Campfire Coffee

There’s something about coffee brewed over an open flame that tastes better than anything from a fancy machine, and the recipe is barely a recipe. Boil water in a pot or kettle, dump in fresh ground coffee, pull it off the heat the moment the grounds hit, and let it steep. The grounds settle to the bottom on their own. Pour carefully from the top and you’ll get a strong, bold cup with that smoky outdoor edge no kitchen brew can match. The tradition goes back to chuckwagon cooks on cattle drives, who didn’t carry filters or fancy presses. Just a tin pot, a fistful of beans, and a fire. The trick is getting the water to a true boil before the grounds go in, and pulling it off heat right away. Boiling the grounds turns the coffee bitter fast. Let it sit a couple of minutes for the grounds to drop, and you’ve got the closest thing to wilderness magic you can drink.

Pro Tips

• Use coarse ground coffee. Fine grounds will float and end up in your cup no matter how careful you pour.
• A rough rule is 2 tablespoons of grounds per cup of water. Adjust to taste.
• Add a splash of cold water to the pot after pulling it from heat. The cold water helps the grounds sink faster.
• Pour slowly and steadily from the top. Tilt the pot just enough to keep the grounds on the bottom.
• A clean eggshell tossed in the pot was the classic cowboy trick to mellow the brew. The shell binds with bitter compounds and clarifies the cup.

Variations

• Add a cinnamon stick or a few cardamom pods to the boiling water for a spiced campfire brew.
• Stir in a spoonful of brown sugar and a splash of cream for a sweeter cowboy coffee.
• Make cowboy mocha by adding a square of dark chocolate to your mug before pouring.