Power Outage Equals the Best Cup of Coffee
This is a situation that has happened to all of us: you wake up in a warm bed having had an amazing nights sleep. You feel unusually refreshed. It is at that moment that anxiety sets in. Something is not right. There is just a little bit too much light coming through the windows. You look over at the clock on the night stand and it looks back at you with no read out. Power’s out. You jump out of bed, find your watch and it reads 45 minutes past your wake up time. First stop, cell phone to call work to let them know your going to be late because the powers out. Next stop, coffee.
Tools of the trade
Wait, the powers out. No coffee maker and no coffee bean grinder. Yikes!!! Things just are not going to get cracking without a cup o’ joe. What to do? Do you run your emergency generator? Go instant? Your mind thinks “I know I have a packet of instant somewhere”. Maybe I should just run out to Starbucks. Nope, they don’t have power either. What other option is left. I’m glad you asked. What’s next is the best cup of coffee you have ever had.
The hand grinder.
All it takes is a little for thought and some equipment that will payoff the first time you use it. Here is what you need:
- A french press
- A manual coffee grinder
- A camp stove
- Filtered water
- Pot
Now there are levels to the power being out. First, just electricity. All you need is the press and the grinder. That is IF you have a gas stove. You can use the grinder to fill the french press and heat your water on the stove. However, if you have an electric stove, your out of luck and need to go the escalated option. That is, you need a camp stove to heat your water up. With that said, let me initiate the uninitiated.
No power? No problem if you have a manual grinder
Inside the grinder
I like my coffee fresh, strong and hot. All three conditions must be met in order to have a decent cup of coffee. Fresh ground beans are best along with boiling water that is not from the tap. I don’t like my coffee tasting like a swimming pool and my water company uses just a bit to much chlorine (and fluoride) for my taste. I prefer the water out of my Berkey water filterfor any and all coffee preparations. While the water is boiling, I set to grinding my beans in the coffee grinder.
Fresh roasted beans: into the grinder
Now the hard part: manual labor.
After a few minutes… brown gold
This is a hand powered grinder that can be set for the type of grind that suits me. I keep it coarse for the french press. By the time I’m done grinding, the water is boiled. I add the coffee to the french press and then slowly pour in the water. I let the coffee steep for a few minutes, give it a stir and begin pressing. Press your coffee slowly. Don’t force it.
No coffee filter to deal with when using a french press.
Now for the pour. You will notice the coffee will look a bit turbid. This is normal. You’re filtering through a wire mesh screen not a paper filter. If you like, you can pour your brew through a paper filter but that kills the flavor. Give the poured coffee a gentle nose (sniff). You’ll notice that the coffee has a nutty smell. The nutty smell will translate into the taste. If you have never had french press coffee have a small sip that will just coat your tongue. Get used to it. It’s different. Now it’s time to wake up. Please enjoy your coffee as you normally would adding milk, creams and sugar as desired.
Emergency coffee nearly complete.
For those of you who haven’t tried coffee from a french press, it’s worth the investment.
While the above seems a bit much the point is is that you made a fantastic bit of coffee with no power from the grid. All hand ground and filtered through a unpowered system. You also made the freshest coffee possible. By just owning a coffee press and manual grinder, your day is saved. The strength of the coffee is something you will have to experiment with. How much beans to add and the grind. In the end it is better to make a stronger brew of coffee as you can just add more hot water to thin it out or add milk. You can buy manual grinders on ebay for about 20 bucks and the same for french presses. Cheaper than a brewer/grinder combo that is powered by electricity. Plus, you never have to worry about the power being out. They even make french presses for camping that are made out of high impact plastic. They work great.
Pour yourself a well deserved cup of coffee. Enjoy.
In any case, being able to make a cup of coffee in any situation is a huge moral booster and a great start to the day. If you really want to earn some hero points, brew an additional batch of coffee, dump it in a thermos and take it to work with you. If the power is still out, fill up the zombies that didn’t get coffee with some of your awesome brew. Now we’re talking prepared.
Stay thirsty my friends.
~ Adam, Modern Bushman
And after finding the grinder,then the french press,then the camp stove,you start grinding.Grind,grind,grind.You pour the ground coffee into the press, and now you have to set up the stove.10 minutes gone so far.You add the distilled water.OH NO! YOU DON’T HAVE DISTILLED WATER!!!What should you do?Use tap water?Not according to the author you don’t!You run to the nearest corner store and purchase a bottle.It takes 15 minutes because all the signal lights are out and there’s a wreck, stopping traffic.Cops won’t let anyone through.By the time you get home, a half hour has passed, but dammit,YOU NEED THAT COFFEE!!You begin the process of making it,by lighting the stove,bearing in mind you have fuel, or at least enough for a cup of freshly ground french press coffee.10 more minutes until it’s done.Fantastic! you pour your cup, and get ready for work.Another 15-20 minutes.You gulp down that luxurious cup of coffee, and jump back into your vehicle,and race to work. NOPE. They still haven’t cleared the wreck so 10 minutes until you can get by.FINALLY, you get to work, and your boss is pissed.You get fired.And because of the economy,you can’t find work for two years.You wind up losing your home, and become homeless.Most of your belongings are gone because you either pawned them, or threw them out because they won’t let you keep them with you in the shelter, and you can’t pay for the storage unit to keep them.You get in a welfare program,and finally get in a halfway house.Still can’t find work.Not even washing dishes,flipping burgers or mopping up puke after hours at a club.With a bit of luck, you wind up in the housing projects, with little to decorate your home,but you do get a voucher for mixed matched furniture from a local church which is good, except it’s all infested with bedbugs. The neighbors on your right are dealing bathsalts,salvia and krokodil.The ones on the left are doing them and screaming 24/7,beating on the walls, and regularly have local law enforcement stopping by for high tea at all hours of the night and day. So you sit and sip on a cup of instant,laced with a milk from a stale can that you procured from the food bank, and fantasize about that perfect cup of French pressed coffee,while you load your 38 special with one bullet.
Don’t think it could happen? It happened to me.Here’s some advice.If your late to work, get dressed and race to work.Screw the coffee.