Brewing

[Ernildir]

How would a Ranger go about brewing his coffee or tea in the wild? Would he be able to filter the dregs/leaves from the drink after brewing, or just have to put up with them? How do y'all manage it?

Thanks.

[E.MacKermak]

For coffee or tea, the best is an old tea ball.

Me? I just throw the coffee grounds in the pot with the water. Once the coffee is brewed, you can pour cold water into the pot and it will drive the grounds to the bottom of the pot, then you just dip the coffee from the top.

[caedmon]

How would a Ranger go about brewing his coffee or tea in the wild? Would he be able to filter the dregs/leaves from the drink after brewing, or just have to put up with them? How do y'all manage it?

Thanks.

Stumped me. I'd think the caffeine deprived ranger might make a poor man's strainer / french press with multiple layers of cheesecloth?

Of course I am obliged to post this link, if for no other reason to steal Ringulf's thunder... I understand that any Dwarf who is forced to leave his mountain carries one of these along side his fire piston... http://blog.makezine.com/2011/11/27/poc ... o-machine/

[kaelln]

Well, I just got a Vietnamese coffee filter for Sharon and I. It's stainless, and thus lightweight and easy to clean. It's basically a cup with holes in the bottom that sits on another cup. You put a tablespoon or so of coffee, place a small plate with holes over the coffee and pour in hot water. 99% of the grounds stay in the filter, and it makes a perfect cup of coffee. I'm sure it would work for tea as well. Of course, you could always just make a small linen pouch with a drawstring to put coffee or tea in and use it like a tea bag. After use, you would just turn it inside out and rinse it. That would be simple, weightless, and take up virtually no space.

[Ernildir]

Thanks, guys. I love the linen bag idea.

Time for my next naive question. How do you boil water? What kind of pan/pot and mug do you use and where can a historically accurate one be acquired? How do you suspend it above the flames? Has this already been addressed in an old thread?

[deadextra]

Tea and coffee I take as a luxury, I wouldn't cater specifically to making hot beverages in my equipment.

If I wanted to make tea while trekking with period gear, I'd heat the water in my ceramic cooking pot, add leaves to it to brew, and drink it directly from the pot through the leaves. No extra weight, no problem.

[Peter Remling]

A similar question arose several years ago. Steve B. (a serious period reeanactor) said for tea, to bring the water to a full boil, drop in the leaves and they will sink to the bottom. It works !

[Manveruon]

Something else to keep in mind: coffee didn't really exist in Europe during the Middle Ages. It originated in Africa and didn't make itself known in the "Western World" until the Renaissance. Now mind you, Tolkien's Middle Earth also included things like potatoes and corn, which are indigenous to the Americas, and weren't introduced to the Old World until the Renaissance themselves, so with that in mind, Coffee might be hand-waived away. And apparently in the pseudo-Europe created by John Flanagan for his Ranger's Apprentice books coffee has made its way to the West during the equivalent of the High Middle Ages or even earlier, so if you're doing an RA-Universe persona, coffee is almost a downright necessity (given how much they obsess over the stuff in his books, heh).
Tea actually has a similar history, and wasn't really introduced to Europe until the 16th Century - though it had been consumed in Asia for hundreds or possibly even thousands of years before that. But again, this is fantasy, not history, so things are a bit more... fluid. No pun intended.

[Ernildir]

Fortunately, the availability of both coffee and tea in Middle-earth is verified in An Unexpected Party, so I can drink with a clear conscience.

[Manveruon]

Excellent point! To be honest, I had completely forgotten that fact. Nevermind my prattling on then.

[BrianGrubbs]

Time for my next naive question. How do you boil water? What kind of pan/pot and mug do you use and where can a historically accurate one be acquired? How do you suspend it above the flames? Has this already been addressed in an old thread?

I use an old boiler from a boy scout mess kit. It's small, fits in my sporran so I always have it with me, is fairly authentic looking, and most importantly...I already had it!

Brian

[Kiriana]

I actually have two of the tea balls now hehe so we are set!!

[Ernildir]

Tea and coffee I take as a luxury, I wouldn't cater specifically to making hot beverages in my equipment.

If I wanted to make tea while trekking with period gear, I'd heat the water in my ceramic cooking pot, add leaves to it to brew, and drink it directly from the pot through the leaves. No extra weight, no problem.

That ceramic cooking pot sounds interesting. No trouble with it burning? Does it have a handle? Do you hang it over the fire? I've never heard of such a thing, but it sounds like it could be a not-too-difficult project to make, so I'm intrigued.

[deadextra]

Unglazed cooking pots are one of those things which are so common to find in sites that nobody bothers to publish a lot of pictures of them. The pot I'm using now is a little glazed thing with a lid and stubby handle I picked up at goodwill, but a replica of a proper pot is on the list of ceramic items I'm hiring someone to make for me.

Here's a real pot.


I just put mine directly on the fire just as the pictured pot appears to have been used. There are some I've seen with legs, but having a flat bottom doesn't particularly bother me. As for it burning...well ceramics are rather wonderful in that they can take more heat than most anything else; that's why we make crucibles out of it for instance.

[Ringulf]

Overlooking the historical equivilancy for the obvious enjoyment Professor Tolkien and John Flannegan had/have for coffee tea and Pipeweed (tobacco was also new world) I enjoy my coffe much too much to allow any period correctness to seperate me!! I also enjoy the occasional pipe after dinner or around the fire.

That being said I was given a lovely cast iron tea and coffee pot that is small enough to have made it's way into my kit. It won't serve more than two but helps keep the brew a treat rather than a staple.

This one can be put right over the coals and has a great little mesh screen that fits in it. allowing loose tea and coursely ground coffee.