the most eco and last coffee maker - cowgirl coffee

A lot of the cold brew coffee recipes call for an enourmous amount of coffee grounds making something referred to as "cold brew concentrate"
But I like to use smaller proportions of grounds like the Mason jar method mentioned earlier in the thread.
I agree that the cowgirl method of coffee making is the most eco.
Please note that I dont always roast my own,but I Think the most eco beans to use are green beans and heres why......
***Can be bought in bulk from a farm that you have more of a connection with(they are usually descibed in detail on the sites that offer them....
**green beans can be stored much longer and roasted as you need them
**they can be roasted by you on a rocket stove very effectively with one of those hand crank popcorn Popper's and you can do enough to last a while.
I can bring some beans to permaculture voices if anyone wants to try roasting ...we can do it with a pot ...a cast iron pan....and a couple collanders to cool them and remove the chaff after...I would only be able to provide green Beans and I need to order some soon anyway.

Oh ..and I forgot to mention that the green Bernstein are much cheaper for the super high quality beans you are getting... this is a cool artucle on specialty beans being the better beans to get and the problems with all that marketing hoopla in coffee labeling like "shade grown" and fair trafe etc.
http://coffeeproject.com/shop/magento/organic-etc.html

Oops..**beans**.....Haha my autocorrect wants to type Bernstein whenever I type beans....@#$% autocorrect!

My father gave me a Thai coffee maker, its my favorite, if I just need a single cup. Its a little stainless steel contraption that fits on top of the cup your drinking from, no filters, easy to clean. It makes an espresso like brew without any power required...except that to heat the water, you might be able to use it with cold water but I've never tried it.

So I tried the Matt Smaus instant boil method-in conjunction with Paul's last coffee maker. Pour the coffee from the pan through the metal filter into the cup. Verdict-delicious coffee. I can only use the Paul device as a filter because it's not big enough for my 4 heaping scoop coffee.

I also tried the cold coffee method that some of you mentioned back when. It tasted surprisingly good. At first I put it into a regular cup, but I found it was too skinny to get my hand in there and clean out the grounds. The convenience of cleaning actually was a major issue on deciding on the best method. So now I use a measuring cup. It's plastic currently. Since it's not heated, I'm not worried about the plastic. If I stick with it, I can get pyrex or glass. I am currently pouring it through a paper filter because there is quite a bit of research suggesting that the American method of pouring the coffee through the filter makes it actually healthy by removing something unhealthy that they haven't figured out quite yet. Someone mentioned that the cold brew method would miss some of the flavors that one gets by heating it. I think that's true, but many antioxidants are killed by heating to boiling as well, so I'm not sure which damages more. I may try to get a bigger metal filter later. Or not. Keep the experiments coming.
John S
PDX OR

I just love this forum, and I wish I'd stumbled upon it sooner! I won't say it's "THE ANSWER" to all these problems, but if you really want a nice, elegant way to a cup of coffee anytime, anywhere... especially if you travel for work like I do, then look no further than the bombilla! It's a slotted straw used typically for yerba mate, but it works fantastic for any tea or coffee. The most important thing is to have a couple with different "levels" of straining, if I'm saying that right. They have a great variety at the GoYerbaMate website (no I'm not affiliated), but if you wanted to get really innovative I suppose you could use baby bamboo shoots or maybe fashion one out of metal from the ore you mined from your own permaculture backyard. =) I'm sure there are more eco-friendly ways of making a bombilla than buying one, but I haven't the artistry or skillset.

Mate (pronounced mah-tay) is a much more "permaculture" drink anyway, just imho. It grows on a holly bush (ilex paraguensis or something like that), so it's a shrub-layer perennial, and I think it can occupy more systems than its coffee cousin. Also, the cultural way mate is shared is as a social drink, like sharing a meal. They drink it from dried hollowed-out gourds, yet another potential on-site no-oil-input resource, and everyone drinks from the same gourd, just passing it around and using their own bombilla.

Just an idea to share!

