Customize your own portable coffee bags

Take them camping.  Throw them in your desk for emergencies.  Keep a stash in your car.  They are quick, tasty, and completely customizable...  They're coffee bags!!   

In just a few quick steps you can have flavored, sweetened or just plain black coffee wherever you need it!  The recipe is up to you!

Materials:

Iron
Coffee grinder
Whole bean coffee
Non-Dairy creamer
Sugar
Tea bags (the size used for 4 cup tea pots)

Step 1: Grind the beans

Grind the beans on the finest setting.  The more surface area you can create in the grounds, the more flavorful your cup of coffee will be.  I tried several grinds, but the finest works the best.  It gives the fullest flavor.  

Comments

[mstyle183]

hey man i'm guessing you entered this in the coffee contest? i wonder if something is wrong with the people reviewing the entries

[terpodion]

"Coffee contest"? Which one? The people reviewing the entries are most likely "coffee snobs" - like me. I tried the coffee bag idea decades ago and wasn't at all happy with the results. Without writing a treatise on proper coffee brewing technique, the coffee bag is far less than ideal.

[mstyle183]

lol i hope you like my coffee invetions.. i would love to hear your coffee snub opinion lol

[terpodion]

I commented on your invention. Not a bad idea. I also resisted going into a diatribe about the art of coffee brewing - which I easily could because, as you know, I'm a coffee snob.

[mstyle183]

thanks for the feedback!

[Bruce2202]

I just ordered the tea bags from Amazon. I have bought prepackaged coffee bags from the grocery store for camping trips in the past, but they are really expensive for what you get and I don't use many at a time and they go stale. I can't wait to try this!

[chachingck]

Where do you find the tea bags to fill? Are they available anywhere?

[mephisto1970]

you can get empty tea bags like these either at specialty shops like Teavana ( http://bit.ly/yjptBy ) or from places like Whole Foods in the tea section or at local co-ops.

[beank]

Very neat idea....where do you get the empty tea bags?

[mephisto1970]

LOVE IT, particularly the ideas of incorporating the creamer and sugar, and the ironing to keep the bag sealed. Thank you!!!

[rainbowkisses]

this is so cool i have left over bags from when i made herb bags for my stews, bouquet of garni they are called in Australia, Im back at college now and some sod keeps using my milk i leave in the fridge, so this is going to come in real handy, so long as they dont break into my locker, then i'll be really ticked off

[claven20]

Here is a link to a website that sells the tea bags. I bought mine at a local tea shop!

http://www.coffeebeandirect.com/gifts/tea-accessories.html?gclid=CNPz1r2Rkq4CFbAEQAodHkTNJg

[mskillasmile]

This is a cool idea! Thank you for sharing.

[SailorSue42]

Thank you! Love this idea for boats. We cruise and go minimalist.
To help preserve the flavours I will wrap them in aluminum foil (impermeable to gases) and then a Ziploc(TM) against water. Not surprisingly, there is always some wet about.

[msdrpepper]

Very clever idea. I did some more searching on Amazon and found a wide variety of products, including the one mentioned above - different sizes, some for just a one cup at a time, others larger, like your instructable for a "2 cup" size of coffee.

http://www.amazon.com/MiniMinit-filters-holder-one-coffee/dp/B001T3WJ4M/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1328811433&sr=1-2-catcorr

I used search strings like "refillable coffee filter bag" "empty coffee bags" "empty tea bags"

For those in UK I also found on Amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=tea+bags&x=0&y=0#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=empty+tea+bags&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aempty+tea+bags

so looks like there are plenty of options and prices!! Most excellent idea as my coffee maker just died and the last one I got for "free" by buying a few months worth of coffee from Gevalia.com - but they no longer offer the free coffeemakers for new subscriptions...and I'm too stingy to want to shell out $100+ for the K-style coffee makers (although I am enthralled with the single shot coffee maker concepts because I don't drink 8 cups of coffee in a day - I would make the 8 cups in my old coffeemaker thermos carafe and then reheat the next day or two when I wanted more. Of course, reheated is icky (but better than nothing... or maybe not?)... I already have gobs of loose coffee so I know I can get the reusable k-style filters if I do finally find a K-style machine at a reasonable price. But this will get me going in the meantime!! Thanks so much!

[rafari]

I really like this idea! Thanks.

[gamergrl22]

What a good idea! This is great since I'm the only one who drinks coffee at my house and I'm lazy, lol!

[Kiteman]

You can buy empty tea bags? Can you get them in the UK?

[Kvozza13]

60 of them will run you $6.50.

http://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Tea-Empty-Bags-60ea/dp/B00027CM5C

[jakeby]

You can get them on Amazon.uk and ebay, search for T-Sac or DIY teabag

[claven20]

You can in Minnesota! I bought one hundred for 4 dollars... I'm sure they have them in the UK as well. I had to go to a specialty tea shop/cafe.

[Kiteman]

Thanks.

[stephenniall]

Have a look on Ebay, There's a few sellers in Hong Kong selling them for a few quid.

[Organize74]

Do you store these in a ziplock bag? I'm wondering if they loose their flavor while sitting in a desk drawer otherwise. Just thinking about this.......I have to go make my coffee now.

[claven20]

I store mine in zip loc containers, so i dont know why a bag wouldnt work... I havent kept mine for longer than a few weeks though....

[dg.gomes]

What are the size of these tea bags? I found to sell in ebay.uk in these dimensions 5cm x 6cm ; 6cm x 8cm and 8cm x 11cm but I'm not sure which one should I get.