Camping Coffee Gear - The Top Ten in 2010

Coffee is the number one luxury item that people are not willing to part with when they're going camping.

Instant coffee is fine if you don't mind the taste but making high quality coffee is much easier than it used to be thanks to better coffee gear.

A good camping coffee gear is not necessarily expensive. In fact, the number one camping coffee gear is not expensive at all.

There are different ways of making coffee. Studies have shown that people who love their coffee strong prefer drip-brewed coffee; those who love their coffee to be of medium strength prefer percolated coffee; people who like a weaker brew have a tendency towards the French press method but the strength of coffee can be easily controlled.

To make the list, the product has to have at least 40 reviews with an average star rating of 4 or have at least a 4-star rating and been awarded by a reputable organization. That not only makes it easier for me to choose but it also makes sure that it's good enough for Hubpages.

However, there's one product that doesn't have the required number of reviews and the award to back it up but I included it in the top ten anyway because it tackles the one problem that has been nagging me since I started drinking coffee and has the potential to be a hit.

Here's a quick list of the top ten so you don't have to read the whole hub unless you want more information:

1. Aerobie Aeropress (549 reviews, 4.5 stars)
2. Bialetti Moka Express Stovetop Espresso Maker (312 reviews, 4.5 stars)
3. Bodum Columbia 8-Cup Stainless-Steel Thermal Press Pot (225 reviews, 4.5 stars)
4. Finum Brewing Basket (60 reviews, 5 stars)
5. Planetary Design Double Shot Travel French Press Mug (46 reviews, 4.5 stars)
6. Coleman Camping Coffee Maker (Amazon: 26 reviews, 4.5 stars. REI: 10 review, 4 stars, 24 Facebook likes. Walmart: 26 reviews, 5 stars. Meijer: 2 reviews, 5 stars.)
7. MyPressi - Best new product coffee or tea serving equipment SCAA Annual Exposition, Atlanta, GA, 2009. Editor's Pick Wired.com 9 out of 10. (Amazon: 16 reviews, 4 stars. EspressoParts.com: 2 reviews, 5 stars. SeattleCoffeeGear.com 1 review, 5 star)
8. Handpresso (Amazon: 41 reviews, 4 stars. REI 3 reviews, 3 stars. WholeLatteLove.com: 5 reviews, 4.4 stars)
9. Thermos Leak-Proof Travel Mug (Amazon.com: 296 reviews, 4.5 stars)
10. Planetary Design Airscape (Amazon.com: 10 reviews, 4.5 stars)

You can also find the list here with links to each of them.

549 reviews (at least - the reviews just keep on coming) on Amazon says it all. The Aeropress is an amazing coffee/espresso maker. The resulting coffee is rich in flavor, with lower acidity and without bitterness, rivaling most expensive coffee machines.

Experiments done in the lab show that total immersion and rapid filtering are the keys to getting the most flavor out of coffee, which is what the Aeropress is all about.

It's portable enough for camping but if you decide to take it for backpacking, be sure that you store it at the top of the backpack or where there is likely no pressure that could break the Aeropress. Or else take something that's a little bit sturdier.

The polished aluminum look of the Bialetti Moka Express makes it look expensive, especially with the classic-looking Italian design, so you might be surprised to learn the price. But don't be fooled by the price. This is one of the best camping coffee maker you can find. At least 312 customers say so.

The Moka is a portable coffee percolator with 3 chambers. The lower chamber is where you fill in with water. The middle chamber, where you fill with coffee grounds, has a tube that runs down to the lower chamber. The top chamber is where the resulting coffee is collected.

Using the Bialetti Moka Express is easy. Just watch the video below.

Available sizes: 1-cup, 3-cup, 6-cup, 9-cup, 12-cup. Note: Smaller Mokas tend to make better tasting coffee.

The Bodum Columbia Stainless-Steel Thermal Press Pot is both a coffee press and an insulated thermos that keeps your coffee for up to 2 hours, depending on where you are. It is quite possible in the heat of summer.

I find that a coffee press makes better coffee than a percolator. It has a much richer flavor and doesn't have that burnt taste you usually get from percolators.

The stainless-steel Bodum is also beautifully made and looks like it can last a lifetime. It's also a little bit more expensive than your average coffee press.

Just don't expect this Bodum to make 8 mugs of coffee because it only promises 8 cups. I saw this complaint in a review by someone from well known site:

"The name suggests that 8 cups of coffee could be made. Sadly this is again untrue. Trust me you can make only 4 to 5 standard mugs of coffee."

The very simple Finum Brewing Basket is a stainless-steel mesh filter with a heat-safe plastic frame. More tea people use this than coffee people but because it's very lightweight, it's a great way to make coffee in the outdoors, especially if you're backpacking.

The mesh filter doesn't affect the taste of your coffee at all even after prolonged usage. Making coffee with the Finum Brewing Basket is extremely simple; just place it in the mug, add coffee and pour hot water. If you want, you can stir it with a spoon to get the most out of the coffee.