Since my last post 1 year ago, I mostly use the cold coffee method, soaked overnight, then poured through a filter the next day so as to not use energy and to avoid hot water in plastic = toxins. It works great. I put it in a pyrex 2 cup measuring cup and it's super easy to clean out. If I failed to plan my coffee, I use the John Smaus method of putting the grounds in boiling water, let it sit just a few minutes, and then strain it through the Paul Wheaton amazon metal strainer, which can support more than one cup of coffee as a strainer, maybe the equivalent of 3 cups? That method also works great.
John S
PDX OR

Paul, nothing outlasts a good ol' fashion camp fire coffee pot. It is all that my grandparents used to brew their coffee and I have gone back to it myself. Just give it 10 minutes after a good rolling boil so the grounds will settle. There's little to no bitterness with coffee brewed this way because the natural oils are not filtered out. The pot that I used belonged to my grandparents and it's almost 100 years old. The older they are, the better-just like a cast iron skillet.

LOVE, love, love that these stainless steel french press insulated coffee pots are suddenly way lower in price, and with a lot of different nice looking types to choose from!






so after breaking -maybe my last- glass french press, and searching for a replacement, i have decided instead to get one of these sturdy stainless steel insulated ones...

now theres quite a few i am seeing in the 25-40 $ range, that are looking very solid and well made...

steel french press

steel french press

another steel french press

yet another steel french press

yeah i think i am going to get one of these instead.
in the meantime i am on the drip method, or to bust out the espresso machine...but i definitely need a good non electric coffee maker/french press...and i think its one of those ^^^^

=)

Several of my new methods have resulted from power outages. Making coffee is one. I still have a propane cook stove to use if I have a match. I originally heated water in a pot and poured over the coffee grounds in the filter, with the plastic filter holder resting on top of the carafe (drip coffee maker just without using the machine). Pouring hot water from a small pot a bit at a time in a candle lit room. I only allow candles on the stove top so the light was minimal. I decided next time I needed an option that would be safer to prevent burns, etc. A few months later the machine pump failed. Now I pour cool to room temp water over the coffee grounds, and just heat the cup of coffee I am ready to drink, saving any other coffee to use later. Unused coffee sits in the carafe, until I drink it, hot or cold or room temp. I had tried the cold brew in a jar in frig and on countertop in the past, but I think if I use a narrower jar, I will have more success with my current strainer and not knocking it over. Or I could have the strainer in the plastic filterholder over the carafe!

Cheapest is what lasts the longest - not just what costs the least at the time of purchase.

I have a French Press that I have used 30+ years several times daily.   I inherited it from my Grandmother, so I have no clue as to its actual age.  I am 60 years old, and I remember her using it when I was a small child.   There is no plastic at all in it, just metal and glass with a wooden lid on top.   I can tell you this, if it ever breaks, your method is my next coffee pot.    

I have looked at new French presses.   I think they are intentionally made with shoddy construction and materials so that you purchase a new on at a minimum of every 5 years or so.

You get the same coffee as a French press by boiling the water, taking the pot off the flame and adding the grounds, and then after a few minutes straining it through a tight steel tea strainer. Easier to clean than a French press, in my opinion. And both the pot and tea strainer are multi-functional items in the kitchen.

I could not replicate Paul's coffee making method with materials on hand.   Broke down and bought as close as I could get off Amazon.   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016CAHBJO/

It arrived today, and I used it as an excuse for a 2nd cuppa coffee.   My sole vice is coffee, if they make it illegal - I will break the law to continue my addiction.  

Anyway, clean up was FAR easier.   And the coffee turned even better than in my French press.   So Paul was right, too bad I am not big enough to admit it.

Lance Baker wrote:That seems way too complicated.  Just stop buying glass french presses and buy a stainless one for good.  I've had a stainless steel french press like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinox-Double-Wall-Coffee-Press/dp/B002KOAV80/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1343502123&sr=8-15&keywords=stainless+steel+french+press for the last 5 years.  I used it every single day and it's still going strong.  It's never going to break and there's nothing on it to wear out.  Easy clean up, easy brewing.  I assumed you were talking about burning through glass french presses before?  I don't see how you could possibly burn through a french press like this, its virtually bullet proof.  

I've got a similar Bodum one. Nearly bombproof, but unfortunately a former partner used to pump the plunger up and down rapidly to clean it (why?).  After 8 years of this the silicone gasket started shredding, allowing grounds to escape. I was able to find a replacement strainer on eBay, but don't expect the problem to be repeated. I like this pot because if preheated it keeps the coffee drinkably hot for a fair while, eliminating the need for another single use appliance, the 'coffee reheating machine', aka the microwave.

