8 best portable coffee makers for the perfect brew while camping

The portable coffee-maker of choice for many coffee experts just got even more portable. Aeropress makes some of the smoothest, best extracted coffee we’ve tried, and this slightly smaller travel version is no different. Packing down into its own plastic mug, it’s a brilliantly compact device. It also comes with some upgrades on the classic model – we found it had a slightly smoother plunge, for example. It comes with paper filters, but we prefer reusable metal ones when we’re on the go – Aeropress doesn’t have an official one yet, but they’re easy to find online.

This is the most rugged, adventure-ready coffee maker we tested. It’s essentially a tall cafetiere, made from steel, with an integrated mug. Thanks to the vacuum insulated wall, it kept our coffee warm for at least an hour. It’s incredibly neat and simple: add coffee (coarse ground) and water, stir, then pop on the lid – which integrates the press – and push down. The mesh press sits snug against the wall, so the grounds stay firmly at the bottom of the cylinder while you drink. It’s very durable and easy to clean – simply unscrew the bottom compartment and throw away the grounds. It’s on the heavier side but makes two generous cups at a time.

This is a handheld espresso maker that extracts with more pressure than most machines and is the perfect camping companion if you like your coffee short and strong. It works best with ground, shop-bought espresso coffee and takes very little time and effort to brew: fill the small water tank with hot water, pack in the coffee, and squeeze. It’s not quite barista-quality espresso, but if you consider the fact that it will fit in your pocket or the side pocket of your backpack, it’s a very fine substitute. 

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This is our favourite of Sea to Summit’s clever range of collapsible camping cooking equipment. The flexible, cooking-grade silicone pour-over-style coffee filter collapses to the size of a small coaster, making it the ultimate coffee maker for ultralight camping or hiking trips. We found a finer grind made the best coffee – water seems to flow straight through coarse-ground coffee – and you need roughly the same proportions of coffee to water that you would use for any drip system. It’s easy to clean and fits on any mug.

A tiny, one-person version of the classic Italian stovetop coffee maker. A moka pot is ideal if you camp with a gas stove because you can leave it gently bubbling away while you pack up camp. It’s designed to make espresso, so it’s best suited to people who like a short coffee – although you can easily top up your shot with hot water to make an Americano. The espresso it makes – a shot at a time – is exquisite, as good as you would make at home, and well worth the little bit of space it takes up in your pack. Producing a tiny version of Italy’s coolest coffee maker at breakfast will also win you major style points.

This spectacularly fast, neat coffee system only works with MSR’s windburner stove – it’s basically a lightweight press that fits inside the windburner pot – but paired up, they make the most reliable and dependable cup of coffee you can get on the road. It will light in even the worst weather thanks to the burner being very well shielded, and, because the pot sits snug on top, the water boils fast, even at altitude. The coffee is smooth and works best with a course ground. Everything packs down into the windburner’s pot, making it ideal for backpackers and bikers. If you’re an adventurer and coffee is a survival essential, this little press is the best you can get.

A beautiful little espresso system that works a bit like the moka pot. The base sits comfortably on a small gas stove, and the coffee bubbles up the longer spout to drip into the double-walled cup provided. It looks amazing and the coffee is excellent. The whole system packs down into a small case that’s just slightly bigger than a sunglasses pouch. It only makes one shot at a time, but it brews very quickly. It’s the perfect, lightweight treat for a camper – it’s also available as a larger, four-cup model if you’re heading out with a group, or just require a lot of caffeine before summiting.

Hario makes the wildly popular ceramic V60 drippers you see deployed at artisan coffee shops, and we’re happy to report this lightweight, plastic version works just as well. Brewing with this is an art, but it is one you can replicate at the campsite: make sure you use V60 filters, and let your boiled water cool a little before pouring it, which should be done as slowly and precisely as possible, in circles over medium-coarse grounds. The lightweight plastic dripper in the single-cup size is very small, and even though it’s a slightly odd shape we found that we could fit it easily into our backpack pocket.