Espresso Dave’s Camping Coffee is as essential to camping as a warm sleeping bag, bug spray, dry tent, matches, flashlight, water, food, mess kit and good friends, especially good friends with beer.

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to disconnect and drive north to the White Mountains for a car camping adventure with close friends and family. The first night, we enjoyed a wonderful campfire, made Jiffy Pop (the kids had never seen this before), devoured s’mores and talked coffee for more than an hour. We debated beans, brews, Starbucks v. Peets v. Dunkins, and they even tried to convince me to divulge secrets about my espresso bar catering biz.

The next morning, by the time I had already brewed my second pot of  coffee with my French press, my camping companions were getting serious about their camp coffee. Here’s a brief pictorial provided by Howard & Allison:

My other camping buddies also had words of wisdom to share about their outdoor coffee habits:

Laura I brew my coffee using a plastic cone with a paper filter right into my old coffee mug from au bon pain, add half and half and I’m good to go… (Same way I make it a home… different mug)… Yes, I tried the “cowboy method” UGH. No crazy stories…just got to have it…

Hank Using a press for past couple years … Before that a simple, plastic, one-cup unit that you place a cone filter into. Never tried the “sock method” or “cowboy method”… sounds a bit nasty to me.  If we don’t have strong, good coffee,  Jen & I would be very unpleasant campers.

Rhonda Best camp coffee is percolated on a camp stove or open fire. I have an adorable 4-cup pot with a clear knob on top that I can see the coffee bubbling. About 5 minutes, when it is nice and black, it’s ready. More thoughts: When I was single, I backpacked, pouring boiling water through a filter with coffee into a single cup. When I married, I discovered B&B’s that served coffee already brewed in beautiful china cups. When I had babies, I learned that cold coffee, reheated in the microwave, is better than no coffee. When my babies grew to children, the family explored car camping−an unusual phenomenon to me as to why anyone would drive up to a campsite, let alone drive away in the morning to purchase coffee from a Dunkin Donuts!

What’s your secret to good coffee in the wilderness? Share your technique for coffee alfresco!