Coffee is so important to Northwest boaters I that I'm going to suggest that John Vigor's new book be titled "Making Coffee Afloat: And 19 Other Useful Ceremonies, Superstitions, Prayers, Rituals, and Curses".
I can't do the topic justice here, but I'll try to cover the basics of brewing coffee. I don't have the equipment for latte's at sea, so for latte's I either dinghy ashore, or wait for the latte boat to come around. I've been thinking about yanking out the Yanmar and installing a steam engine. I figure with a good source of steam on board, I could have latte's even while underway.
A great cup of coffee starts with a quality roasted whole bean. It doesn't matter where it's grown, as long as it's passed through a Seattle port and roasting company. Starbucks or Seattle's Best are both good brands.
You'll need a good grinder. I use a Zassenhaus Model 156 knee mill. These are adjustable so that you can get the perfect grind. They don't use electricity and take very little space. These mills aren't cheap, but unless they've been abused they'll last forever. I bought mine on ebay. If you buy used, make sure the burrs haven't been damaged. The Zassenhaus mills have hardened burrs so they're unlikely to be worn. When you get right down to it, we're talking about coffee, so price really shouldn't be an issue. You'll want to periodically clean the burrs by grinding uncooked rice.
The Zassenhaus knee mill has a little compartment on top that holds just about the right number of beans for my coffee press (as you gain experience, you won't need to count the individual beans).
My coffee press is the BonJour 3-cup model shown here. It's made of polycarbonate and seems to be unbreakable. The only thing you need to watch with this unit is the removable rubber base. You'll want to take the base off before you commit the grounds to Neptune, otherwise you run the risk of loosing it overboard.
Ok, so you have the beans, the grinder and the press. You'll also need an accurate timepiece. Any modern quartz watch with fresh batteries will do, or you can use the time display on your GPS unit. The GPS unit offers the best accuracy as the time base is a rubidium clock. Note that some of the satellites use cesium clocks. This won't affect the taste. Avoid using balance wheel watches and clocks.
Finally, you need good water. Obtaining high quality water while afloat is an advanced topic that I'm not going to attempt to cover here. Perhaps John can include a few chapters on water in his book.
At this point, you can use almost any method available to heat the water provided you don't introduce contaminates (a charcoal grill is out). You can probably even use that trucker's 12V coffee pot if it's clean and you have the batteries for it. I find that I can obtain good results with a diesel stove. A coffee snob would probably object to heating the water in an aluminum container, but my palate isn't so refined that I can tell the difference. Even so, it would probably be best to use a glass or Pyrex pan.
Now that you have the right equipment, here's how you make coffee in 10 easy steps:
1. Fill a clean pan with water and apply heat.
2. Fill the grinder's hopper with beans and grind while the water is heating
3. Just before the water is comes to a boil, put a little bit in the coffee press to preheat it.
4. Just as the water comes to a boil, empty the coffee press and pour in the coffee from the little drawer on the coffee grinder. I do all of this over a paper towel because it can be a little messy if you're not careful. I find that it's best to open the drawer while holding the mill over the press.
5. Note the time and pour the boiling water over the grounds, filling the press. Leave enough room to install plunger. I fill to the top of the handle band.
6. Install the press plunger and push the filter screen down just far enough to submerge the coffee. On the BonJour press turn the top so that the pouring spout is covered by the integral shield. This will keep the coffee from cooling as quickly.
7. After four minutes, use some of the leftover boiling water to preheat the coffee cups.
8. After six minutes, slowly press the on the plunger to push the screen all of the way to the bottom. This traps the grounds at the bottom. How tightly you trap the grounds is a matter of taste.
9. Empty the preheat water from the cups.
10. Turn the BonJour lid so the pouring screen covers the pouring spout, fill your coffee cup and enjoy.
That's it. It's not difficult, but you'll probably want to practice several times at home before heading out to sea.