So I have an update. As I said previously, I was looking for a device that didn't contain plastic.  Even though I'm using room temperature water, I drink coffee every day from Sept 1 to June 15th, so that's a lot of coffee and possibly plastic.  

I was looking for options. The pour over types seemed to fit me best. Here are some:
http://www.roastycoffee.com/best-pour-over-coffee-makers/

I went to my local Bed Bath Beyond on bike after work and they had the Primula Pour over coffee dripper for $20. Only steel and glass come into contact with the coffee. You can use it hot or cold. I want to use the filter, because a lot of the studies show that the filter removes harmful parts of coffee. I am going to try it tonight.
John S
PDX OR

update on my update: It works really well. It has two parts: the metal part, which is like a cone, is similar to Paul's original version on this thread but it is much larger.  It fits into a larger glass cone.  I can make coffee either the John Smaus pot of coffee method or the cold brewing method and it works great either way. My major problem with Paul's original was just that it was too small for the amount of coffee I like to put in. I like it hot, rich, black, and strong.
John S
PDX OR

Boil water in a pot, turn off heat when boiling. Add coffee grounds and stir. Allow grounds to settle then pour coffee off the top (be careful not to stir it up to much when you pour).

Doesn't require more than a pot and a cup!

Apparently, you didn't read the earlier parts of the thread.

Some people do that, but studies show that using a paper filter removes some of the unhealthy parts of the coffee.

Do what you want, but your "solution" has already been mentioned previously in the thread.
John S
PDX OR

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:

Tom Haile wrote:paul wheaton here's a pic

... coffee grounds in a Ball jar filled with water. It's that simple then it sits in the frig. After a day I use a fine metal strainer to strain off a cup. I make sure to start another batch before I run out. Since I already use my frig there's no extra energy costs and it takes 1.5 minutes to make.

I was inspired to do a simple blog post on it. Cheap Simple Coffee Brewing.

Excellent pic, Tom!

We had a permies thread on cold brew mason jar coffee back in 2011. Has other links to posts about cold brew coffee and discussion of the toddy as well.

If you have good, cold, pure water, then cold-brewing and fermenting gets way easier.  "sun tea" where you steep your stuff in a glass jar in the sun can be good, too.

In much of the world, I suspect coffee and tea become ritualized into hospitality culture because of the importance of boiling water for safety.  
"Proper" people boil water and drink it at any occasion; if someone visits your house, or you meet on the cattle-trail, you boil up some water and have tea.  Black tea is part of the "brat" diet to hydrate and "dry out" babies with diarrhoea.  In Morocco I saw them sometimes include wormwood (artemesia) in the tea before sweetening it, which would be anti-parasitic.  

If you look at the English or Japanese tea ceremonies, they also rinse out the pot and/or cup with boiled water. (In England it's boiling water rinse for the pot before you brew the tea, to "preheat the pot" for best brewing; some do the same with the teacup to pre-warm it, especially when brewing in the cup.  In Japan, the individual cup is rinsed with tea and turned upside-down for a moment, then presented to the customer "to smell the aroma."  The tea ceremony trays have a false bottom with a drained upper shelf or rack, kinda like a broiler pan, so you can slop the rinse-tea right down on the tray.)

In places like the Oregon rainforest where Ernie grew up, the local surface water tends to have parasites like Giardia, Ernie says if you grew up there in the older families you are not raised to drink plain water.  Working folks do tend to drink coffee all day (albeit sometimes "lutheran coffee" where you re-use the same grounds multiple times, it's like frugal-obsessed decaf).
Herbal tea (pineapple weed, mint, etc) is a good no-caffeine way to continue the ritual throughout the day.

I like to have "tea" in the morning, but I'm pretty flexible about what's in it.  Hopefully milk, cream, or almond milk of some kind!  
But it can be rooibos, black tea (camelia sinesis), or even a 1/4 glass of coffee watered down to my normal heart rate.
Hot water, a few easy-to-absorb calories, and I'm ready to think about the rest of my plans for the day.  Like what's for breakfast.

