Cowboy coffee

[Bedrock Bob 1,954]

It is a good morning for coffee. How do you make yours?

 

 

Back in the open range days the cattle gangs would make "cowboy coffee". All it took was a can and a piece of bailing wire to get perfect coffee. The CCC guys and the rail gangs continued the tradition through the depression. Old construction or mining guys have probably seen it back when they were young. Hardly anyone does it that way anymore. I still don't think there is a better way to do it.

I used to boil coffee in a pot with a bail and take the pot outside each morning and spin it just like they did back in the day. I stopped when those little funnels came out.

How do you make your joe, Joe?

 

[hardtimehermit 201]

There was a period i used to pour some grinds in the pot and boil water. Then i would simply pour the coffee in my cup trying not to pour to much grinds in as well. Never works to well, always ended up with a bunch of grinds in my teeth. I used filters after that for awhile, but now i grab coffee in a tea bag, folgers makes them and some others i think. Just boil water and drop one of them in add sugar honey or whatever creamer makes you happy.

[hardtimehermit 201]

Just now, hardtimehermit said:

There was a period i used to pour some grinds in the pot and boil water. Then i would simply pour the coffee in my cup trying not to pour to much grinds in as well. Never works to well, always ended up with a bunch of grinds in my teeth. I used filters after that for awhile, but now i grab coffee in a tea bag, folgers makes them and some others i think. Just boil water and drop one of them in add sugar honey or whatever creamer makes you happy.

 

10 minutes ago, Bedrock Bob said:

It is a good morning for coffee. How do you make yours?

 

 

Back in the open range days the cattle gangs would make "cowboy coffee". All it took was a can and a piece of bailing wire to get perfect coffee. The CCC guys and the rail gangs continued the tradition through the depression. Old construction or mining guys have probably seen it back when they were young. Hardly anyone does it that way anymore. I still don't think there is a better way to do it.

I used to boil coffee in a pot with a bail and take the pot outside each morning and spin it just like they did back in the day. I stopped when those little funnels came out.

How do you make your joe, Joe?

 

 

[Bedrock Bob 1,954]

The little bags would work everywhere. I like that idea.

That is why I like the funnel and the filters. It works on the stove top, on the camp stove and on the campfire too. All you gotta do is heat some water somehow and the coffee is the same every time no matter where you are waking up. 

 

[Bruce Castle 23]

I sometimes make boiled coffee and made percolator coffee, it's the best.

I like strong coffee the kind you have chew be for swallowing.

My ex-wife once stoped by an ask me if would make her some navy coffee.

I bought her a small percolator.

Bruce

[Terry Soloman 685]

I find it is much easier to just mooch a cup off Bill, or Bunk! 

[LipCa 329]

I carry a jar of Folgers freeze dried in an empty coffee pot. Heat some water, pour a cup and add a teaspoon of coffee. There you go. Also carry a few packs of chocolate mix in the pot incase someone wants that.

[Bedrock Bob 1,954]

1 hour ago, LipCa said:

I carry a jar of Folgers freeze dried in an empty coffee pot. Heat some water, pour a cup and add a teaspoon of coffee. There you go. Also carry a few packs of chocolate mix in the pot incase someone wants that.

When you said "Folgers freeze dried" I suddenly remembered that I used "Folgers Crystals" for about a year. One of my buddies got me started drinking it. I remember really liking that stuff and it was quick and easy. I recall it made some killer red eye gravy too.

I might just go out and get me a little jar of it. I don't think I will change my morning routine to instant but I might make some more of that red eye gravy to go with the venison.

My mom used to drink instant. She would not let me drink coffee but the whole house would smell like dad's cowboy coffee and mom's instant crystals in the morning. I liked to lick my finger and stick it in those crystals. And I liked the way the instant stained the spoon. I would clean that off too.

Those Folgers Crystals were probably the gateway drug that led to my raging caffeine addiction today. Kinda like low grade brown meth.

[ArcticDave 1,668]

I've tried coffee all kinds of ways. I enjoyed good ol percolator coffee for a long time. Then I got lazy and started using a mr coffee drip machine. It worked, but the coffee lacked soul. I can't handle the instant stuff at all.

