Making Great Cowboy Coffee: A Guide to Brewing Cowboy Coffee at Home and on the Campfire »

Jack McCoy grew up in rural Arkansas at a time and place where many families relied on woodstoves for heat and hand operated pitcher pumps for water. Jack s lifelong interest in cooking was sparked by watching his grandparents prepare hearty homestead meals in very simple ways. While modern conveniences have brought about welcomed changes in the kitchen, Jack continues to enjoy making cornbread in a cast iron skillet, brewing coffee in an enameled coffeepot, and preserving the summer s bounty by home canning.
Today, Jack McCoy lives in eastern North Carolina, where he holds a doctorate degree in education and works as a technology management consultant when he is not puttering around in the kitchen. For more information about old fashioned homestead cooking visit pioneercookery.com.

Master the art of making great cowboy coffee in a few easy steps!

Despite what you have heard, cowboy coffee is a truly great tasting coffee that rivals the best of brewing methods. However, few people know how to brew great-tasting cowboy coffee.

Yet it is surprisingly simple and easy to do.

Because cowboy coffee requires only the most basic of equipment, it is ultra-portable and ultra-simple. It can be made anywhere you can boil water-at home or on the camp trail. Making Great Cowboy Coffee shows you how to make great tasting coffee at home or on a campfire with equal success. You will discover how to:

- Select the perfect pot for making cowboy coffee
- Separate your drinking coffee from those stubborn coffee grounds with great efficiency
- Brew your coffee for optimal extraction and maximum flavor
- Use just the right grind to add body and enhance the "mouth feel" of your coffee
- Make a signature cup of cowboy coffee that is as good as any coffee, anywhere

Whether you want to make great tasting coffee on the camp trail or at home in an heirloom enameled coffee pot, Making Great Cowboy Coffee is for you. This book will show you how to brew a great pot of coffee any place you can boil water.

Preface vii
Introduction 9
Why Cowboy Coffee? 11
The Equipment 17
Coffee pots 17
Grinders 17
Strainers 20
Stirring spoons 22
The Cowboy Coffee Pot 25
Styles and shapes 26
Materials 30
Features 32
The Ingredients 39
Water - the most overlooked ingredient 39
Coffee beans 40
Separating Your Drinking Coffee from the Grounds 47
The challenge of cowboy coffee 47
Coffee grinds, roasts, and floaters 50
Sinking the grounds 53
A signature cup of cowboy coffee 58
Making Great Coffee: A Step-By-Step Guide 59
Brewing a great pot of coffee 60
Rules of perfection 63
Serving and Enjoying Your Coffee 67
Preheating your coffee cup 67
Staging your coffee in a thermos 68
Keeping the coffee pot warm 68
Reheating? Surely not! 69
Save that last cup for the garden 70
Making Coffee on a Campfire 71
Cowboy and French Press Coffees Compared 75
Sibling rivalry 75
Optimal grinds 77
Taste results a sample size of one 78
Final Thoughts 79
Ten Things to Remember 79
The cowboy coffee experience 80
Index 83