So if you're going for cold-brewed coffee (or other drinks) in an off-grid situation without a fridge, be careful of your water sources.  Skipping the 'boil' step means you're skipping the sterilization of the water.
I kinda liked the Georgian batch-of-syrup idea, aside from my sugar aversion, to make cold-prep or hot-prep coffee.  A syrup is boiled hot, and would tend to keep longer without refrigeration; our cold coffee gets stale if it's left out at room temp.
I have not heard of coffee being used in small beers (root beer, ginger ale, the fermented kind), but that's the other major tactic for de-bugging local water without refrigeration or repeated boiling.
..
I am enjoying the side chatter on weights and measures.  
However, having watched the "cowgirl coffee" process, I don't think Paul chose the measuring cup because he needs to measure the water or coffee with it - I think it's because it's heat-tolerant and can hold a lot of boiling water, plus the pour spout.
If you look, mason jars also tend to have volume markings, but that's not generally the first reason why we reach for it.


-Erica

One time, while I was making water kefir, we had leftover coffee that was still hot. I measured the sugar, dissolved it in the hot coffee, cooled it, added the grains, let it ferment, then added milk. Delicious. My grains died soon after.

Paul, I am totally with you on this! about the spoon that fits in the mason jar, I have somewhere along the years aquired an extra metal measuring spoon, tablespoon. it has a short handle and fits perfectly as well as giving me the right amount of coffee

Someone questioned the taste n another person mentioned the high acidity due to long brewing: I solved those problems by grinding the coffee very fine, almost espresso machine fine. It releases the flavor almost instantly and also has the advantage that I have to use less powder for a GOOD cup. personally I don't like percolator coffee, too acid n bitter/burnt tasting for me.

E Reimer wrote:I like turkish coffee. It's easy to make, delicious, and green. Just boil two cups of water, grind your coffee to a fine powder. Stir in 1/4 cup sugar and 1/3 cup of coffee, and a pinch of whole cardamom seeds (optional). Bring it back to a full boil until it foams, then remove from heat. Keep stirring and boiling until it boils without foaming. Let it settle and pour into turkish coffee cups (about the size of espresso shots).

Along with this international contribution, I made "café asustado" (frightened coffee) for my Dutch friend, and he said his mother used to call it "kettle coffee": mix the coffee into the water, bring it to a boil, let it sit till it's cool enough to drink, and the grounds will settle to the bottom. No need for a strainer - or you can strain it and you will find that most of the grounds are already on the bottom!

Ah, I didn't know it was called cowboy/cowgirl coffee!  I've been doing this for awhile too, with the measuring cup, then straining into a mug.  Learned it from my mom.  

I don't want an expensive machine, and even the cheap ones are a hassle to clean, especially for one cup.  (And I really don't like the taste/smell of the paper filters.  Even the 'natural' ones have a weird odor/taste to me.)  

In the summer I like cold brew (I put it in the fridge overnight).  I think it tastes better, richer and "softer" with more flavors, but when the weather is chilly a nice hot cup of coffee is what I want.    

I really don't like tea very much, only drink it when I'm ill and have to.  I've also tried developing a taste for matcha tea, because it's so healthy.  But I suspect it's an acquired taste that I may never acquire.

I'm pretty loyal to my current brand of coffee and currently buy it in five pound bags of beans.  It's the first coffee I felt good on (I couldn't drink coffee for years without feeling sick on it; turns out I needed organic!).  I've had no desire to experiment further with other brands, and suspect I'll keep buying it for life (or as long as it remains available and doesn't make me feel ill).  (Don Pablo Subtle Earth Organic)

I drink two cups a day.  Been thinking about cutting back to one, but haven't decided for sure yet.  I'm using the grounds in my garden, too.

Latest update: There are concerns about acrylamides in coffee. Some perhaps from squeezing out the filter to get the coffee that's still liquid in it so I stopped that.  Also, a friend who is a naturopathic doctor said she saw something about the longer that the coffee spends in the water, the more it makes something bad in it (carcinogenic?). So now I put the coffee into the measuring cup and immediately through the filter with the glass filter holding device.  Still tastes great, is easy to do, easy to clean and possibly causes fewer health issues.
John S
PDX OR

Acrylamide is formed when coffee is roasted and not when it is brewed.

