What Do Riv Riders Enjoy As COFFEE !

[Garth]

I remember when we used to have such discussions, so as I was making soome this morning I was wondering just that. "What do Riv riders enjoy by way of coffee ?" 

I'm a tinker-er, I'm always trying various combinations of things. Coffee lends itself to that wonderfully !

This AM I made some using a classic aluminum Bialetti Moka pot and preheated water. Bustello Espresso ground coffee, the one in the bright yellow brick-like bags. Currently, I'm enjoying it with hot frothy milk. I prepare the coffee, then in a pan I pour some whole milk and a heaping spoonful of whole milk powder. Heat it gently while whisking it into a frothy delight. When the coffee is done and settled a bit, I pour the coffee into the milk as I whisk away. O M G ..... such sensory delight ! You can't buy such goodness. (Sometimes I add a touch of honey, but not always.)

I've tried this half&half and pure cream but frankly I like whole milk plus whole milk powder better. I enjoy many other coffees also, anything of a dark roast. I prefer whole beans, but Bustello rather changed my mind about pre-ground coffee as I seal it after each use with a locking belt/strap. It tastes fine down to the bottom of the 10oz. bag, unlike some whole bean coffee which do not(12-16oz. bags). I use an Orphan Espresso Lido grinder, a most unexpected gift ! 

I saw Aldi sells another brand(El-something) with similar themed packaging as Bustello, and it's just as great. 

What do you enjoy for coffee ? 

[Brian Turner]

I organize the local Coffee Outside rides here in my town, so it gives me a great opportunity to try different methods of preparing coffee after riding somewhere on my bike to enjoy it with friends. My current favorite method is brewing a strong, concentrated batch with my Aeropress, and diluting it with hot water to make a larger amount that ends up tasting the way I like it. I prefer grinding whole beans right before brewing, but I'm not terribly picky about the brand. At home, I do a simple drip brew each morning, and I like a splash of skim milk in it. When I'm bike camping or doing coffee outsides, I prefer to pack a small container of Nestle Nidol (I know, not the most ethical company). I like it better than powdered milk because the fat content is higher, therefore it gives a better taste and is closer to the experience of adding real milk. I keep a container of it in my freezer and it lasts a long time.

Other methods I've employed for Coffee Outside or bike camping include; conical dripper, Bialetti Moka pot, and a little device made by Cafflano that combines a burr grinder and conical dripper into one portable package. It's hard to beat the brew from an Aeropress, though. One thing I cannot abide by is instant coffee packets... trust me, I've tried just about every one that has ever been recommended to me and I have yet to find one that doesn't have that weak "instant coffee" taste.

Brian

Lexington KY

[Jay Lonner]

I enjoy coffee black, and in large quantities. At home it’s pourover, when I’m traveling heavy it’s an Aeropress, when I’m traveling light (bikepacking) it’s instant. There comes a point when it’s just about getting something hot and caffeinated on board (also, being on the trail has a way of transforming marginal food into fine dining).

Jay Lonner

Bellingham, WA

Sent from my Atari 400

On Feb 2, 2025, at 7:37 AM, Brian Turner <brok...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Eric Daume]

Tea.  Yorkshire gold, with a touch of honey and milk. 

Eric

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[Drurad]

Bonus points for homeroasters.  Beans from Sweet Maria's roasted on Aillio Bullet.  Coffee outside with aeropress and atlantis.  

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[Will Boericke]

Home-roasted!  Whatever is in the $6ish/lb range at Bodhi Leaf.  I've been enjoying fruitier single-origins lately, anaerobic roast or otherwise.  Currently it's Tanzanian Peaberry.  Brewed either in the Moccamaster or the Silvia.  Very occasionally the aeropress, though it's a PITA.

Will, coffee nerd near Boston

[Sally Bidleman]

At home: Yerba mate (made famous by Argentinian soccer players!), passion flavor preferred. Cold.

Out: Macchiato. Hot. Pelligrino chaser. 

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[Laing Conley]

Never touch the stuff. Don’t drink beer either. Both are just horrible and bitter to me. Read once years ago that some people have extra bitter sensors on their tongue. I guess it is another part of the human experience that has just passed me by. 

Laing 

Delray Beach FL

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[David Ross]

As with bicycles, I will gladly use almost anything. I will drink the worst rot-gut black coffee with a smile on my face, but I do appreciate a really good cup. 

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[Jim M.]

