Travel coffee gear I love

Marc Hedlund
Jul 23, 2017 · 2 min read

It is not the best aspect of who I am that I get all snooty about coffee when I travel. When I moved to New York, I spent a couple of years rolling my eyes so hard as to sprain them at the coffee practices there—which improved over time, or I got more used to it; moving back to the Bay Area returned me to outstanding coffee. New York, though, is a bounty of coffee riches compared to some of the trips I’ve been (otherwise) lucky to take.

Part of growing up is accepting who you are, so a few years ago I started buying portable coffee gear to try to be better caffeinated while traveling. After going through several itinerant-coffee-snob products that were way more fun to look at than drink from, I was finally given some gifts of gear I love. I figured I should write them up.

The Handground grinder ($79/$99 depending on color) is definitely not small — it will take up about as much space as a big shoe in your luggage. It is far and away the best portable grinder I’ve tried, though. The rest have either been so much manual work as to make coffee unenjoyable, or too fragile to survive the first leg of the trip. The grind adjustment allows me to get great results with a French press, as well as whatever styles others might prefer. Grinding enough for a strong pot takes about 30 seconds, and it holds beans for two small press pots’ worth.

The Snow Peak French Press ($56) is the right size for about a large mug and a half of coffee for me, which works well when I’m traveling. It’s much more compact. Its handles fold down and it comes with a drawstring bag for carrying. I agree with the reviewer on their site that more grounds leak through to the mug than with my home (Bodum, glass and wire) press pot, but that doesn’t bother me at all. Snow Peak makes some other good-looking portable coffee gear, too.

Those two together, a bag or two of Ruby’s Dark Roast ($14), and a pot for boiling water have made for a comfortable and happy trip.

Marc Hedlund

Written by

Engineering at @MailChimp. Previously @SkylinerHQ, @Stripe, @Etsy.

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