Good Coffee on Vacation: Tips and Essentials for Making the Perfect Cup of Coffee

Ah... Holiday coffee. Good coffee on vacation is such an important part of a trip for us.

We can't imagine we're alone in this. In 2020, I already shared a blog post about vacation coffee and how to enhance your coffee enjoyment when you're away from home.

I thought it was time for a new blog on this topic!

Can't you just find good coffee (specialty coffee) on location when you're on holiday?

You might wonder if you can't get a good cup of coffee at your holiday destination, or find coffee beans to brew yourself.

My short answer to this question is essentially no. It's really not available everywhere. Unless, of course, you're going to a big city like Prague, Melbourne, Barcelona, ​​or perhaps New York.

If you're planning a city trip as a holiday, you certainly don't have to think about preparing your holiday coffee!

Then it is of course fun to visit all kinds of specialty coffee bars and/or micro roasteries and really wake up your taste buds.

But if, like us, you're heading more towards nature or have planned some quieter and/or lesser-known destinations, or "just" going to a campsite in the South of France, for example, I definitely recommend that you think carefully about your coffee needs on holiday.

You often end up having to rely on supermarket coffee, and of course I don't know about you...

I enjoy grocery shopping in another country, but I don't like drinking old, bitter coffee from the supermarket. I'd rather not drink anything then, honestly! #coffeesnobproblems #firstworldproblems

What should you consider if you want to drink good coffee on holiday?

A good question to follow up on the previous piece would be what you should consider when it comes to coffee. Of course, this varies greatly from person to person; everyone has different coffee needs. So many people, so many desires.

But I'd start with freshly roasted specialty coffee. See if there are any options for buying it locally. If not, calculate what you need and bring it from home!

Once you've got your specialty coffee and are ready to go, you'll naturally need to choose a suitable brewing method and bring the necessary coffee gear . What you bring depends on your preference (espresso/filter style), your available options (campsite/hotel room/cabin), what you might already have at home (I'm assuming you're not taking an electric coffee grinder to your hotel room, so maybe a hand grinder?), whether you're willing to purchase anything for the trip (like that hand grinder or a portable coffee maker ), and the space you have to carry things.

If you're driving to a cottage with excellent electricity and you have room in your car, why not bring the perfect coffee gear with you?

Why make things difficult when you can make them easy :-).

What do we take with us on vacation in the field of specialty coffee and coffee gear?

Luckily, we're going away again this summer, and one of the most important parts of our vacation is preparing for the morning coffee ritual.

We're traveling with two little ones and aren't necessarily going to a big city, so we don't want to rely on being able to buy fresh espresso or a bag of specialty coffee locally in the village.

So we prepare ourselves to basically make all the coffees ourselves and if we come across a nice coffee bar, that's all extra.

• Space: We're going by plane (and a compact car there), and since we already take a stroller/baby carrier/mega pack of diapers/swimming rings/2 car seats/2 little ones (and so on) with us, we can't really call ourselves 'light travelers' anymore.
  
  But that also means we have very little space left for coffee gear. So this is definitely an important factor for us.
  
  
• Quality: As coffee roasters and coffee lovers, we're not going to spend 10 days drinking inferior coffee that's already pre-ground at home, so having a grinder is a real plus for us.
  
  However, given the space available, it will be a manual grinder. We recently treated ourselves to a 1ZPresso JX-ZP6 .
  
  What a beast of a hand grinder this is! You can grind out a hefty shot in about 15 seconds!
  
  What?! An upgrade from our simpler Hario hand grinder , also a nice thing, but the price of the JX-Pro definitely justifies the difference in convenience. Looking for a mid-range price?
  
  Still looking for a suitable hand grinder? Then read this blog about manual grinders !
  
  
• Quantity: We don't want to take too little or too much coffee, and of course we also want to vary the flavour a bit.
  
  So we often calculate how many grams of coffee we use for the brewing method x the number of brewings per day x the number of days + 25%, so that we have some leeway if we end up craving more coffee than we thought!
  
  We then divide this quantity over different coffees, preferably small bags.
  
• Coffee gear: We already know (always, by the way) that we'll be bringing filter-style coffees, but we don't yet know exactly which brewing method we'll be using.
  
  We're still hesitating between the Aeropress ( want to know how it works? ), because we don't use it that much at home, while we love it and it's nice and sturdy (plastic) for traveling.
  
  And between the Origami Dripper , because we've been crazy about it lately. And with the Origami Dripper Air version, you also have a handy, unbreakable device because it's now made of durable plastic.
  
  Want to learn more about this beautifully designed dripper? Then read this blog post about the Origami Dripper . It's a tough choice, but maybe we can take both? That'll be a bit of a last-minute trial and error.

Of course, there are many more options suitable for taking on a trip, depending on your preferences and what you may have at home.

For espresso-style coffees and cappuccinos, it is best to use a percolator or Bialetti.

The French press (also known as a French press or cafetiere) is also extremely popular for camping, and most filter-style methods (except perhaps the siphon and other fragile devices) are portable, such as the Hario V60 (plastic version).

• Extras: We'll bring ascale , but not a kettle with a thermometer and a gooseneck. That last one is a bit much for us, but maybe we'll be crazy enough next year ;-).

Hopefully, this will give you some inspiration for holiday coffee. If you don't want to bring a hand grinder or invest in one, you can always order pre-ground coffee from us!

Have a nice summer!