Typically, a half liter of pour over in the morning, favoring medium to dark roasts. Lots of different roasters in SF Bay area, so I bounce around. Current favorite comes from an Oakland roaster whose grandfather grows coffee in Oaxaca. I've done pour over and French press in the wild but mostly do instant now. Medaglia d'Oro is inexpensive and does the job, for a pricier instant I like Mount Hagen. Depending on mood in the morning, I may use a Turkish maker, French press, steel Bialetti, or Flair hand pulled espresso maker.

jim

walnut creek ca

[Jason Fuller]

I make pour-over at home, the aeropress only gets used for camping or coffee outside.  Always black, and for beans I tend to like the fruity stuff so naturally gravitate to Ethiopian naturals, but there's a lot of fun stuff out there!  I enjoy trying new offerings from the most respected of local roasters.  I have only had a couple examples so far but co-ferments are pretty interesting and it's wild the flavours coming out of these.   

[Matt C.]

+1 on home roasting! I have been doing this for the last year or so now and can't/won't go back to buying roasted beans. I'm currently in the garage roasting a few lbs for the upcoming week. 

For brewing, I have been pretty dedicated to the aeropress lately. It seems no matter how long I leave it due to the distraction of my 4 children, the product is always good enough. Whereas a pour over takes so much more concentration which I seem to lack. I did my first bike packing race/event this year and brought instant so fully agree with what Jay mentioned. My last coffee ride I did cowboy coffee as I forgot filters for my pour over brewer. Turns out, it was still great. 

While on this topic of coffee and bikes, has anyone tried the Wacaco Nanopress? Been looking at this contraption for camping/bikepacking espresso and would like to hear someone's experience. Thanks. 

Matt Cook

Spanish Fort, AL

[Bob]

At home, by bike, or traveling by car, it's French press for me—glass Bodum pot at home, titanium Snow Peak pot while away. I'm partial these days to the Ethiopian (Sidamo) beans from my local roaster, and I grind them at brewing time. I take it black, brewed at a 1:14 ratio with some precision at home, eyeballed when I don't have a scale handy.

If I am without my implements, or have no place to brew and sip, I'll hunt down a place that knows how to make a good cappuccino or cortado, sometimes a pourover if there is a bean on offer that sounds interesting. I keep a list on my phone so I know where to go, and more importantly where not to go, and what I had that was good.

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Bob

[Andrew Scherer]

Lots of local roasters in NY and a few places in Manhattan that stock fresh coffees from top roasters around the world. I enjoy a different coffee every week. I prefer washed light roasts. Ethiopian is a favorite but so many origins and processing methods are there to be enjoyed. I have many ways to brew...my daily go-to is Hario pourover. Then there's Espresso, Cloth drippers, vacuum/siphon, Aeropress, Moka pot, French press. I'm probably forgetting something. A good grinder matters more than the brewing method, I have a Baratza ESP which does a really good job across all methods and sidelined a Mazzer Super Jolly for espresso. My son is a high-end barista so I have someone to geek out with.

Andy Scherer

Manhattan and Woodstock NY

[John]

I too like to tinker with my coffee setup, especially when I've got more time on weekends. I've got a Baratza Encore to grind whole beans that I usually put in a French press or AeroPress. My old electric kettle just died so I got a new adjustable temperature gooseneck, and I'm thinking that's going to motivate me to pull out my pour over setup that’s been sitting in a cupboard.

During the week I've got less time and have been making cold brew overnight in my French press, which makes a few days worth of coffee. And it's so smooth I just use preground medium roast from Trader Joe's. Just add water and microwave for a few minutes for a quick, cheap, delicious cup.

Using the same concentrate, sometimes I’ll mix up cold fashioneds, especially in the summer. It’s just an old fashioned made by substituting bourbon/brandy for cold brew concentrate. A little walnut bitters with a splash of maple of vanilla simple syrup and garnish with orange peel…tres magnifique!

John in Minneapolis

[Donzaemon]

In terms of beans, I favor funk-forward natural process beans. I use a 1Zpresso Q2 hand grinder and V60 with Cafec Abacca filters for my preferred setup. I also have a Kalita Wave 185 flat bottom dripper and a 2010 era Aeropress as alternates. Lately, I’ve been hooked on co-ferments and looking forward to my next order from Black & White Roasters:

https://www.blackwhiteroasters.com/products/r-the-future-chocolate-covered-strawberries

[Josh C]

Brian, it's neat that you do the coffee outside group in your area. Here in Indianapolis, our coffee outside died of COVID. I've been toying with the idea of trying to resuscitate it. I have a couple of questions for you, and maybe we should move to DM, but how often do you guys meet, and do you have a recommendation for getting the word out? I'd guess Instagram and maybe post a couple of flyers at bike shops. 

V60 pour over at home, Fellow grinder. Trash drip machine at work. We get our beans through a cool local business called Indy Coffee Box that sources beans from local roasters in the state of IN and drops them at our door for a nice price. It's a cool business idea that both fills a need and supports other local businesses. Indy isn't a coffee meca but there are some pretty great roasters. Helm, Blue Mind, Julian, Tinker, Shuv, and so on. We get two bags per month via coffee box but usually go through about 3, so there is room to ride my bike to a coffee shop and pick something up in person as well. 

