Coffee is an important survival item! Well, for some it is, for others, maybe not. But even without electricity, we can still enjoy a piping hot cup of coffee!
BEAN STORAGE
Coffee beans last up to three years if stored properly, so even if you don’t care much for a cup of Joe, those beans could come in handy for bartering! Keep your coffee beans in a dark, dry, and cool location. To preserve their fresh roasted flavor for as long as possible, store them in an opaque, air-tight container. You’ll want to avoid clear canisters which will allow light to compromise the taste of your coffee. Make sure you’ve got a manual grinder on hand so you will be able to grind up those beans!
“Green” Beans – 
Green coffee beans are unroasted coffee beans. It could be better to stock up on these and learn to roast them yourself because they will last longer. This way, you can roast the beans as you need them. The roasting is a simple process, but practice makes perfect. Put the beans in a frying pan or a pot that you’ve heated up over a fire. This can be difficult to master, as the beans should be roasted evenly, but practice now to hone this vital skill before the SHTF so you can be prepared.
No Electricity Brewing – PERCOLATOR
There are many “off the grid” coffee makers, and those who often camp know a percolator can be invaluable. A percolator allows coffee to be made right over the campfire. The Yosemite percolator is an excellent choice, and it’s a bit heftier than the granite-colored ones we tend to think of from years past. Steer clear of vintage glass percolators simply because they just aren’t as practical, and the glass in much more breakable.
There are some fancy percolators on the market now, but a simple percolator will get the job done just fine.
FRENCH PRESS
A French press could be another excellent cord-free option and great if you don’t mind cold coffee, and you could always heat it up afterward if you prefer it to be hot! Consider a French press that has three stainless steel screens as its filter. This helps to eliminate the risk of cracking and reduce the effects of acid. Another great thing about a French Press is that there’s no moving parts or gaskets to wear out over the long term, thus ensuring you will have coffee for as long as you have beans. The French press also doesn’t ever have to touch fire directly, so you don’t have to worry about messing it up over a campfire. And, because the ground beans you would use are coarser, so they are much easier to crank out by hand.
Hopefully, this will help you stay caffeinated and add your much-loved coffee to your prepper storage. I have got several pounds of green beans on hand and ready to go just in case!
How To Make Coffee Without Electricity
mmmmm……… the same way it has been made for thousands of years?
Boil water?
Boil a sauce pan of water.
Take off heat and add in coffee, and let sit for a bit.
Use eggshells to cause the grounds to sink.
You have to practice the method to get the style and strength
of coffee you want. You also will get some grounds in your coffee no matter what, so just spit them out, or deal with it. If SHTF you need to give up some of our “civilized” practices.
I haven’t made coffee this way in over fifty five years, but it was
grandpa’s depression style coffee. You don’t need a special
percolator, just one of the pots you’d normally have.
Full disclosure; I quit drinking coffee 10 years ago.
John Stiner is right again. The solution is easy.
Yes, you can brew coffee over a campfire or other sources of heat in a percolator, but that might give off a stronger smell than pouring hot water over ground coffee beans, which is the method most electric coffee machines use.
You can use ordinary wire strainers with paper coffee liners and very small wire strainers with cupcake paper liners for individual cups.
I used this method when I had no electricity. Look for strainers with a deep basket.
Propane stoves are very handy. I recommend getting a single or double burner that runs off propane.
I have used an oven with four burners run by propane. When the electricity was off it was necessary to use a match to spark the light, otherwise it worked normally.
.
I meant “spark the FLAME”
Geeze.. Really? Boil water, pour over coffee grounds in a coffee strainer held over your cup or mug. Been doing this for the last 4 years “Off the Grid”. Add a splash of creamer and a dash of cinnamon, stir, let rest then drink.
ahhhhhhhh….. Good Morning World!!
I stock up on coffee when it goes on sale. Bingo bango,… stock up heavy as it will be a great barter item in SHTF grid down, or for your own sanity.
An electric coffee maker is one of the biggest power pigs out there. Heating with electricity is a costly idea. Electric Coffee Makers use about 900 to 1200 Watts. Never use Solar Electricity for heating items, like a hot plate, or coffee maker or an electric heater or electric stove. It will drain your battery bank fast. Use alternative sources like propane. Use your solar for lighting, and powering up fans, or laptops and charging electronics.
