How to Make Coffee Without a Coffee Maker

The dedicated coffee drinkers among us try not to make a habit of being unprepared where our morning caffeine consumption is concerned. Yet even we diehards occasionally find ourselves with coffee and a broken machine — or no machine at all. Fortunately, it’s fairly simple to MacGyver a cup of joe using a few basic kitchen tools. 

“It’s sort of a hypothetical; hopefully we’d never be caught dead without a coffee maker,” says Adam Foss, a mountain hunter, photographer, and Yeti ambassador who frequents breathtakingly remote locales and always keeps a bag of coarsely ground coffee in his truck. “If we’re stuck in a tent a few extra days because of weather, splitting up food doesn’t matter; like, we’re not gonna die. But if we only have three days’ worth of coffee left, we have three days left.” 

If you relate to this sentiment, read on for expert DIY coffee-making tips.

How to make cowboy coffee

On the (very) rare occasions Foss is caught with ground coffee and no maker, he’ll brew coffee the old-fashioned way: cowboy coffee. This simple method requires no more than a pot, coffee grounds, and heat source. Here’s how to make it. 

1. Bring water to a boil in a pot or saucepan.
2. Add coarsely ground beans (the same coffee-to-water ratio you’d use in a coffee maker), stir, and let it steep for about five minutes.
3. Pour off the coffee into a cup using one of the methods below, and discard the grounds. 

Step three is where cowboy coffee methods diverge on how best to keep the dreaded grounds out of the cup. Foss prefers to slowly trickle cold water over the grounds, “which makes them sink to the bottom, then you quickly pour off the brewed coffee into the cup,” he says.

Taylor Wallace, owner of Roly-Poly Coffee Co. in Bozeman, Montana, has made a version of cowboy coffee resembling the Turkish coffee method, using finely ground coffee. He pours boiling water over the grounds, letting them settle, then carefully pours off the coffee. “Definitely give them time to hang out, but not as much [as with coarse grounds],” he says.

How to recreate French press coffee without a French press

For those who prefer a fuller-bodied brew, French press without a French press calls for little more than a deep bowl or mason jar and a tablespoon (or about three spoonfuls). For this method, measure out about one tablespoon for every one cup of coffee.

1. Measure and add the grounds to the bottom of the bowl or jar. Trickle a bit of boiling water over the grounds to saturate, then pour in the remaining boiling water. Let it sit for four minutes.
2. Use the tablespoon to press the settled grounds on the bottom of the bowl, then pour the coffee into a mug. You can also pour the liquid through a mesh sieve or strainer, if you have one. 

How to recreate pour-over coffee without a dripper

If you don’t have a dripper for pour-over coffee, you can get a similar effect by placing a funnel lined with a coffee filter over your cup. Slowly pour hot (not boiling) water over the grounds in a circular motion until they are saturated, then allow the grounds to bloom for about 45 seconds before continuing to pour the water over the cup in a circular motion.

What if you don’t have a coffee filter? All sorts of items will work in a pinch: a handkerchief, T-shirt, or even a sock. In one instance, immortalized on video by Outside magazine, Wallace used his own pre-worn sock as a filter. (Surprisingly, the only tasting notes the host deciphered were from his detergent.) “If you’re really going to optimize a sock for coffee brewing, you wanna use an unscented detergent,” Wallace says with a laugh. 

Wallace approves of using a paper towel as a makeshift coffee filter, too, though he will bump up the dose of grounds he’s using. Most importantly, he’ll rinse it before using it. 

“A heavier filter will suck up more oils, so a crucial step here is to rinse the paper towel before using it,” he says. “This is something we do with normal paper filters too with high-end coffee, to rinse off undesirable flavors. It also helps with extraction, because the filter is already saturated.”