Up next in 10
Bikepacking means packing super light. The real camping officiandos will strip all unnecessary weight from everything they take. But that doesn't mean you need to compromise on your first brew of the day.
Well balanced, good, rich mouthfeel, great body, nice, rich taste and smell... just some of the words that pro baristas regularly use to define the multitude of coffee varieties and flavours out there on the market. For me, i'm less interested in the developing my barista vocab than I am making sure it's the first thing I do in the morning. Without a coffee in the morning I'm useless for hours. It doesn't matter where I am in the world - be that a friends house, hotel room or a tent - my preparation for every trip includes some serious consideration to where my first coffee of the day will come from.
Recently we were sent three different ways to brew coffee from Barista & Co. So I decided to put each of them to the test in the context of bike camping. For comparison and to maximise my caffeine intake I used my go to outdoor brewing device, the Aeropress.
Fun fact. The Aeropress was invented by Alan Adler, the CEO of Aerobie. You know? That company that makes the frisbie ring toy that goes for miles.
Learn more here..
https://singletrackworld.com/gritcx/2020/06/16/bike-packing-coffee-4-ways-to-brew-up-outdoors/
Brew It Stick purchase link https://fave.co/2Y4OgBA
Twist Press purchase link https://fave.co/3hvpLVX
One Brew purchase Link https://fave.co/2UO82PE
Aeropress purchase link https://fave.co/2UO82PE
Here's a little bonus feature just for you weirdos who like tea.
https://youtu.be/uYZLEJcM1Us
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0:12
morning I signal truckers mark here as
0:25
every good bike Packer knows your kit is
0:28
not complete unless you also take with
0:29
you a way to make coffee and so today
0:32
I'm going to show you four different
0:33
ways to make coffee while your bike
0:35
camping
0:37
it's a giant tea bag upon the end of a
0:39
stick first coffee of the day a little
0:43
bit of water on start with I think I'm
0:46
feeling pretty wide right now I think I
0:47
might need to go sit in a dark room here
0:51
are my four different ways of making
0:53
coffee we'll start over here on the
0:54
right this and this and this are from a
0:57
company called barista & Co this one is
1:00
called the brew stick this one is called
1:03
the twist press and this one is called
1:06
the one brew what I've got over here is
1:08
one that you might be familiar with this
1:09
is the ubiquitous arrow press I thought
1:12
it would be a very good test to compare
1:14
all these against this standard so this
1:17
is the Brewster he's really really
1:19
simple you literally take it out and
1:20
it's a giant tea bag on the end of a
1:22
stick you undo that you put your coffee
1:25
into there you put it into your cup you
1:28
pour on your hot water and that's all
1:30
there is to it so let's give this a go
1:33
okay I've brought my pre-ground coffee
1:35
now the thing that I've learnt with this
1:37
is that the choice of coffee is really
1:40
important you've got to use filter style
1:44
grown with this if you stick your normal
1:45
espresso grind fine grinding this it's
1:48
just gonna clog it up and I played
1:50
around with the amounts that we put in
1:51
for me for what I like I'm going with
1:54
about half a basket of coarse ground
1:56
coffee so put that on there and then you
2:01
gently pour your hot water over the top
2:05
then you just leave the stick in there
2:07
you let it brew you can come in and look
2:09
in the coffee you can see that that's
2:10
actually it's clearly work so once you
2:17
have up this in for wow it's a talent
2:19
team you've got to experiment this I
2:20
found experimentation is the key to this
2:22
little device like I said I initially
2:25
put almost an espresso grind in there
2:27
and that was that it didn't do anything
2:30
it was farty fine it's got a bit coarse
2:32
so check that out that's you know all
2:34
these drips cleanliness is something
2:36
that's really really important you just
2:37
don't want to be dropping coffee or look
2:39
all the place you want it to be
2:40
convenient when you're camping this is
2:42
its own little drip tray which i think
2:44
is kind of cool so I've got my coffee
2:46
here I like mine with a little splash of
2:47
milk let's have a look right that's the
2:50
right color certainly is for me so let's
2:52
give it a taste - this way
2:55
ah it's genuinely is my first coffee of
2:58
the day nice that's good that is really
3:04
really good I'm very very happy with
3:06
that
3:07
it's taken a few goes at this to get it
3:10
measurements right for me and you'll
3:12
have to do that too but that is a
3:15
straightforward filter style coffee
3:18
so what's also important is once you've
3:19
made your coffee is how easy is it to
3:20
clean up your kit okay for this one like
3:23
I said you've got your drip cup here
3:25
which is great and all you do is take
3:26
that off
3:27
there's the grounds inside tap that into
3:29
