ok, so, if you’ve been reading our blog for awhile or know us personally, you probably know that over the past year-ish, we’ve sort of become coffee snobs. no, we haven’t forever sworn off starbuck’s (hello, morning buns), but we did ditch our drip coffee maker several months ago and do prefer to make coffee with manual brewing methods or visit local coffee shops that offer them on their menu.

aside from really appreciating good coffee, we also really appreciate – and genuinely enjoy – the process of making it each morning, manually. yeah, it does take time, but it’s become somewhat of a ritual, a way to wake up even before the actual caffeine hits. we also like collecting coffee gadgets.

add all of that up and enter: the travel coffee setup. when we head to california later this week, we’ll be fully equipped to make ourselves (and my momma!) great coffee every morning. we’ve had the brewer itself (in this case, the aeropress) for quite a while, but over the last month we’ve picked up the remaining pieces for this setup and are excited to finally present them here!

01. aerobie aeropress coffee maker – the aeropress is perfect for travel. it’s super lightweight, made of plastic so you can throw it in your bag and not risk breakage, and make a perfect individual serving size of almost espresso-like coffee.

02. porlex mini hand grinder – the grinder is what i feel like makes this travel setup especially legit. yeah, you could pre-grind your coffee at home, or buy pre-ground when you get there, but freshly grinding your coffee right before brewing it is just the best way. plus, it’s adorable, very well designed, and even fits inside the aeropress for space-saving!

03. aws-600 pocket size scale – for measuring your freshly ground coffee and, if you want to, the water (although you’re basically just filling up the chamber). there are a whole bunch of different versions of this pocket scale online, and they’re all very affordable.

04. disk coffee filter – the standard aeropress filters are disposable paper ones, and they work just fine, but the (reusable) disk is much more sustainable for long-term use, and produces a cleaner, more full-bodied cup. able brewing, the company that manufacturers them, have fantastic customer service, tons of neat products in their online store, and even hand-address all their shipments.  

05. good coffee, obviously! if you’re traveling somewhere you can get specialty coffee, i recommend purchasing some once you’re there and maybe having a mini coffeecation while you’re at it. but if you do bring your own, you’ll want about 18g per person/per day of travel when using the aeropress.

06. your favorite travel mug! we just got a couple of keep cups – pictured below – you can ‘create your own cup’ on their website in about a million color combinations or order a few different styles on amazon. we really like them because they’re super lightweight and not breakable: perfect for travel.

if you’re like uhhh wtf is an aeropress or you’ve heard about it and are just looking for a good method for using it, we really like this video/tutorial from verve coffee.

hope we have inspired you to create a travel coffee setup of your own!
p.s. any recommendations for coffee shops / roasters to check out in the los angeles/orange county/inland empire area?