This post is brought to you by a guest blogger.
What’s a coffee lover’s worst nightmare? I guess that would be waking up in the morning expecting a fresh cup of coffee, only to find out they’re booked in a homestay with no coffee machine. The horror! What’s a coffee aficionado to do? The good news is, there are tons of ways to manually prepare a fresh cup of coffee. If you find yourself in this type of situation, here are 3 tips to brewing coffee in the absence of a coffee machine.
- Use the saucepan method
This method is very basic and involves only a few things which are normally present in a kitchen. If you’re out camping, you may call this the cowboy method. All you need is a saucepan, a stove, water, and of course – your coffee grounds. The goal is to brew the coffee grounds on boiling water then transfer it to your cup. Easy right? Just make sure to use more water than you would normally use on a coffee machine. When your coffee comes to a boil, keep it on for 2 more minutes uncovered. Then turn off the stove and allow the grounds to sink at the bottom of the saucepan. Let it sit for a few minutes before carefully pouring it on your favorite thermos travel mug. And there you have it, your much awaited morning companion all set.
- Use a pour-over or a French press
A pour-over coffee maker is another simple tool you can use to make a cup of coffee. It involves a pour-over dripper and a coffee filter. You start with putting filter paper on the pour-over dripper then adding some grounds in it. Slowly pour boiling water on the filter setup just enough to soak your grounds a bit. If your coffee is fresh, you’ll notice a thin foam forming on top of your grounds. This is called blooming, and is normally observed in pour-over methods. After the first pour, slowly do a couple more until you fill your cup.
A French press is another easy to use and practical tool to make coffee. It works by steeping the coffee grounds in hot water, then pressing it out. Compared to the pour-over, it’s faster to make a cup using a French press and depending on the size of your press, you can even make several cups at once.
- Use a make-shift coffee filter
Still out of ideas on brewing coffee? All you really need is a filter! If you’ve got none, use a cheesecloth or a handkerchief. What you want to achieve is a setup similar to a pour-over, but instead of a dripper, you use cloth as a filter. Spread out the coffee grounds on the cloth, and slowly pour hot water on it just enough to wet it. Just like the pour-over method, let the grounds bloom and wait for the water to drip completely on the cup. You may have to tease the grounds with a spoon from time to time to help the water flow.
In summary, be resourceful. Make do with what you have and don’t let your day go sour just because you can’t prepare coffee the way you’re used to. Worse comes to worst, there’s always instant coffee!
Also, check out this single cup coffee machine.
