How to Make Coffee While Camping

Want to learn how to make coffee while camping? Here are our favorite options from easy to gourmet, and hot or cold.

We've learned over our years of camping and backpacking that it's possible to manage a couple little luxuries in the great outdoors — and one of the big ones is coffee!

Whether you want coffee that's super easy to bring along, or are willing to invest in equipment and be a little fancy, there are ways to do it. Here are the best options we've found for coffee while camping.

Cold Coffee While Camping

Cold coffee is a great choice because it can easily be made or purchased ahead of time, meaning you don’t need to heat water or spend time fussing with a coffee machine.

We often bring cold coffee along when desert hiking, or when we want to get on the trail early and don’t want to spend time making coffee.

Options we like include:

• Bring store-bought premade cold coffee (canned or bottled). Our current favorite is Lavazza’s nitro cold brew.

• Make cold brew coffee ahead of time and bring it along in a jar. I generally make it a bit concentrated and add shelf-stable milk at camp.
• I’ve also seen instant iced coffee, but it typically requires quite a bit of ice (which I don’t always have on hand).

Hot Coffee While Camping

If the weather is chilly or your preferences tend toward hot coffee, there are lots and lots of options!

In general, you’ll need a way to heat the water (such as on a camp stove or backpacking stove).

• Instant Coffee
  Hands-down, one of the easiest options for hot coffee is to go the instant route. This is great for both camping and backpacking. The flavor, though, can sometimes be sub-par. (One variety I do like is the Farm to Summit Chile Mocha.)

• Percolator
  A percolator is the traditional route! Before you set a percolator on a campfire (“cowboy coffee”), make sure it’s totally metal. If it’s partially plastic, use a camp stove. Percolators are nice because they can double as tea kettles (just take the coffee basket out).

• Pour-Over Coffee
  If pour-over coffee is your favorite at home, you can get pour-over coffee setups specifically meant for camping.

Espresso-Style Coffee While Camping

For those who prefer espresso more than drip or pour-over coffee, there are some truly amazing coffee setups available. Most have a slight learning curve, but are well worth it to continue indulging your fancy coffee needs and wants.

Aeropress

An Aeropress is easy, portable and lightweight. It doesn't make a true espresso, but an espresso-style concentrated coffee.

Hand-Pump Espresso Machine

A hand-pump espresso machine is our favorite portable coffee option.

We specifically love this hand-pump espresso machine and the barista kit (which allows you to make double shots).

It’s easy to use (once you get the hang of it), and the version we have can either use ground coffee or pods.

We’ve found it to be sturdy and lightweight enough to take backpacking, and also quick enough to make an espresso on a rushed morning or hiking trail.

Bellman Espresso Maker

The Bellman espresso maker takes glamping to a whole new level. It makes wonderful creamy espresso and even allows you to froth milk!

We really feel spoiled when using this at camp. It is a bit complicated to learn, and somewhat slow (especially when making multiple batches of lattes for a group) so it’s mainly ideal for a non-rushed chill morning at camp.

However you choose to get your coffee, pairing it with some campfire French toast or a campfire breakfast hash definitely bodes well for the day!