This is my latest camping toy, the best solution I've yet found to the problem of making really good coffee on the hiking trail.
The GSI Ultralight JavaDrip is a lovely little piece of kit. Weighing in at a mere 14gms, it is perfect for anyone who wants to cut down on their pack-weight without sacrificing that essential cup of joe. As you can see, it is simply a plastic frame that suspends a nylon bag above your cup. It fits just about any typical camping mug (it's a great fit for my Evernew 400ml titanium mug). Just load it up with grounds and trickle hot water through it.
I've found that it works really well. It produces a good clean cup of coffee, with absolutely no grounds, similar to the results of a French press/cafetiere. The flavour is not the most intense, but that's to be expected with this method. I think it still manages to get most of the flavour out of the beans, certainly I found it to be robust enough. I have seen people saying that the water pours through too quickly to get the full flavour, but I haven't found that to be the case. You just need to pour it through at a steady trickle, hitting in any patches that haven't mixed in. If you want it really strong, use a darker roast (or go find a portable espresso pot). Sadly, there is no crema, since it stays in the filter bag with the grounds. But then there's no crema on cowboy-style coffee either... I can live with it.
Practicalities-wise, it is perfect for lightweight hikers, cyclists or other outdoors types who really want to keep their pack weight at a minimum. It is robust enough to stand a fair bit of use and the nylon bag cleans up really easily, with a minimum of water needed. One neat feature is that the shape and size of it allow the JavaDrip to fit quite snugly into the little cavity at the bottom of a standard 250 gas cart, as shown above. I really like that! I have a tiny folding gas stove (the Optimus Crux) that does the same thing and the JavaDrip will fit in there with it. Nice space-saving idea.
At around 10, I would really recommend this product. There are a lot of portable coffee making gadgets out there, but this one strikes me as being the best compromise between size/weight reduction and good quality coffee.
'Cos it don't matter where I am, I gotta have my coffee.
Mutate and Survive