Boiling water using propane cost almost nothing. Pour hot water over grounds and smile.
Its an ‘advortorial’, entirely produced to promote the webiste.
Thanks for yet another informercial containing links to Amazon. What what you get 2% or something per sale?
The problem I have with it is your stories are written in such ways to maximize your profit, not written for the benefit of the idiot prepper [ask why a GOOD PREPPER would ever need any of the advice on this website, therefore they must be idiot preppers if they need any advice on this site, I am correct.]
Amazon links in stories meant to be as helpful, as shysterist the shitheads that shows stolen content with ads every two minutes on YouTube.
Yes Bert,you are correct..
Real preppers were living the lifestyle long before the Internet came along..
I expect that you do not work well with others, and that, if you are not self-employed, other employees who work with you receive hazardous duty pay.
In the survivalist/prepper field, as with any other endeavor/hobby, there are always newbies. They need information that may be well known by others who learned the information years ago when they, themselves, were newbies.
While you condemn links to items on Amazon, the use of links helps to inform readers about sources for gear, and exactly what the blogger is describing.
I suspect that you fall in the well-recognized category of a “grumpy old fart.”
Mac, please give Bert his money back so he can leave. The only thing worse than a woman whining is a man whining. God…
times 2!….refund is in order, and he’s OUTA’ here, if i’m the boss o’ this site……but i aint, am i….
In short, all they have to go on is their commercials. So, why bert their bubble. Type-B’s derive self worth and even most religion from the sheister. Swallowing it whole is the best way to be sociable.
Coffee would definitely be a barter item. I use a French press on occasion. I just grind my beans using a burr grinder. It does a good job. For awhile I was buying coffee from Black rifle coffee company but their prices got to be a little too much for me. I still do buy from them around Christmas time when family is constantly wearing out the door hinges.
But, you don’t typically buy consumer goods out of the trunks of people’s cars. Try to tell people that you have a secret source of coffee, on a good day, then, under lockdown. I think, footage from the doorbell cam is submitted to the authorities.
CW, you definitely walk to the beat of a different drum.
I realize that I’m writing in a quirky way, usually.
But, have you tried to barter with real life people, yet?
Like the ones on craigslist or fb sales.
Or, how well should you need to know this person.
People will have caffine withdrawl…. massive headaches and such.
Caffeine withdrawal is an afternoon picnic compared to the withdrawals 80% of the population will have from coming off prescription pain meds and/or antidepressants when SHTF and they’re unable to get their pills..Best advice is to not be addicted to anything..
Down here in The Sunshine State folks grow their own Tea to get their caffeine. Of course all of the younger city crowd hit Starbucks. Walgreens sells a “Green Tea Pill” as a diet aid which is loaded with caffeine. I usually pop one in the morning when I have a lot of work around the place.
I got to thinking about death of people in massive numbers due to a warped some event. See we here in e USA are spared from seeing dead bodies for the most part unless your unfortunate enuff to see it happen. The authorities come out and clean up the bodies you don’t see them you just hear the news report and read funeral obits. Is there a psychological impact on the living from seeing dead bodies frequently. Does it make the living feel life is cheap and it’s no thing to see the dead everywhere therefore death isn’t no big deal.
Even worse than the Black Death – Madagascar PLAGUE more deadly than 14th century killer.
THE PLAGUE currently killing and infecting hundreds of people in Madagascar and East Africa is even more deadly than the Black Death which left 200 MILLION dead across the world.
Have a great insulated stainless steel french press I bought a few years back. Excellent for making great coffee and keeping it warm…durable as well.
What sorta moron doesnt know how to make coffee old school?
Better yet, what sorta moron doesnt have at least one old school percolator coffee pot and a hand burr grinder?
Lots of morons buy their coffee at Starbucks or brew it with the help of Keurig. I’ll betcha 80% of the population has no perculator–and that estimate is probably conservative. I forget the actual percentage, but the Millennials’ failure to own a can opener (they like to eat “fresh”) is killing the canned tuna industry: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2018/12/03/sure-millennials-might-be-killing-canned-tuna-but-not-because-they-hate-can-openers/?utm_term=.81cbcf418205
Add the lack of a perculator, to a lack of a can opener, to a lack of the ability to operate a vehicle with a manual transmission. All of this is simply more evidence of just how screwed the majority of the population will be if there is ever a major societal breakdown.
