# Brewing Abroad - Travel Coffee Setup



## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

Going on holiday on Saturday and I'm fairly sure the places I'm staying will not have any facilitates in the room for making drinks. I have therefore been considering the bare minimum I'd need to take in order to make good coffee.

Hand Grinder, CCD + filters, drug dealer scales (with mat so CCD fits on them), a small thermo flask.

Boiling water (in the flask), a spoon and a mug can probably be obtained from the hotel by honest or nefarious means.

Aeropress would be preferred but I've lent it to someone.

What are other *people's bare minimum travel coffee setups*, including accessories and accoutrements?


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Aeropress, Felgrind, Able fine SS filter, scales and Thermapen.


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

Well - I'm travelling right now, and with me I have

- Brewista scales (so weighing and timing)

- Aeropress

- Aeropress papers

- Stirrer

- Lido3

- Coffee, I tend to try and keep about 500g per week as other people always want coffee when you're making it

if I didn't have the aeropress I suspect I'd bring a little french press instead. CCD would also be fine. My goals with travel-coffee are flexibility - I want to be able to do 1:30 recipes for rapid-fire coffee to surrounding folk and nice long soak 30 minute beauties for when they're not around. I dig the aeropress robustness - I'm not afraid of it breaking in my bag.

I'm regretting not taking a thermapen and a TDS meter, while TDS isn't the absolute be all and end all, I'm pretty sure the water around here is between 600-800 as it needs some serious watering down to make tolerable. But there have to be some limits..


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

The Systemic Kid said:


> Aeropress, Felgrind, Able fine SS filter, scales and Thermapen.


How would you transport water to your aeropress? Do you assume kettle?

Same to you robashton, are you a kettle assumer?


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## 4515 (Jan 30, 2013)

Aeropress and Hausgrind

Dont bother with scales and thermometer - I like to live life on the edge !


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

Traveling now but staying in a house. Bag of foundry Guatemalen, HB IMM, aeropress, CCD, drug dealers scales, filter papers and feldfarb... Basically a little rucksack worth.

I generally assume a kettle will be there but if you know where you're staying is not hard to check or assume...


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## Beanosaurus (Jun 4, 2014)

Faffless kit: Feldgrind, Aeropress + papers in a baggie, mini scales, beans, Toms shoes tote bag.

Faffy kit: Feldgrind, V60 1/2 cup + papers in a baggie, calibrated dial thermometer, AWESOME OIL CAN, 20oz Milk Pitcher, Hario drip scales, beans, Toms shoes tote bag.

And any good bottled water I can get my mitts on!


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

working dog said:


> Aeropress and Hausgrind
> 
> Dont bother with scales and thermometer - I like to live life on the edge !


You're a mad man!


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

fatboyslim said:


> How would you transport water to your aeropress? Do you assume kettle?
> 
> Same to you robashton, are you a kettle assumer?


I'm a kettle assumer - I know that if push comes to shove I can go find the kitchen and in exchange for a coffee they'll let me have access to some!


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

robashton said:


> I'm a kettle assumer - I know that if push comes to shove I can go find the kitchen and in exchange for a coffee they'll let me have access to some!


What if they don't understand that you need filtered or bottled water boiled up! I find getting decent water can be pretty tricky when you don't have your own kettle. Often those keep warm boilers they have produce bad tasting water that ruins the brew!

Probably not too ridiculous to buy a kettle.....is it?


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

Travel kettles are small...

I'm thinking about doing a two week hike next year, I'm going to end up carrying an extra 3kg of gear just for coffee - nothing you do is ridiculous if you're the one drinking good coffee.


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

Yeah just get the kettle if you wish, even full size ones are cheap if you bought one when you arrived wherever it was (assuming shops anyway).


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## Condyk (Jan 9, 2011)

I've travelled a lot, including in African bush without electrickery, so need to be lean. I now default to plastic v60 and papers as super light and simple. I pre grind before I go and not had a problem yet with getting through airport. If I did I'd buy some local pre-ground. I know pretty much by eye what I need for the v60. Then I just boil the water, eith by kettle or fire. I accept I'll likely get 90% of what I might otherwise get at home taste wise. That's fine by me ... you may want better and so need to take all the associated 'crap'


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## Flibster (Aug 15, 2010)

After 3 weeks in San Francisco, the wilds of California and the garishness that is Vegas, I've found that my Cafflano Klassic is superb. Grind about 3 steps off the finest it'll go, kalita wave 185 filter in the metal filter, 18g of coffee and 280g of water.

With a KeepCup keeping the filters in shape and the Brewista scales for the weighing, all was good.

Getting the hot water was a touch dodgy though. Those poor motel coffee makers really suffered.







Hope they found all the pieces again.


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## Phil104 (Apr 15, 2014)

+1 for the Kafflano - I think it is a well designed, ingenious bit of kit, highly portable, seems virtually unbreakable (not that I have tested it to destruction), probably grind a bit coarser than Flibster, the kalita filters do make a big difference, use a small jewellers's scale for beans, and so far I have always had a source of water.