Some researchers believe it is related to the Maillard reaction.  If so, any food you cook at home which is browned could create this substance.  

There have been no human studies.  In animal studies the animals have been subjected to doses of one thousand to ten thousand times the amount one could normally expect to find in human food.  Moreover, human digestion is a little different from animals, so direct comparisons on that score are not possible.

Just another scare story?

What you call cowboy coffee is turkish coffee in Europe! But  you put the coffee on top of the COLD water, with no stirring, bring to a boild and you have to watch it or else it goes overboard. This mixes the coffee in. Let cool.

Why a filter? Serve with care, and no need for a filter! When I prefer to filter it, I use a COTTON filter.

With stainless steel and especially with the acidity of the coffee, you get nickel... Not much if you just filter, but do not let your filter in the liquid as done for tea.

If not mentionned, you can use some good coffees twice, and get a lighter coffee for further in the day... and this is frugality!

I'm with Xisca, cotton filter! (or metal filter, like a french press). my mother in law improvised hers with old flour sacks, dish towels, etc, we make bad jokes about socks, but a cotton "sock" on a metal frame is the way it's been done in Brazil since anyone can remember. now of course we have every other method as well (and the capsules, ugh the capsules making so much trash, but they're SO TRENDY), but luckily the fabric filter has made a comeback recently, and it's cute (this one is restaurant-sized to be cute, I have a little one and a big one for a large pot, remembering that in Brazil we drink little shots of super strong coffee, not a pint of coffee)

I am with Paul on this one. In fact, a Pyrex measuring cup and a small strainer designed for tea that sits on the cup is what I've been using for the past year. I don't know the exact number of French Presses I have broken over the years, but I do know that the percentage of owned that were broken is 100%. I had both the strainer and the measuring cup on hand so $0 were spent specifically on this. And if you don't have a glass measuring cup on hand, there are common at any thrift store, flea market, or yard sale, Unlike French Presses. Because the French Presses have been broken.

Ban Dinh wrote:I am with Paul on this one.

Damn right!

It has been six years and I am still doing this.  

Here are some things I have learned...  

make sure that you use this measuring cup https://amzn.to/2OPnA1a - it somehow pours about ten times better than the others.   The others (including pyrex) end up making a big mess.  This is the "anchor" brand.  

Next is the strainer.  We seem to have four now.   This one is by far the best:  https://amzn.to/2vpMOLh  --  it strains quickly and washes up the fastest.  In fact, the others seem to kinda plug.  

I use the Pyrex cup method also but I don't use a metal strainer. I prefer to use a paper filter in a plastic (gasp!) cone, as I like my coffee clear.  I've tried several other methods but this one results in the fewest dirty dishes to wash.

I have looked many times for confirmation on the theory that keeping the coffee in water causes cancer.  Apparently, cold brew coffee is the only kind that has shown growth recently.  There is no good information that I've seen on this topic, so I'm going to have to agree with Jane Reed on this issue, that it is a pure speculation scare story.  I don't have problems with people speculating, but I want to know that speculation is what they are doing.  I am not concerned with time of coffee in water any more.
John S
PDX OR

"ps I also switched to metric units which somehow makes me a "hippy" according to hubby, annal according to my son!"


Or possibly getting ready for a trip to pretty much most of the rest of the world. Or at least Down Under or maybe Over the Pond... 😘😘

With the above mention of paper, i thought for sure that a bunch of people would respond to that.  Since they didn't ....

Paper has a lot of toxic gick in it.   It is possible to make paper without the toxic gick, but it typically costs more and results in a type of paper that others might think of as not the highest quality.   So the paper has gick.   What sort of gick?  The recipe changes from product to product.   And for any given product, the recipe changes from week to week depending on all sorts of deals involving how to lower costs and/or how to dispose of some toxic waste.    So when you strain your coffee through paper, you are getting a "tea" made of those business decisions which the manufacturer does not tell you about.

Even if the manufacturer authentically has the highest standards and gives up profit so that you don't have as much toxic gick in your coffee, I still kinda wonder about THAT product.   What toxins are natural?  What toxins are in there that the ethical manufacturer doesn't know about?  

