coffee maker | be-cause – style, travel, collecting and food blog

Autumn hiking and bivouac – Trangia stove

We probably caught one of the last weekends for our bivouac in the alps. Probably a week to late, the yellow leaves already dropped down. After about close to 3 hours we reached the summit and our campground. On the way up there I spotted a badly wounded tree which blood/resin I took as a fire starter. Two years ago I collected some wood and leaned it to a tree, it was still there so the fire was started really quick. We barbecued some Frankfurter/Kraken and had a good bottle of red wine.

The night was very mild for end of october but quite windy. Tillmann had his sheep skin and thick felt army blanket which were sufficient for the night. Sunrise was great and a task on this trip was to review the abilities of the Trangia alcohol stove with non conform add ons.

First task was to get good coffee, with the Bialetti espresso maker he worked just great.

Second task was to heat up the De Buyer fried egg pan which worked perfect as well.

Unintentionally the Trangia frying pan served as a water cup for Tillmann and the 2 pots for collecting blueberries.

It was a great trip, perfect weather and very comfortable. The Trangia stove added very much to its comfort. The Trangia cooking system is a absolute fool proof compact way to dine outdoors. Alcohol is widely available to run it and has the huge plus that its smell is way better when spilling some of the content than petroleum, diesel or gasoline. Gas cartridges I somehow dislike since they are always a big hassle to get, produce a lot of litter and can not used up all the way. (and are pricy)

If you wonder why this images look somehow familiar to you check a post about this spot two years ago. (it was more than 2 weeks earlier, thats why the leafs look much nicer)

My recent finds, a “Lehnartz Mocca Mahlwerk“. I went back after 2 weeks to finally buy it. Be-cause I already have a “Rancilio Rocky” standing next to the “Rancilio Silvia” it made no sense to buy this manually operated mill. Or does it? I was impressed by the craftsmanship the look and the manual operation.

It is quite a labor to grind a portion of coffee with it and why just not buy a Nespresso machine and Tabs? To have a quick coffee! And it’s good coffee! … BULLSHIT!

Ok let me draw a picture of a preparing a cup of coffee if you are willing to take your time, want to slow down a bit and want to “celebrate” it.

You need:
– a coffee machine, my choice would be a bialetti style one
– fresh roasted beans no older than 2 weeks max! (or roast them fresh by yourself – but this would kill the whole post by it’s length, I will write the process soon). Wrote the process now: check here: Home roasting coffee.
– fresh milk from the farmer, 3,8% fat +
– brown cane sugar
– a coffee/mocca mill like the Lehnartz, one which is adjustable
– a special mug to serve it
– good sound

That should be enough, don’t mind if you have not all things for the beginning.
Essential is the right grinding for the type of coffee machine you use. For the bialetti style machine you should grind it medium, not so fine as with an real espresso machine and not to big as for a filter coffee maker. It takes a bit of practice and adjustments. Too fine and water will be blocked, to big and the water rushes trough. Thats the reason you need an adjustable mill for good coffee. Buying already grinded coffee, mostly does not hit the point for your machine or use perfectly.

After you filled the filter with the coffee and applied some pressure. What is the right amount of pressing the coffee – good question, this is variable 2. Practice, not too dense and not too loose, then close the machine and put it on the stove. While listening to your music, take the mug and poor some spoons of brown sugar in it. Get the bottle of milk out of the fridge and prepare the pot for heating and foaming the milk. Choose a flat pot for a lot of room to stir. After the coffee is through the filter, poor it in the the mug with the coffee and stir it well. Then put the pot with the milk on the stove, it should not take more than about 1 minute to heat it up to about max. 60 Celsius. If you boil it the milk will loose it’s sweetness. To foam it manually and not with the espresso machine, I recommend to use one of those flat wire wisks (drop me a note if you do not get the picture, I can post one). You should be able to just still touch the pot, thats about 60 Celsius. Pour the milk in the mug and stir it with a spoon, so the coffee and sugar flavor also is in the foam. Drink it and take your time!