3 Simple Ways to
Share What You Make

With Instructables you can share what you make with the world — and tap into an ever-growing community of creative experts.

PhotosPhotos

Share one or more photos of a project, recipe, or whatever you've made, quickly and easily.

Step by StepStep-By-Step

Share your step-by-step photos with text instructions of what you made so others can do it too!

VideoVideo

Share your how-to video. You'll need your embed code from a video site such as YouTube.

Making Ranger Coffee

Making Ranger Coffee
Be warned: coffee snobs, avert thine eyes now. For what follows may cause you to gag or even smash your computer in disgust with me.

With that out of the way, I set to show you the method for making what has been called Ranger or Marine coffee. I was neither, but I was in the army and we did (unfortunately) drink this stuff. Just dont call it Air Force coffee. (They have personal baristas that bring them fresh starbucks and bagels every morning)

The army even features this in a cadence:
"They say that in the army, the coffee's mighty fine
It looks like muddy water, and tastes like turpentine."

Sayings like that dont just appear out of thin air. This one has its roots well based in reality.


 
Remove these adsRemove these ads by Signing Up
 

Step 1Coffee

Coffee
Choose coffee:

This should be the cheapest, nastiest stuff you can find. (should make folgers look expensive)

Must absolutely be stale, none of that uppity whole bean stuff that you need to grind yourself. open the bag and leave it sitting out for a while.


« Previous StepDownload PDFView All StepsNext Step »
18 comments
Dec 21, 2011. 4:46 PMRangerJ says:
You know your coffee is ready to drink when it starts crawling over the side of the pot.

Our Mess Sergeant used to keep crackers in the sugar dispensers to keep it from lumping up from humidity.

Just don't add salt to it like the Navy does. Worst cup of coffee I've ever had...
Dec 5, 2011. 9:40 AMdmatthews6 says:
OK - one coffee cup/ one styrofaom bowl/ and a filter paper/cloth or paper towel or napkin if ya got it / dark roast coffee,please / and a pot full of boiling campfire water.

make slits in the bottom of the styrofoam bowl in a circle not bigger than the cup lip
put in a filter of some sort see above sit on top of the cup add coffee pour water into the bowl of coffee - let drip .

for group coffee make a filter over a larger / taller container .

if you only have a glass container put a big metal knife, spoon or something in it to help absorb heat so it won't crack.

PS: only use undies if they are all cotton. Tee shirts work great.
Nov 26, 2011. 4:59 AMromanreb says:
Gosh, Ranger--we used to just boil a quart of water with a cup of cheap ground coffee for a couple of hours...You fellows are a lot more refined than I would have expected...I mean sometimes we would throw in an eggshell for some reason I never understood, but that underwear filter thing is a bit precious, don't you think? ;)
Really enjoyed your instructable,
Ol' Miz Womack
Oct 17, 2011. 5:02 PMburnerjack01 says:
Justin, I'm beginning to understand what makes you guys so ferocious....
Jun 30, 2011. 9:06 AMKrytenthesmug says:
The verse I remember was:

The girls at the dances, they say are mighty fine,
Most are over 60, the rest are under nine.
Apr 19, 2011. 10:37 AMthe_eradicator says:
They say that women in the army are mighty fine
they look like philis diller and walk like franenstein!
My dad taught me that cadance back in the '70's...lol
May 8, 2011. 3:19 PMTrid says:
They say that in the army, the chow is mighty fine.
The chicken jumped off the table, and started marking time
Apr 22, 2011. 1:32 PMTheShadwofChaos says:
I just read this, and out of laziness I re-used my old grounds, and then ran it a second time, and god is this stuff nasty tasting..
Feb 8, 2011. 5:55 PMHisart says:
Wow, looks like the coffee we had every night {via percolator} at the shop when I was in the Air Force. One of the guys spilled the pot on the floor and stripped it to the bare tile instantly! We spent the rest of the night stripping the rest of the floor and waxing it before inspection the next morning.

For those of you that don't know what a percolator coffee pot is - it takes the coffee in the pot and pumps it back up into the grounds basket. It will keep doing this until you open it and take the basket and the pipe out. By morning the coffee will peel the paint off of a radar dome! Man, I miss that old percolator. It could make the hottest, blackest coffee imaginable.

Fond memories!

Thanks for the reminder!
Apr 19, 2011. 10:34 AMthe_eradicator says:
I stilll have a stove top one..lol
Apr 11, 2011. 8:29 PMharthoppy says:
Fave'd love ranger coffee . I drank a cup back in 96 and I am still running in circles.
Feb 7, 2011. 7:03 AMatombomb1945 says:
Canteen Cup, MRE heater, and coffee grounds. That is Field Coffee!
Feb 7, 2011. 7:13 AMStephenwp says:
I wasn't a Ranger, but I was in the Army. I always thought Ranger coffee went like this...

1. Tear open instant coffee pack from an MRE
2. Pour instant coffee into mouth.
3. Wash it down with a swig from the canteen.

Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

All Steps Viewing
View all steps of an Instructable on the same page when you're a Pro Member.

Upgrade to Pro today!
2
Followers
3
Author:justin.jackson