I love a good cup of coffee first thing in the morning. For years I used the standard electric drip coffee maker with freshly ground coffee. It was not bad and satisfied my caffeine needs. Unfortunately, it also often left me with jangly nerves and a sour stomach.
Trying to brew a good cup of coffee while camping was another challenge. I tried a french press which made a good brew but was a mess to clean up. I finally settled on using individual cone filters. Not bad but once again not great.
What I wanted was coffee-shop quality in my camping kitchen that would not cost several hundred dollars for an expresso machine. I was chatting with a friend about this problem and she told me about a $25 gizmo that she claimed made great coffee without a lot of mess. To demonstrate she got out her AeroPress and proceeded to make a great cup of coffee in about the time it takes to heat up the water.
That was two years ago and I haven’t made coffee any other way since then. I have found that one cup is all I need to get me started in the morning and keep me going through the day. No more jangled nerves or upset stomach. And it is a snap to use anywhere that you can heat water—in your kitchen, in a motel or on a camping trip.
Step by step here’s how it works:
Here’s the set up in the galley of our teardrop trailer. The water is heated on our trusty Coleman stove. The makers of the AeroPress recommend brewing at a temperature of 180° so don’t let the water boil.
The AeroPress kit includes filters, the brewing tube with filter holder, the stirrer, the plunger, the coffee scoop and a funnel for small expresso cups.
Assemble the Aeropress by putting the paper filter disk in the holder.
Attach the filter holder to the brewing tube.
Use the scoop to measure out the amount of coffee you want to brew. If you have a coffee grinder, using fresh ground is best. On the road, I take along coffee I grind at home or I buy ground coffee along the way. I prefer a dark roast but you can use your favorite.
Place the AeroPress on a cup and pour in the hot water up to the number corresponding to the number of scoops you are brewing.
Use the stirring paddle to mix the coffee and water. You only need to stir for 12 to 15 seconds. That way you extract only the good coffee flavor.
Wet the end of the plunger, insert it in the tube and slowly push down to force the coffee through the filter. It should take 20 to 30 seconds.
At this point you have an expresso ready to drink. I prefer to dilute the expresso to make it an Americano. For two scoops of coffee, I dilute it to a total of 12 ounces. Experiment with different amounts of coffee and water until you find the mix you like.
Clean up is a breeze. Take the filter holder off the tube and push out the coffee grounds and filter into the trash. Wipe off the end of the plunger and you’re done.
If you want to give this system a try, here is a link to buy it on Amazon. By using this link you will be supporting the US Route 89 Appreciation Society because we receive a small commission on each sale.Aerobie AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker.
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Saguaro National Park
The giant saguaro cactus is the universal symbol of the American west and are found in a relatively small area in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. The park is divided in to two districts to the east and west of Tucson. Drive though the park at sunset to experience the beauty of the towering saguaros silhouetted against mountains rising above broad valleys.
Grand Teton National Park
The Teton Range rises nearly a mile above Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the valley below the eastern face of the mountains. A dozen of its peaks are over 12,000 in elevation and with no foothills to obscure the view they can be seen reflected in the large lakes at their base. There is no more spectacular and iconic view any where in the Rockies.
Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon National Park is really two parks in one. The North Rim which is nearly a thousand feet higher than the South Rim is only accessible in summer. Standing ten miles north of the Colorado River, the view from the rim is of long side canyons and the towering buttes they have carved. The South Rim stands a mile above the Colorado with vertigo-inducing views of the colorful rock layers that record a billion years of the Earth’s geological history.
Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park in Montana was established in 1910. In 1932 it was linked to Canada’s Waterton Lakes National Park to form the world’s first International Peace Park. The parks are renowned for their glacier-carved mountains and deep lakes. Here at the narrowest point in the Rocky Mountains, ecosystems from the Pacific Northwest, the northern forests and the Great Plains converge to form a unique community of plants and animals found no where else in North America.
Bryce Canyon National Park
Despite the name, Utah’s Bryce Canyon is not a canyon but an amphitheater created by erosion on the eastern edge of a high plateau. The erosion of the soft rock has left a spectacular array of red, orange and white hoodoos below the rim of the plateau.
Zion National Park
Carved by the North Fork of the Virgin River, Zion Canyon in Utah is fifteen miles long and up to a half mile deep. The bottom of the canyon is filled with stream-side vegetation and many hiking trails lead into side canyons with hanging gardens and waterfalls.
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone in Wyoming is America’s first national park and nowhere in the world is there a larger concentration of geothermal features. In addition to the geysers, hot springs, mud pots and fumaroles, the park abounds with wildlife including moose, elks, bison, bears and wolfs.
