Making coffee on the side of the road.

[Viertrek]

Can people with experience pls tell us how well these work (all brands)? Quick, how long does a canister last, etc? Only for road side use or even for camping? Thanks!

Last week I went shopping for one of these stoves in Bloemfontein. Swambo mentioned Bush Baby at CheckersHyper so I went there first to check out price and quality as I don't trust the Bush Baby brand very much.

Bush Baby went for R249. Then on to Outdoor Warehouse which only stocks Alfa at R449. It seams that Alfa is the standard and I just get the feel that it is a little better quality wise than the Bushbaby.

On to Builders Warehouse and the price for an Alfa jumped to R499, reduced from R549 nogal.

Last stop was Omega Gas and found a Total branded one for R329. I bought the Total there and then, as it is exactly the same as the Alfa branded ones.

At the end it seems that the stoves are the same design and seems to come from the same factory but with very slight changes in constuction and cosmetic features.

All in all I think that they are all basically identical. Except for the Bush Baby that just felt not the same, quality wise. I may be wrong as some mentioned here that they prefer the Bush Baby to the Alfa. A Friend have two Bush Baby's with which he seams very hapy.

In any case, the plastic cases were all flimsy throughout with no differeces on all the models, apart from a little difference in the locking maganisms. Some use clips as an locking maganism and some use sliders. For me, the cases does not really need to be super sturdy. It is just a conveniant container and definitely better than nothing at all.

There were lots of Canister at CheckersHyper who were the cheapest, all round, at R29 per canister of 220 grams.

Mine will be used primarily to make coffee during load shedding and at camping trips and perhaps to warm up a quick meal.

The simplisity and convenience of this little stoves makes it a wiiner for me.

[Bialetti]

Bialetti

Hi What is the biggest Bialetti in terms of cups or Litres that you can get.

Thanks and regards Gavin

The largest size made is an 18 cup that produces about 900ml of coffee. A cup size is about 50ml

Regards

Greg

[Bialetti]

Hi, what is the offer?

We only make coffee in Moka pots

Coffee Snob, yes. Apologetic about it, no

PM me to get a code to get 25% discount

Greg

[Toccata (Roelof)]

Help me understand... we usually drink coffee from a bean-to-cup machine (Jura). We don't drink espresso.
Some Bialettis mention espresso, some mention coffee (i.e. the Venus).

Am I able to make coffee-strength coffee with a Venus? Or will it always be espresso, needing to be watered down Americano style to get coffee?

[Paul Dold]

On hand grinders the Japanese ceramic burr Hario’s are excellent. I have the Skerton Plus. I see they have now brought out a Pro model. Quality of the grind made a huge difference to my coffee.

[jdjoubert]

We have a cheap 2 burner gas stove in the back of the ute. This video is 7 years old now. But we simply boil some water and make cheap instant coffee wherever we like.
This 2 plate burner has in the last 12 years probably made close to 500 vetkoekke also.

[Skylark]

The largest size made is an 18 cup that produces about 900ml of coffee. A cup size is about 50ml

Regards

Greg

By cup he is referring to an espresso shot, most people would take a single or double shot and add hot water/milk to make a full mug of coffee.

The problem I find with a Moka pot is you can't really play around with the coffee to water ratio too much so despite a Moka pot being the ultimate in rugged reliability I prefer to rather buy the over priced yet amazing Aeropress.

50yrs later barring a few seal and basket replacements a Moka pot should still be chugging away just fine but going by how long Aeropresses last me with daily use by that time I would have needed to buy 15 x Aeropresses at R800 a pop. Expensive but they do make good coffee.

[BobMabena]

Help me understand... we usually drink coffee from a bean-to-cup machine (Jura). We don't drink espresso.
Some Bialettis mention espresso, some mention coffee (i.e. the Venus).

Am I able to make coffee-strength coffee with a Venus? Or will it always be espresso, needing to be watered down Americano style to get coffee?

We have a 6-cup Mokka pot... but also drink "Americanos"

To make "regular" strength, I add 1 scoop of coffee to the full pot. Then share the result between 2 cups, and top up with boiled water and milk.

Great result!

[4x4 wannabie]

This seems to be the way ............. https://www.thedrive.com/news/36295/this-dash-mounted-coffee-maker-is-likely-the-rarest-volkswagen-accessory-ever

[goonrider]

This seems to be the way ............. https://www.thedrive.com/news/36295/this-dash-mounted-coffee-maker-is-likely-the-rarest-volkswagen-accessory-ever

This is exactly what I was referring to...

[Gothan]

Well I always use my lume grinder, Bialetti pot and a little bushbaby stove (and if there's no power and the wive wants the works, then I'll also use the bialetti milk frother pot)

[DustGypsy]

I've been looking for the name for 2 days now......has anybody tried the AeroPress? https://aeropress.com/
I would like to try it, but it feels like 900+ is a bit much for a piece of plastic.

[Paul Dold]

Pro's - Produces the best coffee I have had.
Con's - Really designed for one cup only although you can squeeze a second out of it. Coffee for one is best.

This is not the instant percolator type where you throw the coffee in let it bubble for a bit and you have half a dozen Cups. It's really for the connoisseur. Pressure forces the water through the coffee extracting the full flavour. A decent hand grinder is recommended.

There is tons on You Tube.

I've been looking for the name for 2 days now......has anybody tried the AeroPress? https://aeropress.com/
I would like to try it, but it feels like 900+ is a bit much for a piece of plastic.

[Skylark]

I've been looking for the name for 2 days now......has anybody tried the AeroPress? https://aeropress.com/
I would like to try it, but it feels like 900+ is a bit much for a piece of plastic.

In my opinion it’s the best manual method for making coffee, well worth the money. It’s just a pity they aren’t more durable, if they could make them out of s/s or similar that would be really nice. On the plus side being made out of plastic you don’t burn your hands and also they don’t dent, which is important because the cylinder needs to be perfect for the seal to work properly.

[DustGypsy]

Pro's - Produces the best coffee I have had.
Con's - Really designed for one cup only although you can squeeze a second out of it. Coffee for one is best.

This is not the instant percolator type where you throw the coffee in let it bubble for a bit and you have half a dozen Cups. It's really for the connoisseur. Pressure forces the water through the coffee extracting the full flavour. A decent hand grinder is recommended.

There is tons on You Tube.

Matt Dubber of AirArmsSA YT channel uses one, and I always figured it could make a good coffee....
Thanks (not from my wallet), might have to give it a try.......almost xmas

[Jay4]

Thanks again for all the input guys. I finally got my gear together and headed into the mountains to make coffee....they were Irish ofcourse. The small gas burner heated up 1l of water in a minute or two....very impressive.

[JohanHaarhoff]

Now that looks like a plan, and I am going camping at Magoebaskloof tomorrow...

[Dez]

Hopefully weather clears for u, chilly and damp right here now.

Now that looks like a plan, and I am going camping at Magoebaskloof tomorrow...

[JohanHaarhoff]

Hopefully weather clears for u, chilly and damp right here now.

Mmm, thanks. This morning our kid had a sore throat and runny nose so we rather postponed it, I think it was the right thing to do!

[PhlippieV]

I make a lot of coffee next to the road yesterday it was in the Mitchell's Pass outside Ceres, right now I'm in the Overberg brewing next to the n2.

I have space, so everything fits into an old toolbox. Water, gas, stove, mokka pot, milk, milk frother, ground coffee (in efferfluC tube) and matches. When I take the aeropress I also pack a porlex mini grinder.