I recently took a bus trip to New York City to visit our cafes and baristas down there. While the trip is always totally worth it, I couldn't help but grumble at the necessity of being ON the bus at 5:30am. No time for breakfast. No time to make coffee. Good thing I packed my trusty picnic basket...
Photos by Alexis Zaharis, Gimme! Coffee
Inside, I have everything I need to brew coffee on my trip. I have great coffee, a scale, a grinder, a small pour over brewer, size one filters, and real cups.
I took a large fancy bus this trip that was equipped with everything to make the five hour ride comfortable, including a coffee robot. While I am a fan of many robots, I didn't want one making my coffee. Sorry little guy, I'll handle the brewing.
Step one is to dose the coffee. My scale runs on rechargeable batteries and is accurate to a tenth of a gram. This scale was one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received. Weighing my coffee at home has made my mornings more joyful, because my coffee is always close to perfect!
For the next step, I turn to my trusty Skerton grinder for a consistent grind. No batteries needed.
Thanks to my new robot friend I have hot water when I am ready to brew. Pouring it steady and slow while the bus was speeding along the highway proved to be a challenge. I finally started to wake up once the scent of sweet fresh coffee filled the bus.
Brewing on the bus was a success. Traveling at 65mph is no excuse missing your morning coffee. I reached the big city energized and ready to get to work. Lucky for me getting to work means brewing and drinking more coffee. This was a good day.
MHA Feb 4, 2010 – 5:37 PM
That's brilliant! And I bet you found yourself brewing lots more coffee moments after these photos were taken, for jealous fellow passengers.
Adam Feb 5, 2010 – 12:28 AM
Love the pictorial! Tell me more about the scale.
Tom Feb 5, 2010 – 7:15 AM
Nice report! Did your neighbors ask you for some coffee? I recently used my V60 to make coffee on an Ithaca/NYC bustrip before, and after the smell of coffee filled the bus, several passengers asked me to make them a cup.
One suggestion: I found the Mini-mill to be much better than the bulky Skerton/Skeleton for traveling.
devorah_freudiger Feb 25, 2010 – 12:33 PM
It's a cheap battery operated scale that's great for most home use. You can find it on this beer brewing site http://morebeer.com/view_product/18662//High_Precision_Series_-_Blade_Scale_600g It's not accurate enough for use for legal transactions, but unless you are selling coffee by the gram on the street(or you run a cafe), this caliber of scale is fine.
It works for me, I use rechargeable batteries in it, and they last for months between chargings. It doesn't turn off from sitting idle, which I like and it's good for all the measurements I use. It does not weigh heavy enough to measure water dose by weight, which some people find necessary for accurate brewing. My home routine is not that involved, I dose coffee by weight and water by volume. This scale does everything I need it to.