We’ve had a stainless perculator around forty years or so. For sure do not cheap out with the aluminum vareity. Bad taste !
Our stainless one has seen many a campfire , Coleman stoves, and seven years on an alcohol stove while traveling in our sailboat. These days it gets used once a year for archery season. Then occasionally for the week or two that the power is out after a hurricane.
Buy a stainless perculator and you’ll enjoy good coffee for a lifetime. Go crap with an aluminum one and have bad coffee for a short time that it lasts…
When power is out here, if not using the solar, we use what local used years ago.
It’s basically a simple wire frame that holds a cotton bag that looks somewhat like a large sock.
Coffee in, boiling water in, voila.
^TA-DA!
Aero Press is a variant of the french press method that I use at camp. Add boiling water to a scoop of ground beans, insert the press a little allowing the grinds to steep for about five minutes or so, press, voila, coffee.
While many people will turn up their noses at the prospect of drinking instant coffee, in a long term crisis, it will probably be “any port in a storm.” The article says that coffee beans will last “up to three years if stored properly.” I have read on numerous web sites that instant coffee will last almost forever.
After a societal meltdown, a huge percentage of coffee lovers will be less choosey regarding their caffeine consumption, and even instant coffee will have great barter value. I, myself, would rather have a “cup of Joe” made from quality instant coffee in the morning than a glass of water.
Really? If you need to tell people how to brew coffee, are they really likely to survive a crisis long enough to need coffee?
But in the spirit of the topic… Survivormann99 is on the right track. Its post-apocalypse dude… just use instant. If you need a half-caf decaf mocha nut crunch frappa-doodle with a twist to survive, you’re probably going to be out of luck.
My wife is always trying to get me to drink more water and I tell he “there is water in my coffee”. I don’t think she is entirely receptive to my reasoning though. Paz,
Having coffee while I’m reading this. Peet’s…yum ! Wondering why the article states french press’s make cold coffee…huh? Having owned several, it’s no problem to pour boiling water into a french press. They make excellent tasting coffee. Or if your desperate, boil your coffee grounds in a tied up sock in water over a campfire. I’d have to really, really want coffee to employ that method though !
That’s funny………article on a shtf site on how to make coffee…..hahahaha.
Also, you should have several jars of freeze dried coffee on hand. A quick fix!
Or you can buy freeze dried coffee in number 10 cans. Lasts 25 years and one can makes 42 gallons of coffee.
Cowboy coffee….pour a handful f grounds in an enamel coffee pot…add water & boil…..
What about cold brew….anyone can do that….no energy required….
My wife and I have been making coffee on our stove for years using the stainless coffee maker from Lehmans.com. Its called the non-electric coffee maker. I’m not affiliated with them but this is the best, most consistent coffee ever and easy. Only costs as much as heating water on a stove or fire and pouring it in the top section. No grounds to sort out with your teeth like the other methods. Nobody likes to say “Do I have coffee grounds in my teeth?”
And don’t forget about the old Drip-O-Lator. While they aren’t made any longer, many can be found on eBay and the like. Some were fancy in colors with flowers painted on and others were plain jane aluminum. They also came in a variety of sizes from a couple cups to crowd sized.
It’s easy to make the brew. Boil water, pour out the grounds needed into the basket, pour in the hot water, and wait about 15 minutes or so for the water to drip through.
1. Rocket stove made from concrete blocks (see youtube). <$20
2. Old school hand coffee grinder. <$15 @Walmart, eBay etc
3. Old school stove-top espresso machine <$10 @Walmart, eBay etc
4. Drink
Keep on smilin', repeat as necessary.
As a coffee loving prepper, I figured all this stuff out years ago. On another note, I also love a hot shower in the morning and I have figured out a way to do this even if there are mushroom clouds on the horizon.
fwiw, you can make coffee, without the coffee beans.
Scroungy people have substituted any edible, partially-charred leaf, root, or seed, but particularly the bitterish ones.
I have heard gossip of ‘coffee’ being grown in temperate regions, but was certain that this is a tropical houseplant. Sometimes, an anomaly such as this is just-barely, physically possible, with serious wind blocks.
By rumor, the green seeds can be used for sprouting, although, formally, heat treatment is required on all foodstuffs, even those reported to be ‘raw’ and ‘whole’.
with a camp fire coffee pot