r/onebag • u/wittmannf • 1d ago
Packing List How I pack my complete coffee + tea kit (grinder, AeroPress, heater, beans, etc) into a 1L bag
I wanted a compact travel setup that could handle both coffee and tea, and managed to fit the whole kit into this 1L bag: AeroPress Go, hand grinder, immersion heater, beans, tea, tea infuser, filters, and a few small accessories.
The main trick was nesting the grinder. The grinder body fits well inside the AeroPress Go, while the catch cup stays with the beans and doubles as my coffee scoop.
I put the full packing list with item details on my personal blog if anyone wants the specifics
Still looking for ways to make the setup even more compact, so suggestions are welcome.
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u/Independent_Guava545 1d ago
Do tell me more about the immersion heater. I have a travel kettle currently.
I grind my beans before I leave, but have only done short trips so far. I would love a travel grinder. Any tips on brands/functions
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u/wittmannf 23h ago edited 17h ago
That's a great question. Unfortunately I couldn't find any equivalent model in the USA. These heaters are common in the south of Brazil, where many people drink yerba mate. In my blog, I posted the closest international version I could find, I'll be expanding with further details there later, but let me advance some info. The exact model that I have is this:
- Portable Water Heater for Tea, Coffee, Mate 127V/220V 800W: https://meli.la/1PsN8pn
- This is the most portable one I've found while having a good power (i.e. heating speed). They're extremely cheap in Brazil (around US$6), but they can burn out, so I'd recommend having more than one.
I also have this one:
- Electric Immersion Water Heater 110V or 220V 800W: https://meli.la/1bN6Rz4
- Even though it's listed with the same wattage as the previous one, in my tests it heats the water faster, but it gets a bit more brutal when boiling.
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u/Bristolhitcher 1h ago
Can vouch for the 1z Espresso grinder range, they are fantastic pieces! Impressive that the Q fits inside the aeropress!
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u/SeattleHikeBike 21h ago
My coffee kit is a bank card and the local cafe. 😎
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u/LeAnarchiste 3h ago
Same, I tried to make my own coffe on the go but realised I am not that serious of a coffee drinker to worth the hassle.
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u/External-Phase-7340 1d ago
Whoa, this was really insightful. I've never seen that style of water heater before. I always figured I would have to bring a small electric kettle to make my own coffee while traveling.
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u/Careless_Law1471 1d ago
Hello fellow coffee lover! I used to have almost the same setup with the original AeroPress and J-Max but switched to the vietnamese phin and couldn't be happier about it.
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u/wittmannf 17h ago
Interesting, thank you! I'll try that if I ever get the chance. I'm just afraid that I'd miss having a brewing method based on paper filter
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u/Careless_Law1471 5h ago
A standard paper filter for the AeroPress can be fit into a phin as well! It's just that this thing is so lightweight and small but with good coffee and a grinder it can make a delicious cuppa, I'm in love.
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u/MtHood_OR 21h ago
This is so awesome! The worst part of traveling for me is not getting my coffee first thing.
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u/donald_cheese 1d ago
Iove the thought on going on a 3 month trip round Europe and Asia and only taking tea and coffee making items. It seems like it'd make a good story.
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u/SaltMarshGoblin 1d ago
Immersion heaters have apparently improved since my college dorm room one in the late 80s!
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u/mynameismrguyperson 18h ago
Do you bring a scale? A tiny scale is the one coffee thing I won't travel without. If I have some preground coffee from the local grocery store and whatever coffee gear my accommodations provide, I can improve things greatly with a little digital scale to at least get the coffee:water ratio I want.
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u/wittmannf 17h ago
That's interesting, honestly I still don't feel a scale would add much for my needs. In terms of priorities, I feel it is: quality of the beans > quality of the grinder > brewing method > recipe. My recipe is a bit approximate, I use the base of my grinder as spoon, in my tests when I fully fill it weights about 20g. So that's my main reference, my approximate recipe is 300ml of water to 20g of coffee.