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## PeterF (Aug 25, 2014)

Rhino hand grinder, Stainless Steel double walled French press, beans. That's it!


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

Heading down to Bognor Regis for the weekend (via London), in my suitcase

- Clothes

- Ceramic V60 (wrapped up!)

- Filter papers

- Bonnavita temp controlled pouring kettle

- Refractometer

- Pipettes

- TDS meter

- Four bags of coffee ( three Has Beans and a Papercup )

- Brewista scales

- Lido3

Should just about manage, maybe.


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## Flibster (Aug 15, 2010)

fatboyslim said:


> How would you transport water to your aeropress? Do you assume kettle?
> 
> Same to you robashton, are you a kettle assumer?


Cottage in San Fran had a kettle, it was sssslllloooowwwww (110v... useless rubbish) but gave me the time to set everything up, weigh and grind the beans and find the teabags and stick one in the mug for the other half before it boiled.

Motels were slightly different. I generally had to remove the filter basket and give the whole thing a damn good scrub in order to get hot water from it, worked ok. Apart from one, where it was all screwed together. Luckily, I had a leatherman.









Vegas was a pain in the butt. We were in the MGM Signature Suites which had a kitchenette. Great! Coffee maker... meh... we had a hob. Unfortunately, no kettle. Checked with reception, they couldn't supply us with a kettle as we were with Luxury Suites International rather than the MGM directly... Ok.... Ended up using the largest pan in the kitchen that was about 3 litres in size and filled it with ice as the tap water tasted really nasty. Very metallic, but the ice once melted, tasted pretty good. Used a 1 cup sized weighing thing to decant boiling water into the various receptacles. Shonky, but worked.


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Flibster said:


> Cottage in San Fran had a kettle, it was sssslllloooowwwww (110v... useless rubbish) but gave me the time to set everything up, weigh and grind the beans and find the teabags and stick one in the mug for the other half before it boiled.
> 
> Motels were slightly different. I generally had to remove the filter basket and give the whole thing a damn good scrub in order to get hot water from it, worked ok. Apart from one, where it was all screwed together. Luckily, I had a leatherman.
> 
> ...


Not liking the sound of your Vegas experience... Crap.

Did you try the bottled water?


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## Flibster (Aug 15, 2010)

Daren said:


> Not liking the sound of your Vegas experience... Crap.
> 
> Did you try the bottled water?


Drank quite a lot of it, what with it being around 39°C every day. When it was 24°C at 5am I know I'm in trouble.









Didn't use any to make coffee though. If the ice didn't work that would have been the next step. Just around the corner from where we were was a Walgreens with more varieties of water than was really necessary. I'm sure there was something suitable there. We were just buying multiple litre bottles and draining them incredibly quickly.


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

No decent Coffee shops then? @Flibster


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## Flibster (Aug 15, 2010)

Daren said:


> No decent Coffee shops then? @Flibster


San Fran - Yup.

Sightglass - Just excellent.

Flywheel - Very good brews, really cool place, and the ladies behind the bar were absolutely lovely.

Blue Bottle - A little overrated imo, but still pretty good. I think they roast a little dark for me.

Four Barrel - Very nearly my favourite place, the chap behind the 'slow bar' as they call it was fantastic.

Ritual - My favourite place in San Fran. Helped that it was less than 5 minutes walk away from the cottage we were in. But it really was excellent.

I did visit Berkley too and pick up from Black Blood of the Earth from the creator. It's frankly insane but pretty tasty too. Not cheap, but how often will I be able to visit him and have a chat and get some barking mad coffee.







*see http://www.funraniumlabs.com for info on this insanity*

As we were driving across to Vegas via Sacramento, Yosemite, Sequoia and Death Valley we stayed in various motels and ate in diners. Only one had coffee that I started to enjoy drinking. Turns out it was a chain, but I really couldn't tell from the place we visited. Black Bear Diner. The food was very good indeed and the coffee wasn't as dark as some, still darker than I normally have, but the combination of the location, food and just feeling pretty good made it enjoyable.

Vegas - Absolutely sod all worth drinking.

Tried a few places and it was almost all standard dark roast bitter brew. Exceptions to this was the MGM buffet. It was horrific. The dark bitter brew, with a caramel flavour. Pretty sure they were using flavoured beans. Sickly sweet and bitter at the same time. Truly revolting.


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## DoubleShot (Apr 23, 2014)

And right at this moment, Daren is suddenly drained of optimism for his forthcoming Vegas trip!


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## funinacup (Aug 30, 2010)

@Flibster did you go to The Mill in SF? Love their collaboration with Josey Baker Bread.


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## Flibster (Aug 15, 2010)

DoubleShot said:


> And right at this moment, Daren is suddenly drained of optimism for his forthcoming Vegas trip!


Yeah, it's not a great place for non alcoholic drinks. Gone are the days of cheap food and drink.



funinacup said:


> @Flibster did you go to The Mill in SF? Love their collaboration with Josey Baker Bread.


It was on the list, but didn't manage to get there.


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Oh ffs


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