And next up, if you use paper, then you now have a disposable thing.   Something that has to be purchased and probably requires petroleum to get to you.  And then then waste product goes into the waste stream.  Buy more, make more garbage, repeat, repeat, repeat ....

I started this thread to share ideas on how to be better.   By some sort of eco path.   One of the big reasons I share this sort of thing is that there are often times people that have even better ideas that I have not yet thought of.   So much new info.

So ..... for the thing about using paper, it sounds like the reasoning is to have very clear coffee and easier cleanup.    I confess that my coffee always has a bit of "dirt" in the bottom that makes it through the filter.   But my cleanup is definitely a snap.    While I just leave that tiny bit of mud at the bottom of the cup and wash it away, I do like the idea that we come up with solutions for folks that have no sacrifice.    Anybody have solutions for a clearer cup of coffee for the paper-lovers without paper and quick cleanup?

Tom Haile wrote:For making coffee. I put medium ground coffee in a big mason jar filled with water and put it in the frig for a day. Then I strain out a cup. Cold brew coffee eliminates the need for a heat source.

Has anyone tried sun brewed coffee?

Yes! I just wanted to echo Tom's tip... I was a barista and coffee shop owner in past lives. Toddy was all the craze and now it is called cold brew, but they are one and the same.  There are specific plastic brewers (they are just pitchers with a hole and filter in the bottom) to buy for this process with micro filters and rubber stoppers to replace. I had two set ups (because I was a sucker), I believe they ran about $30-40USD each.  Many years later, wanting a cold and less acidic "filling" coffee for a hot day in the garden I brewed my own toddy in a half gallon jar to use in iced lattes.  

First off why it's nice, then how to make it --
toddy/cold brew is straight espresso, essentially, shot per shot, it is 67% less acidic (that's what the packaging boasted on the name brand plastic pitcher) then the hot water extracted espresso, it has more caffeine due to the long brew time and a very smooth taste. It can be served cold or hot.  I portion 2 cups of medium coarse ground coffee, something similar to french press, and pour filtered water over them in a slow steady circular motion. After the grounds are moisten I wait a minute to let it bloom which just means that you're letting the trapped gases escape which improved flavor. I then top the jar, put a lid on it and store it out of direct sunlight.   After several hours I'll give it a shake but I wait 18-24hrs to strain it.  I strain it through one of those netted produce/nut milk bags and store the filtered coffee in the fridge for up to 10 days.  I like toddy for iced lattes with whole milk and maple syrup. It becomes a snack! Otherwise, I'm a black drip/pour over sort of person. My worms love the spent grounds!

*pro tip* freeze toddy in ice cube trays to chill cold coffee drinks so they don't taste watered down.

I won't play coffee cowboy or cowgirl.  I just got a cheap 12 'cup' coffee maker at the big store.  So make coffee in that.  Then pour about half of the pot into my Pyrex cup (the rest will not fit) :)

A coffee cup is actually not 8 oz (like a real cup) but actually 6 oz.  So for 12 cup maker I have, I get 9 real 8 oz servings.

I have heard that most Americans get most of their antioxidants from coffee!  I also drink green tea.  I know of oolong tea (white tea), too expensive for my tastes.  Gave up a long time ago of drinking black tea.  It's just burned leaves, with almost no expiration date!

paul wheaton wrote:

So ..... for the thing about using paper, it sounds like the reasoning is to have very clear coffee and easier cleanup.    I confess that my coffee always has a bit of "dirt" in the bottom that makes it through the filter.   But my cleanup is definitely a snap.    While I just leave that tiny bit of mud at the bottom of the cup and wash it away, I do like the idea that we come up with solutions for folks that have no sacrifice.    Anybody have solutions for a clearer cup of coffee for the paper-lovers without paper and quick cleanup?

I use a stainless filter similar to your set up, but I imagine a reusable cloth filter would be the ticket for the clear coffee, similar to what was posted above from Brazil, but sewn in a cone shape to fit in a cone pour over device. Clean up would perhaps take an extra 30 seconds and be a bit messier but would certainly work. One could even just drape folded cheesecloth over the filter and if you let the coffee dry, it would plop out pretty easily, the cloth rinsed and hung up for the next cuppa.