Campfire Coffee

Now its been said before that our instructor Davie likes the occasional cup (VAT) of coffee, here he pays homage to the great Mors Kochanski whilst stuck indoors with no campfire

Here Davie writes:

With many of us stuck indoors just now, we may be missing those camp fire brews where coffee becomes a morning ritual. As someone who makes a lot of coffee in the woods it’s a big loss during the current times particularly as sharing it round the fires a big part of our mornings in camp.

So today I bring the billy can to the kitchen: For a homage to Mors who did a video on this many years ago, but I am pretty confident there was no microwave involved…

So for this you will need

1 kitchen

1 understanding partner (optional)

1 billy can

1 bag coffee

1 mug

1 spoon

Optional extras carnation milk and sugar to taste

So firstly I measure water into my billy can counting the cups, you want to fill it no more than 3/4 but I find two thirds best

Then using a desert spoon I add a spoon of coffee per cup of water plus one extra to the cold water

Then, on the hob, bring it to a boil, a handy tip is to use a wooden spoon to keep the bail arm away from the heat

Now it takes patience, you need to allow the water to come to the boil and mix the coffee grind through.

Don’t be tempted to stir it, after a while you will see the changes shown below, You need to be ready to reduce heat soon

This step is very rapid, as soon as it starts to mix in it will begin to bubble up, you must TURN THE HEAT DOWN, dont let it boil over (remember the understanding partner in case of error!)

At this point you want to simmer the mixture around 60 seconds, any longer than this and the bitter tanins will be released.

Remove it from the heat after those 60 seconds have ellapsed, the next step is to settle the grinds. I do this by tapping with a stick on the side of the can, you can also do it by adding cold water or just allowing it to settle for a few minutes.

Add some sugar and carnation milk to suit your taste, and in the words of the great Mors himself… “Your in the lap of luxury”

Davie Mccarae- Instructor, Primitive skills year Alumni