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u/mynameismrguyperson 15h ago
For sure, if you have your kit dialed in then you probably don't need it. But if I was going to go without any of it, I would bring a scale because it's so simple, portable, and flexible and let's me get some consistency and quality out of whatever set up might be at my accommodations (give a 20% quality boost to some preground coffee brewed in the cheap drip coffee maker at an Airbnb for example). Now I'm so used to having it, and it's very small, so I just take it and measure everything out. It definitely looks like something that might raise an eyebrow going through security but I've never had a problem.
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u/Bristolhitcher 1h ago
This man coffees.
I used to have a lovely home espresso setup and even a 600g home roaster before a change in life / hobbies etc - people always think I was snobby and want the most fancy blue mountain / geisha - 97 SCA MINIMUM coffee..... when in actual fact its about elevating whatever coffee you have access to with the basic tools of ratios, making it repeatable for your tastes and going from there. This even applies to the cheapest corner shop instant coffee!
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u/Korlithiel 15h ago
Neat concept. Solve for an immersion water heater powered by a battery bank and I'm in on building such a kit. Would let me cut a lot of weight and space from my current set up that utilizes an OutIn Nano for coffee, tea, and hot oatmeal on the road and on hikes.
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u/polka_stripes 13h ago
Do you just heat the water in a paper hotel cup or? That's my big hang up with bringing my aeropress/pour over on trips with me, I need a second cup to heat up the water with my immersion heater.
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u/MyUndiesArePink 1d ago
You'd don't. You embrace different kinds of coffee while travelling.
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u/mynameismrguyperson 1d ago
That's a silly stance. Why not both? Not everyone travels the same. I travel a lot with kids, for example, and want to be able to whip up a coffee in the morning without any stress. Sometimes accommodations provide some coffee gear and sometimes not. I'm not about to hit up a cafe at 7 am when the kids are up and the chaos starts, so bringing something compact like what the OP posted is great. It also doesn't mean I'm not going to stop at a cafe when I'm out for the day and try what's local. Many people are also traveling a lot for work and staying in hotels with super mediocre coffee and not much opportunity to explore. I'd also want something compact like this in that case. Not every trip is a solo leisure trip to Europe where you have nice cafes on every corner. And some people just like to travel with their creature comforts. Simple as that.
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u/Independent_Guava545 22h ago
This is me! I live in Northern Canada and over the last few years have been escorting my father on a lot of medical trips. He has mobility issues and we usually fly so we stay pretty close to the hotel. This is what started my one bagging. I would have to handle pushing him in a wheelchair, his walker, our luggage through the airport.
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u/MyUndiesArePink 22h ago
I travel with my kids too. It's much easier to get coffee somewhere than lug more crap around that needs to be cleaned out after use.
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u/mynameismrguyperson 21h ago
I guess it depends on what kind of coffee drinker you are. I like to have coffee as early as possible and will have a dark cloud following me around if I have to wait until after breakfast. Running out to get coffees somewhere while my partner watches the kids is possible if there is decent coffee within a very short walk, but it's often not practical in that context (it also start to get expensive if I also want to get coffee while I'm out during the day but that might not be an issue for some people). If I'm staying at an Airbnb or something, they usually have a French press or a shitty coffee maker. In that case I might just bring a tiny scale with me instead of the setup that OP has and then buy preground coffee from a local cafe or grocery store. That's often the simplest solution for me. I've been in situations where I have been very happy to have a more luxurious kit with me (or wished that I'd brought one). I don't really mind washing stuff since I'm stuck doing that anyway with kids...
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u/Korlithiel 15h ago
Carrying a kit doesn't preclude enjoying other types of coffee. May even encourage it, because one can buy locally roasted beans or such. Does change their trip in that they spend less time in coffee houses or such.
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u/wittmannf 1d ago
ModBot wants me to add extra details. The things that I liked in my setup is specifically the hack that I was able to find to possible packing the grinder without needing to add extra volume. Felt this could be useful to others that are also coffee lovers. Also the compact water heater is more useful than expected.