I switched to a french press recently. I will compare it to listening to recording through some chitty headphones and then hearing the entire orchestra in person. The difference really is astounding. 

If you ever get a french press(walmart $20) throw away the instructions and do it this way:

 I use about 4 tablespoons of good beans per large travel mug. Grind your beans coarsely. Dump them into your press. Pour enough boiling water in there to make your cup. Put the lid on and wait 4-5 minutes. The coffee grounds will be floating on top. Now give em a swirl to stir it up good. The grounds will sink. Now, leave the whole thing alone for another 8-10 minutes. Depress your plunger to push any unsunken grounds to bottom and pour the brown elixir into your cup...you will be rewarded with the most lush and flavorful cup of coffee you ever had. Repeat daily for best results, but be careful... you can quickly become a coffee snob. 

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by ArcticDave
Grammer

[Bedrock Bob 1,954]

My son uses a French Press. The coffee is excellent. But you have to wash that thing. I only wash dishes once a year so I would have to buy a half dozen. I would not have room for all those dirty coffee presses on my countertop with all the dirty cups and dishes. It would force me to remodel the kitchen and make it bigger or start burying my dirty dishes in the yard.

I use the Mexican Press. After my little funnel has dripped I roll up the grounds in the filter and squeeze the heck out of it getting the last of that thick, oily, alkaloid rich coffee into the cup. I use the small drip filter instead of the paper cones because the cones have a crappy seam that opens up when you squeeze them. 

[ArcticDave 1,668]

I solved that problem by only having one plate, one fork, one spoon..etc. The pile never gets out of hand that way. 

 

[Bedrock Bob 1,954]

8 minutes ago, ArcticDave said:

I solved that problem by only having one plate, one fork, one spoon..etc. The pile never gets out of hand that way. 

 

I used that method for about a week but I got tired of eating off a dirty plate after about six days. So I threw that plate up on the countertop and went down and bought me a years worth of dishes.

I have considered installing a chute next to the sink that leads outside to small crusher. The idea of just pushing all those dirty dishes into a hopper and powdering them has always fascinated me. 

[ArcticDave 1,668]

31 minutes ago, Bedrock Bob said:

I used that method for about a week but I got tired of eating off a dirty plate after about six days. So I threw that plate up on the countertop and went down and bought me a years worth of dishes.

I have considered installing a chute next to the sink that leads outside to small crusher. The idea of just pushing all those dirty dishes into a hopper and powdering them has always fascinated me. 

If you mixed the crushed dishes with some mortar it would be a satisfactory building material. You could slowly eat and grind your way into a new hacienda!

Or just leave it a pile and bask in the luxury of owning your very own ceramic island! With a nice chair on top, and maybe a pool.   

[Bedrock Bob 1,954]

27 minutes ago, ArcticDave said:

If you mixed the crushed dishes with some mortar it would be a satisfactory building material. You could slowly eat and grind your way into a new hacienda!

Or just leave it a pile and bask in the luxury of owning your very own ceramic island! With a nice chair on top, and maybe a pool.   

We think alike!

I figure the powdered ceramic would make an excellent floor. Like terrazzo.

Instead of washing dishes you could pour big floor tiles with white portland. Instead of drying dishes you could grind a nice surface on it. You would never have to wash dishes and you could spend that time doing something worthwhile. After a year you would have a fantastic patio to show for it instead of wrinkled fingers. It is a perfect win/win situation! 

--- The Plaza Cafe in Santa Fe has been there for 80 years. I used to coffee there. They took all their broken dishes and cups and tiled the walls. They used them for borders and designs in the floors. The bathrooms were completely covered in broken dishes, cups and saucers. The cup handles stuck out all over the walls at every angle.

There must have been a 12 yard dump truck load of broken dishes stuck to the walls. Every color, pattern and texture that you could ever imagine. It was way beyond cool.

[ArcticDave 1,668]

A patio is a miniature island of sorts.  I'm all for repurposing, and if you aren't going to wash them...might as well do something productive with 'em

The Plaza Cafe sounds like a groovy joint. The perfect kind of place to chill and enjoy the people show. 