the bin run it under the tap jobs good
3:31
that was the Bruce stick from Arista and
3:34
co and you can get one of these for
3:35
about 12 quid okay next up is the
3:39
Bristol n Co twist press this you can
3:42
get for around about 25 to 30 pounds
3:44
online and let's give this a go so this
3:48
is the barista and co twist press it's
3:52
very interesting I think this is
3:54
ingenious I'm going to show you how this
3:56
works first of all to make your coffee
3:57
you have to take the thing apart it
3:59
twists and you can see the thread in
4:01
there everything comes apart I'm going
4:04
to put that to one side take this part
4:08
off just there and you can see all the
4:10
working parts we've got the filter here
4:12
this is a system if you're if you're
4:13
familiar with the Aeropress
4:15
you'll be familiar with these little
4:16
filter papers this requires these filter
4:18
papers the filter goes in there and then
4:23
if I get kettle
4:24
it requires pre-wetting so that is just
4:27
put a little bit of water on start with
4:30
they're gonna put the chamber on and now
4:35
got to put the coffee in now this is
4:36
where it gets clever because what I like
4:39
about this system as this plunger part
4:41
here as a secret compartment into which
4:44
I have pre stored coffee this is more of
4:49
an espresso grind because you can use
4:51
that with this and I put about three of
4:54
those in there
4:55
again you'd how much you put in there
4:58
depends on what you want to how you want
5:01
your coffee to be put that on the top of
5:05
your cup and now we're simply going to
5:08
fill the whole mechanism in boiling
5:11
water we're gonna give it a stir it's
5:19
already starting to trickle through I
5:21
can hear that and I'm gonna leave that
5:23
for about a minute so okay that's brewed
5:28
I want to put my mechanism on the top
5:31
there and I am simply going to bring
5:34
these together what's happening now is
5:37
the plunger inside is putting pressure
5:39
on that coffee and forcing it through
5:42
the filter when the two handles are
5:44
together we're done let's take that off
5:46
and we've got our coffee - your milk see
5:52
the color there second copy of the day
5:55
oh now that is noticeably different from
6:03
the brew stick because the brew stick
6:05
relies on a kind of just a passive
6:09
mixing process just like like a filter
6:12
like a percolator machine but whereas
6:15
this requires your pressure to force the
6:19
coffee through the filter paper and
6:21
there's all good coffee connoisseurs no
6:23
add a little bit of pressure into the
6:25
mix and that's how you get really good
6:27
coffee that is really nice I like this a
6:30
lot but again it doesn't end there
6:32
because you've got to clean the thing
6:33
and get it ready for the next brew so
6:35
how does that work right well let's
6:41
taken apart you see we've got a bit of
6:45
rinsing to do on the plunger there all
6:47
the coffee's in there to touch that
6:52
filters pretty clean actually that's
6:55
pretty good
6:55
there's our filter and everything and
6:58
all we do knock it out
7:00
give it a rinse now you can see I've
7:02
actually got a bit of grinds on here so
7:03
I wouldn't say it's as clean as the brew
7:05
stick coffee is always messy give that a
7:09
rinse out and you're good to go
7:10
next we're gonna try the one brew from
7:13
barrister unko this is much more
7:15
traditional style cafeteria coffee but
7:20
it has a little bit of a twist so what
7:23
we've got here is a jug now this jug is
7:25
kind of I think it's hard plastic which
7:27
means it's probably okay to take with
7:29
you on a bike packing trip if you want
7:32
to let me take this out I'll show you
7:34
how this works
7:35
the filter is built into the spout so
7:39
this is simply a case of putting coffee
7:41
into there pouring the water on stirring
7:43
up let me brew and then we pour it
7:45
through the filter so the success of
7:46
this is essentially gonna be how good is
7:48
that filter okay so I'm using the same
7:51
coffee that I use for the twist grip
7:53
because I've got a lot of it here in
7:54
there saw the way I'm just going to put
7:56
my coffee in and put a couple of big
7:58
heat spoons in they're all very familiar
8:01
pull that in there put that down spoon
8:06
give it a good stir now I'm gonna let
8:11
this brew for around about four minutes
8:18
okay that's brood long enough let's give
8:20
it a go the successful or not of this is
8:22
all going to be down to that filter the
8:25
seats pouring out just fine this is an
8:27
espresso grind as well so this is pretty
8:30
good doesn't seem to be clogging this
8:34
one I have to say is looking
8:36
particularly strong for my third cup of
8:39
coffee of the day so let's give it a go
8:41
coming for the color test and see that's
8:44
looking cooler it's looking correct good
8:46
coffee give it a go
8:48
third coffee of the morning by jingo is
8:55
that strong quick word on cleaning it's
8:59
the standard cafeteria-style cleaning so
9:01
we're gonna have to open this out rinse
9:02
