CAFE SESSION WITH STEVE: MAY 2022

Can you believe we are officially in summer!? Okay, well maybe not literally, but “summer season” is definitely here! The sun is out (and stays out until almost 9pm – finally), if you forget your jacket when you go out the evening it’s no big deal, pools are open, and camping is back! In fact, I went camping this last weekend, and let me tell you – it was full on summer vibes. Drinks, lawn games, laughs and chilling! It also was a great way for me to “research” one of your latest questions:

HOW TO BREW COFFEE WHEN YOU’RE CAMPING

The beauty of coffee is the ingredients are so simple to put together. All you really need is hot water and your favorite coffee beans to make a cup. That goes for both at home and when you’re camping. The biggest “risk” you take when making coffee while camping is traveling with glass in your pack. Luckily travel mugs and camping accessories have come a long way over the years and traveling with glass isn’t even a necessity for coffee while camping any longer. One example of this is a camping French Press. You can store the beans in the bottom of the mug and just add the water! If you are going to use one of these though, just be sure not to boil the water as hot as you can get it before soaking the coffee beans. You don’t want to burn the beans and end up with a bitter taste – camping is awesome, and your coffee should be too! The best temperature for brewing coffee is about 200*F, so if you must boil water, make sure to let it sit just a little bit before brewing.

That said, a couple of my favorite ways to brew your Cup of Joe while soaking up the outdoors are:

Instant Coffee – Okay, not actually my personal favorite, but definitely the simplest way to brew a cup of joe in the great outdoors! Just pour some instant coffee in hot water, let it dissolve, and give it a good stir. There are some pretty good camping instant coffees out there, so for the love of god, don’t put yourself through Folgers instant coffee, we want your coffee to actually taste like coffee. In fact, many makers of instant coffee have even evolved into offering pouches that you just have to let steep in your hot water. Check out Novo Coffee's Haversack HERE.  

Cowboy Coffee- Likely the dirtiest method of brewing coffee, you take finely ground coffee beans and place them in your pot or mug and pour hot water over them. Let this sit for a couple minutes to let the water absorb the coffee but unlike instant coffee, the grounds will not dissolve leaving you a nice muddy sludge in the bottom of your cup. Add a little whiskey to really get that "Cowboy" feel…

Percolator- This method is the most traditional when camping since it creates a much cleaner cup of coffee while maintaining some simplicity. You need to have a stovetop percolator that has a basket near the top for the hot water to bubble over the coffee grounds. Add the grounds to the basket and fill the water to just below. Watch the percolator as the water begins to heat up and once it begins to boil, turn down the heat, or remove it from the fire if you aren't one for bringing a stove. Then let it settle until your desired color of coffee is reached.

AeroPress - If you have an AeroPress you are in luck! These make fantastic little cups of coffee and are so simple to use since you are pressing the coffee into whatever cup/mug you would like to drink out of. They are very portable, hard to break, require little setup, and the grounds are emptied on a paper disk to make cleanup a breeze! All you have to do is press the hot water through your coffee grounds on the paper filter and into your cup!

WHAT IS A TURMERIC LATTE?

So you’ve seen on our menu we offer Turmeric Lattes, and you’re wondering what it is? Okay, I can help with that! A turmeric latte is literally just a normal latte, but replace the coffee with the spice, turmeric. Sure, there are also usually a few other spices added in (like cinnamon, ginger and black pepper), but that in essence is it!

Why drink a turmeric latte? Apart from that fact that it just tastes really good, it’s also actually loaded with health benefits. Turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties, is loaded with antioxidants (which are great to help reduce free radicals – we go into the benefits of antioxidants in our latest blog Green Tea: The Benefits and The Brewing Process), helps with digestions, is great for helping to detox your body, actually has antibacterial properties and can even help to improve your memory and your mood! And this is just naming a few of the awesome benefits of this drink, (for a more extensive list of benefits click HERE).

So, the next time you’re at Rise Café and feeling like you want to do something for your health, ask me about one of these and I’ll be happy to whip you up a cup of this “Golden Milk”! 

If you have a topic or question you’d like me to tackle next month, don’t hesitate to ask! Submit a question or problem in the comments below!