Better Coffee for Bikepacking Update - The FinalPress

Something not right,

Something not right,

Something not right and I don't know what it is.

Something Not Right, Glen Alfred (2019). 

In April, I posted Better Coffee for Bikepacking, a summary of some of my experiments making coffee when out in the backcountry on a bike. Many folks responded with favorite methods and suggestions, which I appreciate. Bikepacking buddy Paul Brasby of North Platte, Nebraska even forwarded to me a link to a device that I had never seen. The FinalPress. I had to try it.

FinalPress awaiting hot water to brew some coffee.

The FinalPress is a stainless steel cylinder with mesh filter sides and a threaded top, which secures to a top cap with a spring loaded plunger. The cylinder is light and relatively small, measuring about 1.5" in diameter and about 2" high, while the plunger extends another 4" off the top. 

The instructions say to add 14-16 grams of coffee into the cylinder, place the cylinder into an 8-10 ounce mug of hot water, swirl for 10-30 seconds, steep for 2-4 minutes, lift the cylinder out of the coffee, and press the plunger. 

So, the FinalPress essentially works like a steeped coffee bag with rigid sides and a mechanical, French Press squeeze at the end.

My several attempts yielded inconsistent results, much like my experiments with steeped coffee bags. I wonder if the coffee grounds confined by the rigid walls of the cylinder are inherently, significantly exposed to the hot water unequally. That is, the coffee grounds exposed to hot water form a cake, where the grounds around the exterior of the cake would seem to be exposed to more hot water longer than the grounds packed into the interior, creating variable extraction. I don't know. Stirring probably helps initially, but the cylinder then just sits in hot water for a few minutes. I don't know. It may simply be operator error. Something makes it less than ideal.

My best, most consistent results with the FinalPress were with moderately coarse ground coffee filling about one third of the cylinder, with regular stirring for about 2 minutes and then squeezing the plunger several times while still immersed. That worked better, but still less than great. This will not replace the CoffeeBrewer or the Pourigami, and certainly not the AeroPress.

The FinalPress is marketed as a coffee and tea brewer. In operation, I'd call it a tea brewer that can make coffee.

FinalPress on the road.

Addendum. Join me at #CoffeeOutside-Rapid City sometime and you're welcome to try it. Last week at the park, I brewed a cup of coffee with the FinalPress, with OK results. Immediately afterward, I brewed another cup with the same grounds but using the Pourigami pour-over. Very, very good. What a difference.

Something Not Right, Glen Alfred (2019)