The Best Camping Coffee Makers

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The perfect setting, and the perfect cup of mud.

You'll be glad to hear, coffee snobs, that these days being in the great outdoors doesn't mean you have to settle for bad coffee. So long as you take your new favorite beans or your ole reliable beans, there are outdoor coffee makers that'll turn them into a high-quality cup of mud.

Sure, it might not hit like the stuff you pull from your favorite fancy at-home machine, but you'd be surprised at how good coffee tastes when you're out in the backcountry. To help you, we got our minds together—our coffee snobs, our outdoorspeople—and ran through the best products on the market. The result was this list of the eight best camping coffee makers.

Here are the ones you can rely on when you're miles away from a Dollar General or days away from the nearest fourth-wave coffee shop. We're sure you can't go wrong with any of these.

Shop Snow Peak

One of the favorites from our coffee machine reviews, we love the value you get from this Snow Peak collapsible drip. Like all Snow Peak gear, it's sturdily constructed out of quality materials, so it should last for a long, long time. It's simple to use. Just add a filter, place it over your cup or carafe, and add hot water. But it's easy to make a great cup of coffee.

On top of that, it packs down really slim, and it's incredibly light. We love it for anything from backpacking to car camping. And although you can purchase it as part of the car camping or backpacking coffee sets, we think it provides the best value on its own. (Assuming you already have cups and a kettle you can use.)

Another strong contender for Best Overall category was this Stanley French Press. The standout feature here is that the container can work as a kettle, independently from the french press insert. You boil your water and grounds, then push the plunger through. It's simple, but it gives you a bold, wonderfully smooth cup of coffee. And when you're done the handles fold flush against the container, making it easy to pack.

The only downside is inherent to french presses in general: They're tough to clean. It's unavoidable, but the mesh plunger just requires a little more work.

And another winner in our coffee machine testing is Bialetti's classic Moka Pot. It's packable, easy to use, and makes a really nice pseudo-espresso. Plus, you really don't need soap to clean it out. Rinse it out after use, and give it a more serious clean when you've got a proper sink to wash in.

If you prefer espresso, this is the best way to get it while you're out in the world. Bring along a handheld milk frother and you can even whip up some cappuccinos and lattes.

For a while now, the AeroPress has been the go to recommendation for backcountry coffee making. The AeroPress Go is a slightly smaller version of that original coffee maker—which we prefer for packability sake.

All the components nest inside each other, and it brews coffee in one minute. It's great for backpacking or two-person camping, but will be too small for anything more than that.

But if you want something for a proper ultralight setup, this is it. This tiny little drip weighs 0.4 ounces. The nylon filter detaches from the plastic legs, so it packs down incredibly small and fits into any little side pocket.

The cup of coffee it delivers is fine, nothing fantastic. But if you're putting together an ultralight setup, that's all secondary to weight. For the specific purpose, it's the best we've found.

These stainless steel percolators are an outdoors classic. If you go on any sort of guided trip—mountaineering, rafting, hiking, whatever—this is probably what the group's coffee is getting made in. If guides love them, you'll love them.

The size and ease of using a percolator are what make them so great for larger groups. These things make a great cup of coffee, and this 14-cup size should be plenty large for most groups. It's everything you need.

Back to Snow Peak. Because of course the Japanese go-to for luxury camping makes the most luxe camp coffee set.

The Field Barista Set has everything you need for the perfect pour over cup. The drip is a bit sturdier than the backpacking one mentioned higher up this list. The grinder is perfect for bean snobs that need fresh ground coffee. The kettle is simple and ergonomic.

If you're seriously into coffee, then you've probably heard of how they do it over in the Eastern Mediterranean. Generally called Turkish Coffee, it's made in one a Cezve like this one, and it's strong, sweet, and smooth.

The grounds stay in the coffee when you drink it, so it has the same mystique as cowboy coffee, but Turkish coffee is often flavored with cardamom for a nicer drinking experience. And, the quick brewing and easy cleaning of a copper cezve make Turkish coffee perfect for car camping trips.

Buy some fine Turkish grounds, learn the brewing process, and enjoy this centuries-old method of brewing.

Luke Guillory is the Associate Commerce Editor at Esquire.

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