the filter, I make sure capture all the grounds on the side. Then I carefully stir the coffee with the plastic spoon, put the lid on and take that wonderful first sip of morning coffee.
Boy this sure sounds like my Japanese Tea Ceremony!
Serendipitously a couple of improvements have been changed in the routine.
The Melita plastic drip container went overboard early in the trip. We don’t know when; it just went overboard. Thankfully, I had a stainless steel funnel on board that worked well with the filters I have been using, thereby eliminating some of the plastic, and reducing the number of things on board.
Also out of laziness, I discovered I didn’t need to stir the coffee, I just close up Bubba and give it a good shake. MY PERFECT COFFEE!
Bubba is a 12 oz. steel coffee travel mug with bands of rubber around for easy, strong grip and rubber on the bottom for sure perching. However, what is different about Bubba, is that it has a ceramic liner. The only part of the coffee that would be touched by plastic is the upper rim of the container, and the slot that the coffee flows through. An added bonus was that Bubba has a very tightly closing lid, and a strong snapping closing/opening latch. The coffee mug can fall over and not a drop of coffee spills! There is one tricky thing about Bubba. Nothing metal can go inside the mug or the ceramic will scratch and be destroyed. I purchased a plastic spoon for stirring my sugar in the coffee to avoid just that problem.
Each morning I fill Bubba with water and then transfer it to my stainless steel kettle. I pull out the butane, single burner stove, put the butane tank in the stove (it is safely stored outside) and start heating the water. While it is heating, I grab a coffee filter, put it in the drip container and fill the container with the perfect amount of grounds for coffee just the way I like it. I put a heaping teaspoon of sugar in the bottom of Bubba. When the water just gets to boiling, I turn off the burner and slowly start pouring the water into the filter letting it drip through before I pour more in. With each refill of the filter, I make sure capture all the grounds on the side. Then I carefully stir the coffee with the plastic spoon, put the lid on and take that wonderful first sip of morning coffee.
Boy this sure sounds like my Japanese Tea Ceremony!
Serendipitously a couple of improvements have been changed in the routine.
The Melita plastic drip container went overboard early in the trip. We don’t know when; it just went overboard. Thankfully, I had a stainless steel funnel on board that worked well with the filters I have been using, thereby eliminating some of the plastic, and reducing the number of things on board.
Also out of laziness, I discovered I didn’t need to stir the coffee, I just close up Bubba and give it a good shake. MY PERFECT COFFEE!