Coffee Without a Coffee Maker

To make coffee without a coffee maker, steep it like a French press in whatever you have: add coarse ground coffee to hot water, wait four minutes, let the grounds settle, and pour carefully. Use about 15g of coffee, roughly 3 level tablespoons, for an 8-ounce mug. A saucepan, a jug, or the mug itself all work.

A coffee maker only does two things: it gets hot water onto ground coffee, and it separates the grounds from the drink afterwards. Anything that does those two jobs can make good coffee. This guide covers the best options for a kitchen without a machine, a hotel room, a power cut, or a campsite.

The ratio still applies

The ratio is what decides how strong your coffee is, whatever you brew it in. Use the same 1:16 baseline as the drip and French press recipes: 1g of coffee for every 16g of water.

How much coffee per cup has the full chart and explains why spoons are only approximate. For other amounts, the ratio calculator gives you the coffee for any amount of water.

The saucepan method

This is the most reliable option, and the one to use for more than one cup. It is the technique campers call cowboy coffee, done gently.

1. Heat the water in a saucepan until it just boils, then take it off the heat and wait about 30 seconds.
2. Stir in coarse ground coffee, about 15g per 8-ounce mug. Make sure every bit is wet.
3. Cover and wait 4 minutes. A lid or a plate keeps the heat in.
4. Settle the grounds. Stir once, then sprinkle a spoonful of cold water over the surface. The cold water helps the floating grounds sink. Wait another minute.
5. Pour slowly into your mug, leaving the last bit and the grounds in the pan. For a cleaner cup, pour through a fine sieve.

Do not boil the coffee itself. Simmering grounds over the heat extracts far too much, and the result is harsh and bitter. Take the pan off the heat before the coffee goes in.

A sieve plus a paper coffee filter, or a clean cotton cloth, catches almost everything. A fine tea strainer gets most of it.

Steeping in a mug

The quickest method for one cup, and the one for a hotel room with a kettle.

1. Add 15g of coarse ground coffee to a mug. Pour in 240g of water just off the boil.
2. Stir, cover with a saucer, and wait 4 minutes.
3. Stir once, then wait another minute for the grounds to sink.
4. Pour into a second mug, through a strainer if you have one, leaving the sludge behind.

Without a second mug, drink it as it is and stop before the last sip. Coffee steeped like this is unfiltered, the same as French press coffee; if you drink several cups a day, see filtered vs unfiltered coffee.

A homemade coffee bag

This works like a tea bag and leaves no grounds in the cup at all. It is ideal for travel.

1. Put 15g of ground coffee in the middle of a paper coffee filter.
2. Gather the edges and tie them tightly with string or unwaxed dental floss, leaving a tail to lift it out.
3. Drop it in a mug, pour 240g of hot water over it, and steep for 4 to 5 minutes, dunking it a few times.
4. Lift it out and squeeze it gently against the side of the mug.

The coffee in a bag is less exposed to the water than loose grounds, so it brews a little weaker. Use a medium grind and a slightly longer steep, or add another 2 to 3 grams.

A makeshift pourover

If you have paper filters and a funnel or sieve, you have most of a pourover. Set a paper filter in a sieve over a jug, add 20g of coffee ground medium-fine, and pour 320g of hot water over it in a few slow stages, starting with a small pour to wet the grounds. It is a slower, cleaner cup than the steeping methods.

Avoid paper towels. They tear easily, they are not made for hot liquid, and they can make the coffee taste of paper.

Heating water without a kettle

• On the stove: a saucepan works perfectly.
• In a microwave: heat the water in a microwave-safe jug in short bursts. Water heated in a microwave can get hotter than boiling without bubbling, then boil over suddenly when it is disturbed. Put a wooden spoon or stirrer in the jug while it heats, and let it stand for a moment before you pour.
• Over a camp stove: the same as the stove. At high altitude, water boils at a lower temperature, so use it straight off the boil; see water temperature.

You do not need a thermometer for any of these. Water about 30 seconds off the boil is in the right range.

If you have no grinder either

Pre-ground coffee is the easy answer: buy a bag ground for French press or drip. Coarser is easier to settle and strain, so for the steeping methods, choose the coarsest you can find.

If you have whole beans and no grinder, crush them:

• A blender in short pulses, shaken between them. Expect a mix of fine and coarse.
• A rolling pin, with the beans in a sealed freezer bag on a towel. Roll and press until they look like coarse sand.
• A mortar and pestle, a small handful at a time.

All of these make uneven grounds, so the coffee will be a bit muddier and less sweet than with a proper grinder. Steep for the shorter end of the time, and strain through paper if you can. What to buy for your first coffee setup explains why a burr grinder is worth it once you are brewing every day.

If none of this tastes right

The fixes are the same as for any coffee:

• Weak but pleasant: use more coffee next time.
• Sour or thin: steep a minute longer, or use hotter water.
• Bitter or harsh: steep a minute less, and make sure the coffee never boiled.
• Gritty: let it settle longer and pour more slowly, or strain through paper or cloth.

Fix sour, bitter, or weak coffee goes through each one in more detail.