“no one has brought up cowboy coffee???”
Story by Ben K. Green from his “Horse Trading” series of books.
Came upon the camp of another cowboy one night and the guy asked if he wanted a cup of coffee. Guy then proceeded to pour some beans from a burlap bag into another cloth bag, laid that on a rock and wacked it several times with a hammer and dumped that into a pot of boiling water.
Green said it was the worst cup of coffee he ever had.
"Cowboy coffee." That's how I started out 50 years ago. A simple percolator, coarse grind, over a fire. Did a great job and the sights and sounds of a percolator are really fun to watch and hear. When I moved to San Francisco in '73, I found a small coffee roastery on Chestnut Street called "Caravansary." Bought my first Turkish hand-grinder there and learned to grind my own beans. What a breakthrough!
I had a field service engineering job in power plants the first five years out of college. I travelled all over the western states to jobs and got tired of the really crappy truck stop coffee. I then put a small propane camp stove in my car trunk and could bring out my grinder and percolator whenever I stopped. Nothing like a good fresh brew at the roadside rest areas.
For the updated "Cowboy coffee," how about Cole Hauser's "Free Rein"? (he's the guy from "Yellowstone"). His "American Dirt" blend is great (if you like very strong and powerful coffee). My wife, a big "Yellowstone" fan, found his coffee and bought some -- really good!
