Coffee on the road how to enjoy the essentials of daily life without breaking the bank:
Coffee addicts; How we enjoy a daily caffeine hit without breaking the bank while travelling Australia in our van.
You may not be aware that Andrew and myself actually have owned a cafe for 6 years in the town of Emerald in Victorias Dandenong Ranges called Sticks & Stones Cafe.
So I guess you could say we know a fair bit about great coffee.
Before heading off on your epic adventure around Australia. Have you thought about your daily habits lets' face it if you're a coffee addict like we are it soon becomes a very expensive habit to have on the road.
Not only can it be expensive it can also be very inconsistent leading to disappointment for your investment of that day's available funds, money you could have invested elsewhere.
What's your order?
This first step of deciding how to save your hard-earned dollars on the road should be what type of coffee do you enjoy and what type of coffee you can't live without. Being vegan I enjoy a filter or batch brew as it's clean crisp and full of flavour and really hard to stuff it up with the right equipment. So for us yes we do enjoy the occasional treat of a milky coffee but to be honest on the road trying to get a good-tasting black coffee is nearly impossible.
Equipment Explained
So now you have decided on the type of coffee, now how do we make that on the road?
Well whether you need a small espresso machine or like us a moccamaster there is a few very important questions to answer before rushing out and making any purchases.
Power - How much power do you have available in your van to run your beloved machine?
Free Camping (off Grid) - Can you still run your machine while off-grid without depleting the battery
Fresh Beans - Keeping the supply of beans fresh
"Never Underestimate the Importance of Being Properly Caffeinated."—Unknown
Power consumption
No matter what machine you decide on make sure you look at the specs of power use, the last thing you want is the van power shutting down because your machine drawers way too much power. So for example our Moccamaster uses 1400w which is less than a toaster but is on for a lot less time from start to finish. We also shut ours off straight away while free camping which I might add is most of the time.
Ratios
Ratios are extremely important, if you get this wrong well....... you are not going to enjoy your investment at all. In our van, we have a set of mall coffee scales in order to correctly measure our dosage to cups correctly. This way we truly experience the tasting notes of each blend or single origin. If you don't you will end up with a rather burnt taste in your mouth.
Fresh beans
Whatever you do look at the roast date of your beans this plays a massive part of the taste and beans should be used within 2-3 weeks of their roast date. So when you head to the supermarket next have a look and you will be horrified at the dates being 6 months and longer. While we travelled we did struggle to find fresh beans especially when remote but we did find after about 6 months that googling your coffee roaster in the area and purchasing directly off them you ended up with not only fresh beans but better quality equaling in better tasting coffee.
However if you are after premium fresh coffee beans you can order from us and we will express post to you ensuring fresh tasting coffee by heading to our shop, we will also grind the bean to your needs wether that's as espresso or for a filter.
Storage Keeping it Fresh
Keeping it fresh is truly simple beans need a stable climate, dark and air tight. With that being said this is what we use in our van to keep them fresh.
We have the 3 sizes as in the picture and we do use all 3 for different blends or when buying in bulk when we know we are going to be remote and there isn't a roaster to be found for thousands of kms.
A Researched Decision is the Right Decision
Now that you've researched how to accommodate a daily habit how do we store our Machine while travelling? Well to be honest we have the best suspension in our Zone RV so with our airbags we are truly lucky and don't have to worry about movement to much so on bitumen we just leave it on the bench with a nonslip mat under it, but always stow away the glass jug as entering into the van to find smashed glass everywhere isn't on my list of desires I tell you. BUT if we do go down the rougher tracks we definitely unplug and place it on the kids bunk bed so its safe and secure for the journey ahead.