UKC

Recommendations? I seem to break a glass/Pyrex one every year. Just managed to do so when not even camping, but just in my own house

I've seen stuff like this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Polycarbonate-350ml-cup-cafetiere-unbreakable/dp/B0...

and dearer ones with mixed reviews. The polycarbonate looks just as prone to breaking as does the Pyrex or whatever mine were.

Does anyone know of a steel one (or does that taint the flavour)? My sis has one but can't remember where it came from.

I want a cafetiere, not one of those stove top ol-skool espresso things, or "Coffee Pods" or whatever. Just a simple plunger thing. A 3-cup one (which equates to one good mug for me )

Thank you

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I don't know if this is the sort of thing that you are after?

http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/gsi-personal-java-press-94220013?id_colour=1...

In reply to Martin1978:

Nice but a bit too "yuppie" for me (i.e. I am a tightwad and had not really thought of spending £30+ )
Ideally less than £15. Thanks though. Maybe I'll come back to this one, who knows...

In reply to Blue Straggler:
our lass got me just such a thing after a series of breakages. does the job. its this one but this appears to be cheaper . fleas at bay. item number
331098429719.

In reply to Martin1978:

I've got one of those, it's ace (and hasn't broken in 2 years).

I've also got a stainless steel one we use at home, don't know if it was just the model, but both me and my sister in law had handles snap off - I araldited mine back on!

In reply to mike123:

Thanks. I'd seen this elsewhere, it got some bad reviews on Amazon I think. You not had any niggles with it e.g. the plunger not sealing all the grounds in so that some escape into your drink?

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Cut out the middle, and have the plunger in the mug?
http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/smart-cafe-cafetiere-hot-mug

Edit to add:
Slightly more pricey, but how about this?
http://www.bailiescoffee.com/productdetails/259/red-bodum-stainless-steel-t...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

MSR Coffee Filter - I've had mine for 3 yrs and it's still going strong, even with use most days. A quick Google shows them on sale for £11 in Snow & Rock...

http://www.snowandrock.com/pws/UniqueProductKey.ice?ProductID=MSR002600&...

In fact, I'm off to buy another to leave in the office!

Cal

In reply to Blue Straggler:


Dammit, I came on here to say you should get one of those stove top ol-skool espresso things.

Although a friend of mine has a cafetiere mug thing that seems to work pretty well and looks robust. The idea is that the plunger sits unobtrusively in the mug and holds the grounds down while you drink the coffee. I can't remember what make hers is but google suggests that there are loads out there...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I have the smartcafe cafetiere mug - pretty robust and extremely simple. It's not 3-cup, just one big mug, but I bought Mrs R one too. Mine came from John Lewis but I've just seen them at 8.95 on amazon

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Have a look at this:

http://www.creamsupplies.co.uk/aeropress-coffee-maker/prod_1203.html?catego...

Seal is tight and no grounds have escaped through mine and I use it home and away.

In reply to Horse:

I like that just for the "WTF is that?" aspect
Though I'd be going against the rules laid out in my own OP if I went for it :-/
Cheers.

I think this has "classic thread" written all over it already

In reply to deepsoup:

They always look like small mugs to me, but I will check them out for volume. Maybe an optical illusion

In reply to Blue Straggler:
have to say she got it from a local kitchen shop not fleas at, but it is that one. i only use it for car camping and hostels. i usually grind the beans (check me out) at home ,really coarse with a ridiculously excessive grinder and it works fine. i have used it with pre ground tesco and it was fine.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Dig deep and get a jetboil, you'll never regret it, its like putting the kettle on when you're camping. Also get the cafetiere plunger for it.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

the aeropress is very good.

In reply to Blue Straggler:



If you're going to do that, you might as well go the whole hog:
http://www.hasbean.co.uk/collections/brewers/products/cona-table-model-c-ch...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I didn't actually look at the price, think I'll stick to my nescafe 1 cup sachets!

I did buy one of these as a "treat" for my mate as I know he likes his coffee in the morning so I thought I'd surprise him on our "expedition" next weekend

http://growerscup.com/the-coffeebrewer-brew-coffee-like-a-pro/

No idea if it'll be any good, but it seems a convenient way of using the boil in the bag breakfast water

In reply to wilkie14c:


Got my jetboil about half price years and years back because it was the cafetiere version and people weren't buying them!? How weird is that? So I ended up paying just over half the price of a normal jetboil and got it with the press bit!

But anyway, the Jetboil press is kinda a hassle, you need to have plentiful running water to be able to wash all the coffee grounds out of everything. I tend to now boil up in the Jetboil and then use one of the sit on top of the mug filters to make the coffee http://www.flickr.com/photos/toby-northern_light/9612420623/in/set-72157635...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Cafetieres are the sort of thing Alan Sugar has in his boardroom and never make the best coffee, a simple filter is better and you can buy a plastic one for £3 (or fashion your own).

