Krazy Good Koffee

Have you ever wanted that fresh-brewed taste while camping, but it always seemed you had to either settle for something less, or carry a bunch of specialized equipment to make it the way you like it? Well, settle no longer. This instructable helps you turn an everyday flat-bottomed reusable coffee filter into Krazy Good Koffee and it only weighs about an ounce! Read on!

(Note: this is a breakout Instructable from "the Perfect Backpacking Cooking Kit")

Buy a cheap plastic flat-bottomed coffee filter from your local grocery or kitchen supply store. Mine cost less than $2 at the local grocery store. Make sure it is packaged with a plastic “blister” pack. Carefully peel the plastic “blister” from the cardboard backing, set it aside for now and pull out the basket filter. Recycle the cardboard and save just the basket plus the plastic "cup" used for packaging. You’ll also need a pair of needle nose pliers with a wire cutter and wire stripper.

Using standard household electric grounding wire, cut off a length that is about the same size as the circumference of the basket. Fold it in half, to create a small handle.

Next, starting about an inch below the folded handle, start bending the wire around until it roughly matches the curvature of the top of the basket as shown.

Trim the wire using the wire cutters, so that the entire basket handle is slightly longer than halfway around the basket on both sides. You can afford to leave it a little longer at this point, because you will eventually trim it to fit. Strip the insulation back so that you have an inch or so to work with.

The next step is a little delicate, so be careful not to damage the mesh. You will need to choose a drill bit that is slightly larger in diameter than the wire diameter and then drill two holes 180 degrees apart centered on two ribs on opposite sides of the basket. Make sure that the wire slides easily through the hole you drilled as shown in the second picture from the top on the righthand side.

The last step is to bend the exposed wire outward at a 90 degree angle on each side, slide the two wire ends through their respective holes on either side, bend the wire up and trim the excess. The finished basket should look like the last picture.

You can watch the video and follow along with the description, here:

Fill your cookpot with water - but not so high that it is higher than the side of the filter basket. Put a heaping teaspoon of ground coffee in the basket for each cup of coffee you want to make. Once the water is hot, slowly lower the basket into the water, holding it by the handle.

At first, not all of the grounds will wet easily. Take a spoon and ladle the hot water from outside the basket into the basket to moisten all of the grounds. Once they are all moist you can now use a slow plunging action up and down to get the water to filter through the basket until it is the right richness in flavor that you desire.

Lift the basket out of the water, shaking it slightly to get rid of all the water, then place it in the "blister pack" cup that it came in to catch any remaining drips and to keep it out of the dirt and pine needles.

Pour out some of that Krazy Good Koffee into your Z-Cup (ref Instructable: The Holy Grail for Backpackers) or your mug of choice and watch the sunrise through the trees while you kick back by the fire. Enjoy!