Coffee pot- Relative mettle of metals

MacHete

MacHete

Hair Cropper & Chipmunk Wrangler
Joined
Apr 7, 2000
Messages
2,559
I have decided to chuck a camping-stlye coffee percolator into my BOB, but am wavering between stainless steel or aluminum. I invite all thoughts and suggestions.
 
MacHete,
I would go with the aluminum percolator, to save weight. That way you can still afford to take that waffle iron, too. :D
Just kidding, I gotta have that cuppa joe, myself. Of course, "cowboy coffee" is another option, and it gives you something to chew on!
 
My vote is for either stainless or enameled
steel. Aluminum has been linked to Alzheimers
and hence I avoid cooking with it where possible.
I have one of both (stainless and enameled steel)
and they both work ok.
I now have ditched the perculator and just boil
water and either drink tea or instant coffee when
camping.
 
I have heard bad things about aluminum.

I think there is also an titanium option www.rei.com.

I have a titanium coffee mug it is light and durable. I boil water in it for tea.

green tea, yerba matte, chamomilie my favs
 
My Dad swears by boiled river coffee, made in a big enameled steel pot...but he also carries 3 dutch ovens on every campout. To each his own, I'm happy with that 'berlt' coffee of his if we're car camping or canoeing, but when I backpack I always carry a small plastic 'one cup' cone filter. (And I keep one of these in my BOB.) I bring a few coffee filters and a baggie of coffee. Weighs maybe 1.5 ounce for the cone and filters, and a few ounces of coffee. Since I usually 'cook' on packing campouts by boiling water for tea, oatmeal or 'cuppa soup' it's no big deal to break out the Primus, boil up some water in my small kettle, pour same thru the cone into a lightweight plastic mug. You can buy these Dutch cones here for less than $4. The #2 size works like a charm for me, I make 2 or 3 cups of STRONG java, trashbag the used filter/grounds and hit the trail.
 
OK ... If we wanna stay healthy, better skip the coffee altogether. It's been linked to health problems. Tea contains caffeine, too, and sugar rots your teeth! And btw, I've been makin' coffee in an aluminum pot for 40 years or so, and, and ..... uhm, .. uh, what were we talkin' about, again? :confused:
 
Actually, the coffee pot is intended to serve the function of a "billy can". I decided to include the pre-fab percolator instead of an old #10 can because of the handles, the heat-resistant lid and the inner workings which might find uses as strainers and funnels. The first "survival" class I took in college required us to pack whatever we thought we would need in a coffee can. Subsequent classes reduced the size of the kit, finally stopping at a Band-Aid box.

I was leaning toward the stainless already, mostly because I thought the extra sturdiness more than justified the extra weight. I honestly hadn't even considered the Aluminum- Alzheimer's connection. This is surprising because I work in an aluminum foundry, and I eat-breathe-drink and absorb more than my share of metal every day. Actually, maybe it shouldn't be so surprising :eek: But, if there were any danger, I'm sure my employer would tell me about it...Right?
 
Of course! :)
I wouldn't lose sleep over it, but where I
have a choice I would chose a different metal
to cook in, as the presence of heat will increase
the likelihood of releasing minute amounts of
aluminum into the food.
:)
 
machete

do you notice the oldtimers there shaking and forgetting your name?
:D

I doubt your boss would tell you. workers comp is a bitch!

on a funny/sad note: twice a week I teach an elderly exercise class. one women every week asks me what are we doing? like she has never done it before and she has been to 10 classes. Yesterday, she asked me if it was bible study class? I said no, Today we are just exercising. She said, should we open our bibles to luke chapter 6?

I was kind of sad but also funny if that had been a movie scene, people would have had a long laughed.
 
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