Coffee Aboard

   Welcome to our new Aboard series! Over the next few months we'll be adding posts to this portion of our site, describing how we do things aboard S/V Kingsley, our sailboat-home here in the Pacific Northwest. We're excited to share some ideas and ways of doing things with our readers and hopefully receive a good deal of feedback and ideas in our comment sections on each post (because we're kinda new at this and you people are smart!).             
   We start today with something we couldn't leave behind when we sold [almost] everything and moved aboard our 32 ft boat - coffee. We are in Seattle after all! 
   Be sure to check back in on our Aboard series as we'll share posts on lots of aboard topics including: cooking, cleaning, entertainment, heating, cats, kayaks, marriage:), the head, storage, books, music, apps, candles, and more!   ~Paul, Amber, & Kali

 

We like to think we have mastered the art of a good cup of Joe on land or sea. On Kingsley, we often use the ol' stand-by - not a plastic, old, plug-in coffee pot mind you (this is Seattle don't forget!) - the french press. We heat up just enough water in the teapot on our Force 10 propane stove, add some ground coffee beans to the press (ground at the store or by our hand-powered grinder), add the water when it is warm enough, wait 3 1/2 to 4 minutes (using a timer), then press...pow!

---

Round 2: The stove-top espresso maker (percolator). Sometimes I need an iced Americano. This little guy (which we picked up cheap at Ikea) holds water in the bottom and finely ground espresso beans in the middle. When the water down below heats up it percolates up to the top (through the beans) giving you a good 4 shots of tasty espresso. Add some ice and water to taste or froth some milk and make a latte.

Finally, the cup-at-a-time Keurig. This thing has some unfortunate drawbacks but still comes through when you are late for work, don't want to spend money on coffee on the run (Starbucks), and want coffee that still tastes good. Just pop in a 'K-cup' flavor of your choice, add a mug full of water, hit brew, and wait about 3 minutes. The drawbacks? The price for the one-at-a-time coffees, the size of the machine, the electricity it uses, and the fact that for some reason the 'K-cups' aren't recyclable. As far as price for individual coffee goes you can usually find them on sale, I picked up some for about .50-a-pop at the grocery store the other day. As for the extra trash - which isn't good for us due to space and for the environment (think Pacific Ocean garbage patch) - we're really hoping customers will put pressure on the industry to make a compostable and/or recyclable cup. Ready for a coffee yet? Don't let living aboard slow you down! How do you make coffee on your boat? While sailing?