Easiest coffee for small boats

My last post about this subject was using the Aeropress, which I found produces excellent coffee.  However, it still requires a small amount of cleanup and -- if used correctly -- uses a fresh charge of coffee grounds for every cup, which goes through freshly roasted coffee beans like there's no tomorrow.

Fellow blogger O Docker suggested the following in the comments from that post:

After reading some rave reviews about a year ago, I tried the Aeropress, too, and it does make a great cuppa. 

But, after a while, all the bits and pieces seemed a bit too much to fuss with and clean, so I went back to my old standby - the little one-cup plastic drip funnel (that takes #2 filters). 

You can make coffee with these that rivals the Aeropress if you don't just dump a bunch of boiling water in them. The trick is to drip the water in slowly after it's cooled down from a full boil a bit. I think Baydog would call it drizzling the water in. 

It takes me a few minutes to make a cup of coffee this way, but it's great coffee. 

Another trick is to grind the coffee fresh. We use a small electric grinder at the dock, but also have a little hand grinder aboard - and those are harder to find than the drip funnels, which are everywhere.

So with that endorsement, an order is placed for a porcelain filtercone, which arrived a couple weeks ago and I've been testing ever since.  And the Doc was right -- this method makes superb coffee and has the least amount of cleanup of all!  Here's how it's done:

• Get your freshly roasted beans out and grind them about halfway between espresso and medium diameter.  I've used the Starbucks Veranda Blend Blonde roast with good results, but this batch was made using my own beans that I roasted at home which delivers coffee to die for.

• Next, get out your #2 coffee filter of choice.  This brown version was all that was available at the horrible "market" that's close to our marina.  I've also got white ones and I've seen bamboo versions.  I've used the gold non-throw-away variety, but there's too much cleanup with those and this technique is all about minimizing cleanup and conserving precious water.

• Be sure to fold over the edges before putting the filter in the filtercone.

• Some instructions on the Web say the filter should be rinsed with water first, so as to avoid any cardboard flavors that may pass into the resulting brew.  I tried it both ways and didn't detect a difference.

• Dump in the fresh grinds, heat some water to just below a boil and pour in just enough water to make the grounds "bloom".

• After waiting 10-15 seconds, pour a small stream of water into the grounds and let the brew level rise to nearly the top of the paper.  That's it.  Now go sit on your hands and wait for the liquor to slowly drip out of the filtercone, which takes about 3 minutes or so.

• DON'T throw out the grounds just yet; they're still good enough for a second cuppa!

• Once you're finished with all your brewing, just toss the spent filter with the depleted grounds and rinse out the porcelain filtercone.  You can even do the rinsing with a damp paper towel to preserve water even more.  Done.  No fuss, no muss.

• Time to drink the steaming cup of delightful joe and eat the pancakes Cindy crafted while I was making coffee.  Oh, and that's freshly made blueberry compote on the top of the pancakes...

For what it's worth, here are links to the items I use for making coffee, all available from Sweet Maria's:

• Porcelain filtercone
• Grinder
• Roaster
• Green coffee beans for roasting