[Caroline Golum]

When I'm on a trip I bring a little collapsable pour over, but at home I use a French press or Moka pot. 

[ascpgh]

Medium dark roast for me, black always. I've landed on the local La Prima Espresso Company's Paulie's Blend whole beans, ground just before use at home or away. Technivorm Moccamaster with thermal carafe in the kitchen, Aeropress on the move. 

I've been up at 4:15am to have coffee, read the news, let my dog out and have some breakfast before getting off to work for so long that 5:30-6am feels like sleeping in. I also can't seem to leave home without some of my coffee, even if meeting others for breakfast.

Will take a coffee on the road in the car over any of the soft drinks or "energy" drinks out there, as long as the teenager in charge hasn't left the glass carafe on since breakfast. Style points to the Miele commercial grind and brew point of service machines like those in the regional Sheetz gas/convenience stores they really upped the bar.

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

On Sunday, February 2, 2025 at 9:33:08 AM UTC-5 Garth wrote:

[Steve Aldana]

I use the Wacaco Picopresso portable espresso maker. It's a bit of an ordeal and the pumping is a finger workout but it makes great coffee. I also use the small spring type pour over cone. 

Steve 

San Diego

[Jay]

I'm more of a tea drinker, that is, more "into" tea as a hobby, but I still drink coffee (coffee was the hobby years ago, when I had my own espresso machine, grinder, roasting machine).

I have a 1zpresso J-Max grinder and always grind before I brew.  For brewing, I alternate between a Bialetti Brikka and Aeropress.  I enjoy a short/strong shot/cup with no milk or sugar.

I won't go and start a tea thread, as I'm assuming a lot less of you are into tea (e.g., raw/ripe pu-erh, high mountain oolong, sencha), but if anyone wants to talk tea let me know!

[Shawn Granton]

On Monday, February 3, 2025 at 6:34:38 AM UTC-8 Josh C wrote:

Brian, it's neat that you do the coffee outside group in your area. Here in Indianapolis, our coffee outside died of COVID. I've been toying with the idea of trying to resuscitate it. I have a couple of questions for you, and maybe we should move to DM, but how often do you guys meet, and do you have a recommendation for getting the word out? I'd guess Instagram and maybe post a couple of flyers at bike shops. 

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but I've been semi-involved with PDX Coffee Outside since it started in 2016. It did also pause for COVID, but bounced back afterwards. 

It's always been a weekly affair, but we switched from 7-9 on Fridays (the pre-work type) to 9-11 on Saturdays. I feel like it's better on the weekend at a more civilized hour, and because of that more people show up. Often people will go off on a ride afterwards too. But every town is different, it might work better as a weekday AM thing in Indy. Also, PDX's location rotates. I know of some other places where the meetup stays static--this probably works best in a smaller city.

As for getting the word out, yea, IG works for promotion, though flyering and getting in touch with possibly interested groups would help, too.

My word of wisdom: Start when the weather is better, as it'll be easier to get people to come. We do it all year here, as winter weather isn't that severe, but it could be tough in Indy to do that. And once you decide to get it going, stick with it. There may be fallow weeks, but if you do it sporadically people may forget about it, which creates a negative feedback loop.

Good luck! 

Best,

Shawn

[Josh C]

Shawn, 

Thanks for the insight. Brian did reach out via DM to give me details and advice after organizing the Lexington coffee outside. The Indy Coffee Outside is just something I'd be interested in participating in more than organizing for the sake of feeling self-important or anything, but I would organize it if that's what it takes. I have a couple of friends who are well-established in the cycling community here who could push the IG page if requested. 

I agree with you that February is probably not the best time of year to start. I was thinking once or twice a month, Saturday morning, something like 9-10/11, meeting at different locations around the city. Indy is a large city, by square mile, and we've got quite a few cool spots that we could rotate through. 

It's good advice to stay consistent. I agree that it'd be key. I'll see if it's something I take on. I've got some time to consider it before it warms up here. Thanks again for the info. 

[Brian Turner]

Shawn G. probably has more experience and insight on organizing bike events than anyone I can think of. Sage advice for anyone wanting to start up a coffee outside in their area. Thanks for chiming in, Shawn! 

Brian

Lexington, KY

On Feb 4, 2025, at 9:23 AM, Josh C <getjosh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Shawn, 

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[rlti...@gmail.com]

I have a number of coffee devices here. I work from home but on work days I just use my Cuisinart drip machine. I grind beans daily in my Sette 270 grinder.

On weekends I use my Rancilio Silvia espresso machine. It is at least 10 years old and still pulls great shots. I have my eye on a new espresso machine that is a double boiler but I’m not ready to put down the $$$ for it yet.