Aeropress is excellent though.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

have you considered the aeropress? Makes far better coffee than a cafetiere:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aerobie-AeroPress-80R08-Coffee-Maker/dp/B000GXZ2GS/...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

A normal size cafatiere plunger will fit inside the alpkit titanium mug to make a bombproof cafatiere. Never used mine though as it would mean a second mug to drink from.
I use a stove top espresso maker, which I know you don't want.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Score some of the best coffee I have tasted from my local coffee roaster and you get a free polycarbonate french press thing,
If I go there this week I will pick you one up , but I recommend you trying their coffee.
https://www.adamsandrussell.co.uk

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I'm a stove top Bialetti sort of guy but like the look of that aeropress thing - anyone else giving the aeropress the thumbs up?

S

In reply to Slugain Howff:
The Aero press makes great coffee, simple and Cheap, lots of people on here love them . However, if you are at all clumsy they are best left at home . 4am in tent in winter is not a good time to have scolding coffee all over the place when you press it down too hard. Imagine how we laughed.

In reply to TobyA:

That sir is a fine looking brew . A nice light roast Kenya / Costa Rica ?

In reply to Slugain Howff:


Me too, I use a stove-top Bialetti at home, and when camping.

No hot-plate at work, so I use an Aeropress. Definite thumbs up from me.

In reply to Douglas Griffin:
+1 for the Aeropress

In reply to Blue Straggler:


Not really - you asked for:


Which is exactly what an aeropress is. Easier to clean than a cafetiere too.

In reply to Slugain Howff:

For the Aeropress one can also get a stainless steel filter so you don't have to faff about with papers filters. Another thing in favour is that the grounds are easy to clean out.

In reply to Horse:

Take care when you google Cream supplies..

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I use a tea strainer which has a very fine mesh. Its the size and shape of a fairly small cup and fits inside most mugs. Had it for years, tastes almost identical to cafetiere coffee, is extremely light and almost indestructible.

I don't like the cup cafetiere jobbies as you can't take the coffee out when its done and I find the whole cup ends up tasting too bitter.

I firmly believe the best coffee is made in a proper esspresso machine and the second best coffee is made in a stove top espresso maker. That said if you have good beans that are not over roasted they taste nice made properly in most devices and crap dark burnt beans can only taste nice made weakly in a cappuccino with sugar! (to hide the horrible flavour)

Stevo

In reply to Hay:

I've tried the aero press a few times, I don't think the taste or way its made makes it stand out from cafetiere coffee and for me its a gimmick. A very similar result can be had grinding the coffee a little finer and leaving it for less time in a cafetiere.

After all the hot water is not really being forced through the coffee like a espresso maker would and most the action of making the coffee is from having it mixed in with the water before you press it.

In reply to Calski:
Yeah the system I use is functionally very similar to the MSR Coffee Filter but much cheaper - its something like this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/One-cup-infuser-strainer-stainless-steel/dp/B002XUA...

In reply to CurlyStevo:

I think it does taste a bit nicer, probably because a paper filter is used. (I notice a similar difference in harshness between using a filter machine with a gauze filter vs. one with a paper filter). However it is a bit fiddly to set up and not much easier to clean in terms of your sink ending up full of bits of grounds.

Neil

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Another option:
http://www.homehardwaredirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.asp?ProductID=12119

I have a similar one I picked up a few years back. I never go camping without it.

In reply to HakanT:

the problem with that system is you can't take the coffee out when its done, the second half of the cup ends up too bitter for my liking.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

man up and drink tea.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I've got a steel one, seems very unlikely to break:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00447CXS2/

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Really? I think you'd have to try pretty hard.
I use a Bodum one with plastic beaker for camping n' stuff.
(they're well made and tend to last)

one of these, but with plastic beaker and the rubber edged gauze thingy:
http://www.bodum.com/gb/en-us/shop/detail/1543-01/
potentially quite difficult to find; most shops only stock the glass variety.

but well......
it's either that or you'll just have to learn to be less ham fisted

In reply to Blue Straggler: I'd also recommend the Smartcafe.

Or you could get with the times and buy some Red Mountain.

In reply to Papillon:

Come on no instant coffee tastes anything like fresh they are all more like other instant coffees than anything else!

ive got a kenco version of of these....

http://www.ekmpowershop6.com/ekmps/shops/coffee/2-cup-polycarbonate-cafetie...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I use a La Pavoni

http://www.coffeeitalia.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=H-P

... when I'm not camping

In reply to CurlyStevo:

+1. I've heard loads of good stuff about Aeropress, but I can't see what the fuss is about. I used one for a week, tried everything I could think of, but it was never much better than a well-brewed cafetiere and nowhere near as good as my old £7 stovetop. I do like my coffee espresso strength though.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I've used one of these, but my wife has stolen it for her work

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aladdin-Aveo-Flask-Cafetiere-Filter/dp/B003TYB4E0

Its last several years so far.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Arghhhhh, that looks like they run off the same production line!

In reply to Blue Straggler:
Here's a slightly cheaper version of the java press. I've found it pretty handy, although being tall and thin - the container that is not me, easy to tip over on a laptop...

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/gsi-outdoors-commuter-java-press-p263338?gclid=...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I've got a john lewis stainless steel one in the house somewhere, retains the heat really well too. much better then glass ones.