Does life get any better than making a fresh blend of coffee while embracing the natural beauty of the great outdoors?. I think not!. To make your own ground coffee while being 50 miles away from the nearest Starbucks you are going to need a grinder of some sort. But not just any will do. Only the best manual coffee grinders for camping purposes will suffice.
Why?. Well it’s a harsh world out in them there woods and more often than not, fragile belongings end up trashed, broken or chipped. Investing in a heavy duty coffee grinder which doesn’t rely on electronics is the only way to truly embrace camping. Power is not always accessible at camp sites, so by taking out the risky element (Power) and replacing it with a reliable source (Manual) you are going to be able to sit back and enjoy a fresh blend of your own home brew coffee under any circumstance nature wants to throw at you.
Burr VS Blade Camp Coffee Grinders?
Burr or Blade coffee grinder when camping?. Well for me it has to be Burr, you can taste the difference. A ceramic Burr doesn’t gain heat as much as a blade which results in a better aroma and taste due to retention of flavors. This may be a fickle difference and not one to be highly valued on.
What truly maters is that you get the best manual camping coffee grinder made from the toughest materials none to mankind. Okay maybe just a heavy duty steel will do. A few small cuts and grazers to the grinder just add character and show that you really do enjoy an outdoors coffee made from coffee beans. So it doesn’t need to be made from Titanium, nor does it have to rely on a power source to bring you happiness. Plus your neighbouring campers will appreciate the lack of grinding noises typical of an electric grinder. It’s always best to keep your fellow campers on the good side of the air mattress.
The Best Burr Manual Heavy Duty Coffee Grinder
Orvite Ceramic Review – Aeropress & Espresso Compatible
Made from stainless steel, the Orvite Ceramic Manual Coffee Grinder is out #1 recommended grinder for campers. The obvious reason being that it is heavy duty, and requires no power to get those beans in motion.
Combine this manual grinder with the likes of a Aeropress coffee maker, you are set for a power free coffee. Provided you have access to a campfire to make coffee or a small gas burner to boil water.
The other aspect of the Burr Ceramic Orvite that we love for outdoors coffee is the ease of use. In about 1.5 minutes after you place about 38 grams of beans in the top and attach the handle you can have perfectly ground coffee granules. The handle is long enough to get some good traction which speeds up the process.
On the bottom of the slim stainless steel canister is a knob. If you prefer finer ground coffee turn it right and if you have a camping percolator requiring more coarse coffee simply turn the knob to the left. No guess work required here which is what I love about the Orvite manual coffee grinder. Oh the little viewing panel is a nifty idea for checking in on the grinding process.
Need A Camping Coffee Grinder With Custom Grind?
JavaPresse Conical Burr Review
One of the more popular portable coffee grinders available, the JavaPresse Conical Burr delivers precision custom ground coffee beans.
Much similar to the Orvite the JavaPresse allows for coarse or fine grinding options. However, this machine has 18 different ‘clicks’ where you can gain much more control over how coarse or how fine you prefer your coffee. Which is quite the custom fit. As a general rule the clicks represent the following guidelines: (When the dial is all the way to the right)
- Coarse Beans: 13 to 18 clicks to the left
- Med to Course 10-12 from the the left
- Medium ground beans is 7 to 9 clicks
- Fine to Medium is 4 to 6
- Finally for ultra fine it’s 1 to 3 clicks to the left when knob is all the way to the right.
How much coffee can the JavaPresse handle at a time?. Due to the size of these canisters, they are perfect matches for 1 to 2 drinkers of coffee. It’s best practice to not grind for 5+ people at a time as the beans can lose some flavor in the process of ‘sitting around’.
Overall, the JavaPresse is a high quality stainless steel ‘Aeropress’ compatible grinder built to last. The amount of precision you get for grinding the beans is surely a positive. But with all things positive, there is a negative. This seems to be a common theme among some types of burr grinders. They are made from plastic which wear out over time.
