Friday Find: Snowpocalypse Coffee Solution

When the last snowpocalypse hit, I will admit that one of my first concerns when potential electricity loss came up was WHAT WOULD I DO ABOUT MY COFFEE? Sad, I know! But, the experience reminded me of a conversation we had with friends about pour-over coffee and hand grinders + the fact that our electric coffee was dying, so I decided to order a manual coffee system. It has worked great so I wanted to share the solution with you!

At first the idea of pour-over coffee seemed hard to me (there are lots of instructions online that make it sound really hard), but it's really not hard! Just heat up water (some say not to boil the water but I do...it's fine!) and pour it over grounds in a filter set up in a pour-over system. Here's what you need:

1. My friends have a Chemex and it is beautiful, but I wasn't ready to plunk down that much cash before knowing whether we'd like the pour-over system. I ordered the Melitta carafe ($10.99!); it's not as pretty but it totally works. You will also need the #4 filters for the Melitta carafe.

2. Coffee grinding is optional. You could always grind beans at the store, but if you're buried in a snowpocalypse, the store will not be an option! My friends have this Zassenhaus coffee grinder but again, I wasn't ready to drop that much cash. I order the Kalita coffee grinder and it works great. An unexpected bonus is that the circular shape and size makes it very easy to hold and grind. Even Violet and Laurel have had fun using it!

I'm sure there must be benefits to the Chemex and Zassenhaus but if you're looking for budget entry into the world of pour-over coffee then try the Melitta and Kalita options. We've been using this system daily for over a week and the taste is great, I really enjoy the mindfulness of the process, and it makes me excited to serve coffee to friends too!

Oh, and also, if for some reason the gas went out during a snowpocalypse and we weren't able to use the stove, we could heat water with our Primus propane stove or Whisperlite camping stove. Just trying to give you all the coffee preparedness options!

Image credits: coffee thumbnail via FreeDigitalPhotos.net; product images via Amazon