If there’s one modern luxury that all campers enjoy, it’s having freshly brewed coffee, right at your campground. It’s something we’re always chasing, trying to brew the perfect cup of coffee on the go, and for our most recent excursion up in the Adirondacks, we decided to field test the El Gato Malo French press.
Our criteria for this field test was pretty simple, it needed to be rugged and brew a good pot of coffee.
First, we started our water to boil, then filled our french press with fresh ground coffee. We used our favorite quick setup to boil our water, comprised of a folding camp stove and a can of butane/propane mix fuel. It’s been the quickest and easiest way we’ve found to boil water yet.
Once the water was boiling, we poured it in the french press and put the lid on. After giving it about 3-4 minutes to sit, we pushed the plunger all the way down to push the grounds through the hot water all the way to the bottom, then we poured ourselves a fresh cup of coffee.
We were able to get two pretty large cups of coffee out of this french press so capacity wasn’t really an issue, although to be honest we would like to have gotten a little more out of it. It’s not a long process but if you’re camping with more than 2 people you’ll need to brew another pot.
As for being durable, the entire unit is made out of stainless steel, so it held up well to our use and abuse while we threw it in our camping bag and took it on the trail.
Since the French press doesn’t really have that many moving parts to it, our standards are pretty high when it comes to making a good one, and for us the El Gato Malo delivered.
If you’d like to pick one up for yourself, you can buy it right on Amazon.com
Update: Unfortunately, at this time, the El Gato Malo French Press is not available at Amazon. But a good alternative is the BAYKA French Press Coffee Maker. Let me know in the comments what you think!
Glass French presses are preferred by many coffee enthusiasts because they preserve the coffee's natural oils and flavors. Enjoy a rich and pure coffee taste that is free of sediment and grit.