But updating this negative, JavaPresse have now upgraded the plastic burr to a more stronger and durable Nylon burr. This is fantastic news for camping coffee enthusiasts and a true example of a company staying on top of their product. Well done JavaPresse.
Lightweight Compact & Portable Hank Crank Design
The GSI Outdoors JavaMill Review
Made from co-polyester the burr hand crank GSI Outdoors JavaMill can handle the harshest camping environments. Co-polyester being a material that can maintain strength and clarity while handling a greater range of substances is the ideal stainless steel alternative. This is where The GSI Outdoors models differs from the standard manual coffee grinders.
Importantly the removable handle is made from Alloy so that it can handle a sturdy and rough swinging motion when grinding the beans. The time it takes to grind up a serve of bean will vary from person to person. But in general it takes about 1 minute for Espresso grind with 20 grams of beans and about 30 seconds at dip grind.
The things we like about the GSI JavaMill the most include its compact design for camping purposes, the Conical burr is an upgraded burr which produces a even fine grind when desired. Works great for French Press, Percolators or Espresso.
The only cons we consider to be drawbacks are that this compact design has some weight to it. So not ideal for backpacking, but for camping it should be fine. Not being stainless steel may be an issue for some, but in saying this the co-polyester is pretty tough and see through. Overall we believe the GSI Outdoors Javamill to be a high quality product that delivers on its promises and a funky see through experience.
Best Battery Operated Coffee Grinder
A relatively new concept and a surprisingly affordable price. This battery operated coffee grinder is an all in one coffee solution. In just s few minutes you can have 200 ml of espresso freshly ground regardless of where you are camping or traveling.
Pros:
- Sleek and modern design which appeals to not only campers but the modern kitchen experts.
- No manual grinding or no electricity needed to make ground coffee. Convenient
- Ceramic Burr design
- Adjustable coarseness feature
- Doesn’t drain batteries too fast. According to sellers you can get 10 cycles of grinding which could make 50-60 cups of coffee before the batteries run flat. Obviously depending on how coarse you like coffee and the quality of the batteries used.
- Takes 2 to 3 hours to fully recharge
- Comes with a USB charger so you can recharge the battery from a power bank or computer.
- Ergonomic portable design which comes with rechargeable battery.
- 4 Cup capacity.
Cons:
- Due to relying on batteries to operate, once you run out of charge you run out of coffee.
- The beans take longer to grind because the device may use batteries slowly to preserve them. Which results in a slower grind. Even tho the company says that the motor is powerful, just not fast from our research.
Tam
Tuesday 21st of February 2017
The thought of brewing a fresh cup of coffee while camping or reveling in the great outdoors is pretty much an absolute must for me. I’m new to this terminology I must admit. True confessions are that I’ll have a Starbucks if I can or make a thermos of coffee at home then reheat when I’m enjoying the great outdoors. Why is called a burr grinder? Do you know? Is this a quiet grinder? Is it hard to grind a burr manual coffee grinder? The Hand Crank design looks like the most portable in a backpack. Do you have any preferences on these burr grinders? ~ Tam
admin
Tuesday 21st of February 2017
Oh but Starbucks is not always accessible. Which is where the portable grinder comes into it's own. The Burr grinder is different to a blade style grinder in many ways. A blade grinder is kind of old school (I remember my Grand Parents using them) where you push down on the top and the blades inside chop up the beans. Think of a blender blade. Blade grinders don't give a uniform and even coffee ground.
Whereas Burr grinders are well known for producing more even sized ground coffee beans. Flat or Conical burrs do the same thing and that is grind really well. With burrs you get greater control over how coarse you need your coffee as the distance between the 2 abrasive surfaces can be adjusted. (The dials or knobs found usually underneath the grinder).
Yes manual grinders are super quite, you won't need to worry about waking up your fellow campers when you wake up to start grinding. To be honest any of the listed coffee grinders listed here will do the job and do it very well. So I wouldn't hesitate recommending them all. But if I had to pick just one, I'd go with the stainless steel JavaPresse due to it's 18 available levels of coarseness.