[Au Seeker 2,425]

7 hours ago, Bedrock Bob said:

My son uses a French Press. The coffee is excellent. But you have to wash that thing. I only wash dishes once a year so I would have to buy a half dozen. I would not have room for all those dirty coffee presses on my countertop with all the dirty cups and dishes. It would force me to remodel the kitchen and make it bigger or start burying my dirty dishes in the yard.

I use the Mexican Press. After my little funnel has dripped I roll up the grounds in the filter and squeeze the heck out of it getting the last of that thick, oily, alkaloid rich coffee into the cup. I use the small drip filter instead of the paper cones because the cones have a crappy seam that opens up when you squeeze them. 

This reminded me of a childhood memory, we just moved into a new neigborhood and one of our neighbors was Mr. Davis, he was around 80 years old and a widower and had a old Black Lab that looked to be older than he was, I met him the first day we moved there and I saw him dragging a big can of trash towards the curb and having a hard time with it so I offered to take it to the curb for him, he thanked me and then offered me a grilled cheese sandwich, being it was one of my favorite sandwiches I quickly said sure we went inside and he made the grilled cheese sandwiches, we said down at his table and he put a plate down in front of me and then dropped the sandwich on the plate, I saw little bits of dried food on my plate and timidly asked him if the plates were clean, he said "there're as clean as cold water can get them!!", I felt sort of bad thinking he couldn't afford to pay the gas bill for his water heater so I didn't say anything else and ate my grilled cheese sandwich, we finished eating and he grabbed both plates and put them on the floor and then yelled "come here Old Water".... the Black Lab came slowly in and then proceeded to "clean" the plates......... I didn't say anything but I went home and brushed my teeth 3 times, Mr. Davis and I became fast friends and I helped him out as much as I could but I didn't accept any more food invites always using the excuse that my sister was making our meal as we speak and it was waiting on me as soon as I get home and it would hurt her feeling if I was full and couldn't eat what she had made!! 

[ArcticDave 1,668]

Ruby, my black Lab, loves to clean up. Her apparent highest aspiration in life, is to wash dishes. 

She is only the pre rinse cycle around here though!

[Au Seeker 2,425]

27 minutes ago, ArcticDave said:

Ruby, my black Lab, loves to clean up. Her apparent highest aspiration in life, is to wash dishes. 

She is only the pre rinse cycle around here though!

My dogs do dishes as well and love the job....BUT the dishes go into the dishwasher as soon as they're not looking!!

[Bedrock Bob 1,954]

39 minutes ago, ArcticDave said:

Ruby, my black Lab, loves to clean up. Her apparent highest aspiration in life, is to wash dishes. 

She is only the pre rinse cycle around here though!

Yeah, Chavo gets the dishes polished well but they still get hot soapy water with a capfull of bleach in it.

All except the iron skillets. I just get them hot and oil them up again. Dogslobber is non toxic when it is dried and then fried. 

The dog does not bother me at all. Even after he rolls in a carcass and eats a turd he freaks me out less than some people do. I'm a lot more concerned about the things I see crawling around on him than the things I can't see in his slobber.

Dogs are some of the best people I know. 

[Au Seeker 2,425]

43 minutes ago, Bedrock Bob said:

Yeah, Chavo gets the dishes polished well but they still get hot soapy water with a capfull of bleach in it.

All except the iron skillets. I just get them hot and oil them up again. Dogslobber is non toxic when it is dried and then fried. 

The dog does not bother me at all. Even after he rolls in a carcass and eats a turd he freaks me out less than some people do. I'm a lot more concerned about the things I see crawling around on him than the things I can't see in his slobber.

Dogs are some of the best people I know. 

I have never met a dog I didn't like, I have met a few that didn't like me, at least until they got to know me, but they were trained to be that way with strangers and just doing their job, if a dog still doesn't like you after they get to know you then there's something wrong with you!!

[Recycler 3]

Hmmm!Can looks a mite rusty to drink out of-scrub it out with some sand.My instant coffee powder caked up after a while,so I just threw likely pieces into a jar.Stir one into the hot water,and there you are!