Warning: my camp coffee setup got roasted (literally) at a site in Joshua Tree

A guy next to me saw me using my old aluminum percolator directly on the coals and said, 'You're gonna scorch every pot of coffee you ever make like that.' He was right, it always tasted burnt. I switched to a simple stainless steel kettle for boiling water and a pour-over cone, and my morning brew is way better now. Anyone have a good trick for keeping a kettle clean over a fire?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencer_owens5826d ago

That's a solid upgrade, but a stainless kettle over direct flame can still get scorched on the bottom. The trick is to keep it off the hottest part of the fire, maybe on some rocks at the edge. A little soot is fine, but that burnt taste comes from too much direct heat.

anna_ellis8826d ago

Spot how often we stick with a bad method just because it's what we know. I used to burn my toast every single morning because I refused to adjust the old dial on my toaster. Finally gave it a good scrub and realized the numbers were completely wrong. We get used to the burnt taste, literally or not, and forget a simple fix is right there. Your coffee story is the perfect example of that.

jana_jones26d ago

Scrub that dial with a bit of baking soda paste, it cuts through the gunk like nothing else. I had the same stubborn toaster for years, and that crusty buildup totally throws off the settings. Once you clean it, you'll probably need to turn it way down, maybe even to the two or three setting, for normal toast. It's wild how much we'll put up with a bad routine when the fix is just five minutes and an old toothbrush.