everything pour water on it let it dry
9:06
stick it back in the bag it's all there
9:08
is to it really finally we're gonna run
9:10
a test with the ubiquitous arrow press
9:13
so the arrow press if you're not
9:15
familiar with it uses pressure to push
9:18
coffee through filters in much the same
9:21
way that the twist press does so let's
9:24
put this together it comes in two there
9:28
are three parts this is where the
9:31
filters go
9:31
I actually the paper filters I prefer to
9:34
use two filters at a time what I
9:36
actually do like is the fact that you
9:37
can buy on Amazon or in other places you
9:41
can buy a metal filter so that you don't
9:43
have to keep going through paper filters
9:45
all the time so reusable filters are
9:47
available there are a couple of ways
9:49
that you can actually brew this my
9:51
favorite way is to put this on there put
9:57
the coffee directly into the Aeropress
10:00
pour the water
10:03
and to hear it needs to be on top of the
10:05
cup because it's gonna start dripping
10:06
right from the start through that filter
10:09
give it a stir and we're gonna let that
10:12
brew again I've attached the plunger to
10:15
the top and what I'm simply going to do
10:17
is I'm going to lean on this and you can
10:20
see the coffee been forced through the
10:23
filter paper keep going all the way down
10:28
you hear the hiss of the air being
10:32
pushed through the filter paper at the
10:33
end push it all the way through because
10:37
we'll come back to that when we look at
10:38
the cleaning Jesus take that off
10:43
milk in and again because pressure has
10:51
been used in making this coffee just
10:52
like the twist press it actually does
10:55
alter the flavor it gives you for me it
10:58
gives me a better flavor of coffee when
11:00
compared to the filter style how about
11:03
cleaning the Aeropress okay when you're
11:05
done turn it over twist that take off
11:09
that that filters pretty much good to go
11:11
all the coffee in the filters there over
11:13
to a bin which I don't have we will pick
11:16
this up afterwards get rid of push rinse
11:21
that under the tap and you're good to go
11:25
okay so which one do I prefer well it's
11:28
interesting because when you backpacking
11:29
how compact your equipment is is
11:32
absolutely vital I absolutely love the
11:35
simplicity of this it's a bit kind of
11:37
sticky but it's really really simple and
11:39
if you are happy with just standard
11:42
filter coffee I think this is a winner
11:44
and for 12 quid it's a billion bargain
11:47
filter coffees like this the jug thing
11:50
for me doesn't really do it I prefer to
11:52
add a little bit of pressure into my
11:53
coffee so I'm just having it sit there
11:55
and brew doesn't really work for me I
11:56
think this is probably the messiest one
11:57
and the hardest one to clean so I'm
11:59
gonna put that over there for me though
12:01
when it comes to bite packing and the
12:03
actual quality of coffee it comes down
12:05
to these two the ubiquitous arrow press
12:08
and this new to the market barrister and
12:10
co twist press they both make coffee in
12:13
principally exactly the same way I could
12:15
not tell a difference in the flavor
12:17
the two so it literally comes down to
12:19
which one I prefer to pack up in weight
12:23
terms they're about the same but I think
12:25
the thing that edges it for me is the
12:28
fact that this twist press has got its
12:30
own built-in storage so we can actually
12:32
put the coffee in there if you take the
12:34
Aeropress with you you're gonna have to
12:35
take a little bag of coffee in another
12:37
container that could be the thing that
12:39
makes it fit into your backpack or not
12:41
so for me flavor-wise they're both
12:44
identical if you've got an arrow press I
12:47
see no reason why you would go out and
12:49
buy one of these and if you don't have
12:51
any of these I don't see why you
12:52
wouldn't buy this off of the Aeropress
12:54
they're pretty much the same there but
12:57
it's just the storage on this one that
12:59
makes me want to give it a big
13:00
singletrack turns off how many coffees
13:04
back this is number four this in the
13:06
films not false coffee for stuffing
13:07
blowing yep so I think I'm feeling
13:09
pretty wide right now I think I might
13:10
need to go and sit in a dark room with a
13:11
frigid spinner for a little while
13:18
[Music]
13:20
as all if you know Singleton's box stop
13:25
morning single trackers mark here i'm
13:28
bike packing in my garden because i
13:31
wanted to demonstrate something that's
13:33
very very important
13:35
hi single trackers mark here i'm bike
13:38
camping in my garden and I wanted to
13:43
show you as all good bike campers by
13:49
campus high single track I had an in-car
13:55
pretty I single track is mark here
14:00
I'm one the helmet rock high single
14:05
track is mark here as every good bike
14:08
back and knows that was a be right in my
14:10
face
14:10
[Laughter]
14:26
[Music]
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