in article , Pixmaker at
wrote on 9/6/04 7:42 PM:

> 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.

Since you like drip coffee, and that's what you're used to drinking, find
yourself a "Melitta" or other brand of manual coffee brewer. Here's one:

http://fantes.com/coffeemakers_manualdrip.htm

It's the same principal as your auto drip machine, except you heat the water
to just below boiling on the (camp) stove, then pour it over the grounds.
The coffee drips into the waiting pot below.

I have one and I use it regularly as my main coffee maker. Works great!
Mine is a single cup brewer. You can get them for one cup or 8-10 cups.
The single cup cone costs under $5. Beats instant any day of the week!!!!!

I got mine at a supermarket. Haven't noticed them at WalMart, but they may
have 'em. Wild Oats or Whole Foods probably also sell them as they seem to
appeal to environmentally aware folks. Also, try a coffee "emporium" such
as Charbucks (StarBucks) or similar.

If you can't find one of those, look at the supermarket, KMart or even your
local hardware store (ACE or TrueValue type, not Home Depot) for an
old-fashioned aluminum percolator, probably for about $10.

But if you're used to drip coffee, I'd go with the manual drip set up. Those
percolators make stronger coffee than the drip brewers, might not be to your
taste.