Having recently experienced yet another hurricane in South Florida, I
thought we were well prepared for some days without electric power.
Yes, I had all the supplies stored and the propane lanterns and
Coleman stoves but. . ..

I forgot about a coffee pot!

We use an under-counter Mister Coffee that's worked well for twelve
years or so and no one thought about an alternate coffee brewing
method.

After discussing various ways of doing this trick (and being unwilling
to fall back on those "coffee bags" we had aplenty for times of
absolute desperation) I finally gave up and resorted to dumping the
coffee into a sauce pan of boiling water, letting it sit for a bit,
then decanting the coffee. I recalled something about the old West
cowboys doing something like this. And the coffee was spiced with egg
shells and hot sauce and whatever else seemed appropriate at the time.
It resulted in coffee but whatever went into it must have made any
assessment of the coffee quality of secondary importance.

We had a problem filtering the coffee from the grounds. The regular
filters from the Mister Coffee clogged immediately and allowed only a
slow drip (about one drop a minute) so they were out. I can't wait
that long.

I tried cheesecloth with similar results.

An old, aluminum "teaball," when opened up, worked the best but it was
almost impossible to hold the damned thing and pour boiling coffee
into it at the same time. Result...blue air and no coffee.

The decanted coffee was drinkable, although a little gritty.

Now, whatever the circumstances, no man should have to struggle so
mightily for a cup of coffee that assumes the importance of plasma to
a wounded soldier.

I have to believe there's a better way. At this point, I'm prepared to
go find an old percolator. Maybe a visit to our local flea market will
solve my problem.

But I will greatly appreciate any suggestions as how to best solve
this problem. Boiling lots of water is no problem whatsoever. But time
is sorta of the essence because there's another one of these tropical
hummers cooking in the South Atlantic and this seems to be the year
for us to take multiple hits.

FWIW we do like the Gevalia coffees and use them regularly. I assume
that's not a problem. However, if a particular coffee is strongly
recommended, I'm willing to use it. Remember, I'm planning for a
degree of desperation here.

Your recommendations will be welcomed.



Pixmaker in FLL
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It's not the heat, it's the humidity!
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(..Think the humidity's bad?
You should watch us vote!)