Camp Coffee

Ingredients

• enough green (raw) coffee beans to be 2 - 4 beans deep in a cast iron pan or a weeks supply
• 1 qt pure filtered water

Preparation

• wash and pick over beans.
• roast over moderate flame shaking the pan back and forth with one hand and stirring with the other (to insure even browning and prevent burning) until the beans begin to release oil and smoke.
• reduce flame slightly and continue to roast, keeping the beans in motion, until they reach the desired color.
• spread the beans out to cool.
• bring water to boil
• grind 3/8 cups coffee beans (roasted) and place in press pot (hand grinding is best)
• splash a Tablespoon or so of water into the pot and watch the coffee bloom and release oil, smell.
• pour the remaining water into the pot from a little height so as to incorporate as much air as possible in the brew.
• stir, put the cover on and wait patiently for four minutes
• store leftover beans for up to a week or so in a sealed container (not in the freezer)

Notes

• This is a smokey, smelly process and best done outside. At CampAugustine we use the CampStove and a dedicated 12" cast iron pan with a comfortable wooden handle stirring with a long handled wooden spoon.
• We like organically grown Columbian beans roasted to a deep mahogany a whole lot, but we try lots of different coffees at the recommendation of our bean merchant, Trace Fike, at Carolines Coffee. Click here for pictures of Trace and his coffee roasters, manufactured by Carl Diedrich.
• Click to see a picture of Carl, Julie, and Joy: Carl, a mountain man, drinks easy to pack Folgers freeze-dried coffee crystals!
• In true "Wild West Camp Coffee" one throws the ground coffee beans into the boiling water, followed by a few fresh eggshells, stirs, removes from the fire, adds a dash of cold water and serves. Press Pots are great.

-- FloydPerryThistle - 03 Oct 2003

Coffee roasting resources on the Net (from the SF Gate article above)

• Coffeereview.com. Professional coffee taster Kenneth Davids of Oakland posts results of blind tastings of roasted coffees, both estate coffees and commercial roasts. He also reviews machines.
• Homeroasters.com. An eclectic site full of home-grown ideas for roasting methods.
• Ineedcoffee.com. General information about coffee, with roasting basics and a sense of humor.
• Lucidcafe.com. Campbell-based site with links to coffee growers, cafes and coffee newsgroups all over the world.
• Sweetmarias.com. Based in Emeryville, sells more than 70 kinds of green beans, hand selected by co-owner Thompson (Thom) Owen. Its Web site has a wealth of extremely informed commentary about coffee, how it's grown, roasting equipment and resource, plus links to other home-roasting sites.
• Wholelattelove.com. Sells roasters, grinders and all kinds of machines, with lots of advice.

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