If Finum was an outdoor company, I think the Brewing Basket would've won the Gold Award from Backpacker Magazine like the MSR MugMate did; they're virtually the same product but the Brewing Basket is cheaper, which is the reason why I don't include the MugMate in the top ten, even though it won a Gold Award and have great reviews. 

Planetary Design originally designed their french press with the backpacker in mind; it's durable, lightweight and multi-functional; it retains heat; it's a french press and a mug at the same time so you can drink straight from it.

The patented double filtration system that ensures that none of the grounds pass through; the plastic flange has a built-in spring that ensures that it constantly presses against the side of the mug and there's a second filter where the coffee comes out.

One cool feature of the Double Shot is that it has a hidden storage canister at the base for stashing some coffee grounds, beans or tea.

The Coleman Camping Coffee Maker can drip-brew 10 cups of coffee in approximately 10 minutes. It's really simple; place the Coffee Maker on the stove, insert basket-style basket, add coffee, add water where needed, light stove and sit back.

It's like an electric drip-brew coffee machine but without the electric; you use a 2- or 3-burner camp stove instead. However, only one of the burners is utilized for the brewing process.

The pause-and-serve is a handy feature; you can pour yourself a cup of coffee before the whole pot is finished brewing.

Many will testify to the quality of coffee produced by the Coleman Coffee Maker but it's not just designed for making coffee; you also make hot cider, hot chocolate, oatmeal and instant soup.

Ideal for a large group of people.

Mypressi Twist puts many expensive espresso machines to shame by making better quality espresso for a tenth of the price; it was voted "best new consumer product" of 2009/2010 by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), the world's largest association of coffee professionals.

The Twist requires N2O cartridges (the same one used in whipped cream dispensers and soda makers) to work which some people may find to be too much of a hassle but it's really a good thing because it exerts consistent pressure which is the recipe for making sure that your espresso is fully-extracted.

You can either use ground coffee or E.S.E. pods but go for ground coffee if you care very much about making the best possible espresso with the Twist.

Cheaper than Mypressi Twist and without the need for cartridges, the Handpresso appeals to quite a lot of people. It works similar to the Twist except that you first need to build up the pressure by pumping it up to 16 bars.

The quality of coffee produced from the Handpresso is a little bit less than the Twist but it's better than no coffee at all when the Twist runs out of cartridges.

There are basically two Handpresso models; Handpresso Wild only works with E.S.E. pods while the Handpresso Domepod can take ground coffee.

It's always nice to sip your coffee slowly than to down it in one go but coffee taste better when hot. Unfortunately your won't stay hot very long unless you're using something like the Thermos mug of course.

Other camping coffee mugs work too but few (if not none) do it better than Thermos Nissan; they keep hot drinks hot for an hour and cold drinks cold for several hours. They're lightweight, leakproof and virtually unbreakable. The Thermos also fits most vehicle drink holders for times when you're not venturing in the outdoors. For traveling you might want to consider Condigo's Double Wall Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tumber.

Coffee taste better when it's fresh and once you taste the flavor of fresh coffee, it's hard to drink it any other way. Storing coffee and keeping them fresh can be a bit of a problem. You can put your coffee inside an airtight container but it is still exposed to flavor destroying oxygen trapped inside. Air also causes other food to lose their flavor and become stale.

The Airscape from Planetary Design solves this problem with a container that forces air out and keeps your coffee fresh longer. It only has 10 reviews at Amazon with 4.5 stars but I suspect that this maybe due to poor marketing. For me it's just to good to not be in the top ten. Give it time and you'll see a lot of good reviews for the Airscape.

Choose between the 32 oz version and 64 oz version; different colors available.

These are great options but they're not in the top ten for various reasons:

• Jetboil Coffee Press (Backcountry.com: 15 reviews, 5 stars. REI: 29 reviews, 4 stars.
• Aerolatte To Go Frother with Travel Case (Amazon.co.uk: 87 reviews, 4.5 stars.)
• Bodum 1446 Latteo Milk Frother (137 reviews, 4.5 stars)
• MSR MugMate (Amazon.com: 6 reviews, 5 stars; Backpacker Magazine Editor's Choice Gold Award; Backcountry.com: 13 reviews, 5 stars)
• Snow Peak Titanium French Press
• Mountain Gear Coffee Press
• Brunton Flip-N-Drip - Quite new
• REI Double Shot
• GSI Outdoors Java Grind
• GSI Outdoors Sierra Campware Enamel Coffee Percolator
• GSI Outdoors 36-Cup Stainless Steel Boiler
• Liberty Mountain Coffee Grinder (Amazon.com: 14 reviews, 4 stars. BestKitchenGoods.com: 14 reviews, 4 stars)
• GSI Outdoors 1 Cup Stainless Expresso (Amazon.com: 2 reviews, 4 stars. REI: 5 reviews, 4.5 stars.)
• Coffee Boiler
• Flip-n-drip