Camping I use a VSSL hand grinder and grind beans for use in either an Aeropress or my Wacaco Nanopresso. Both work great. I also have some Nespresso pods I can use in the Nanopresso if I’m feeling lazy.  I have a new VSSL pour over kit I need to test out still.  Too little time these days…

Robert Tilley

San Diego, CA

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 2, 2025, at 6:33 AM, Garth <gart...@gmail.com> wrote:

I remember when we used to have such discussions, so as I was making soome this morning I was wondering just that. "What do Riv riders enjoy by way of coffee ?" 

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[Josh C]

Here is my setup with some new beans from Tinker Coffee CO. Pretty simple but makes great coffee. 

[velomann]

Like Shawn G, I've been part of PDX Coffee Outside for years. Even during the height of the Covid lockdown, a few of us were still participating via Zoom on Saturday mornings at 9:00. Most would tune in from their kitchen or - because Coffee Outside - back patio. But I always tried to tune in from a local park. I remember one memorable winter morning riding up Powell Butte and having to clear a couple inches of snow off the table to get set up.

My usual setup is a Snowpeak collapsible pour-over brewer, Beans ground with a Porlex grinder, water boiled with a Snowpeak Gigapower stove, brewed into a Fellow Carter thermos/mug. But as the ritual is part of the Coffee Outside juju, I'll mix it up with an alcohol stove sometimes, or MSR Windburner stove (fastest boil by far), a Helix filter holder or MiiR Pouragami holder.  Recently I've been experimenting with the Hario Switch immersion dripper and I'm really happy with the cup it brews.

I own a couple Aeropresses, and that's my preferred single-cup method at home (inverted, steep one minute, flip and plunge), and while a lot of folks at Coffee Outside use them, the cleanup is more hassle than I want to deal with outdoors. And I've seen so many spills...

I find Moka pots fun, and I'll bust mine out occasionally, but find other methods match my taste better. 

At home, my first shot of caffeine nearly every day is an espresso brewed in my Rok manual espresso maker - the best freepile score I've ever made. 

https://us.rok.coffee/products/espressogc-classic-plus

I pull a shot and add just enough heavy whipping cream to smooth it out. The ritual of using this thing is part of what I love about it, but it makes a good, honest espresso.

When I want to brew more than a single cup, it's always pour-over in a Chemex. Always. The Chemex magic is a real thing.

For beans, we're pretty spoiled here in Portland with a wealth of world-class roasters. I like Coava Coffee Roasters, either Ethiopian or Kenyan. But Roseline, Heart, and Upper Left also join the rotation. For Christmas my spouse gifted me some Ethiopian from Manhattan Roasters (based in Rotterdam) and oh my was that good!

I used to grind the beans for at-home coffee with a Zassenhaus hand grinder. But with three particular coffee drinkers in the house, and at least three regular methods requiring different grinds (espresso, aeropress, pour-over), I invested in a Fellow Opus grinder. Maybe the best coffee investment ever. 

Mike M

[Josh C]

You guys have a kiler coffee outside setup, well established, and well kept, it seems. I enjoyed seeing Russ' video from Path Less Pedaled years back, where he showed the Portland COS. That's what initially got me interested in it. I do think COS incorporates a lot of what Riv-people do on bikes; carrying stuff, casual rides, meeting up with friends, community, and being outside. The plethora of roasters also spoils you guys! There are some nice roasters here in Indy, but come on, the Rose City coffee scene, fugheddaboudit. The wife and I have been out to PDX a few times, what a cool town; we nearly moved out there from Denver about 5-6 years ago but missed the humidity and mosquitos here in Indiana too much to pass up an opportunity to move back to the midwest.

[Ray Varella]

I’m a pour over die hard. 

I started home roasting many years ago and strongly suggest anyone give it a try. 

The Original Poppery from Westbend can’t be beat. They have a 1500 watt motor and work better than other hot air popcorn poppers with 1200 watt motors. 

You can learn the basics in 5 minutes and spend years trying different beans and different roasting profiles. 

The above mentioned machine can be found on eBay or other avenues. 

I also own a small commercial machine but still use a hot air popper from time to time. 

Ray

[Stephen Durfee]

+1 on the Chemex. Its the best

[Luke Hendrickson]

Moccamaster all day over here.

[Franco Rinaldi]

I have a Gaggia classic that I use at home for espresso! When I’m bike excursions I tend to use an aeropress.

This is motivating me to want to make some coffee outside by the beach near these ww2 bunkers that are still standing!

Franco Rinaldi 

c:  646.403.0661 

-Pardon any typos, Siri typed this message-

On Feb 7, 2025, at 9:11 PM, Luke Hendrickson <lukehen...@uchastings.edu> wrote:

Moccamaster all day over here.

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