Don’t Travel Without One of These Killer Portable Coffee Makers

You can never really predict what kind of coffee you’re going to have access to when you travel. Sure, most places you visit (within modern society) will have a Starbucks, or, at minimum, a gas station where you can fill up on some base-level hot brown bean water. If you’re a snob discerning coffee enjoyer, though, you may prefer something a bit higher quality. No shade thrown—whenever I travel, I’m always looking for the best place to score some fine coffee, and if there isn’t one, I’m putting my energy into figuring out how to bring my own. After all, how are you supposed to be motivated to do anything if you don’t have good coffee? 

I’ve put together a list of the best travel coffee makers, but before I give it to ya, we need to have a little chat. Making coffee on the go isn’t as easy as, say, making tea or throwing together a hotel-quality Jack and Coke. First, you should aspire to have good ground coffee, which you can score locally, or else bring it with you. If you’re grinding fresh, you’re going to want a portable hand grinder. For water, you’ll need some kind of kettle or portable water boiler. Or, you know, a pot and a stove (or a fire). However you acquire these necessities, I’m going to proceed assuming you’ve figured out where to score coffee and water. We are, after all, simply talking about brewing. (For more on making good coffee, you may want to begin here.) In any case, here are the best ways to make coffee while traveling.

When I think of travel coffee makers, I immediately think of the AeroPress Go, the portable version of a legendary device that lets you quickly steep coffee in a cylinder and effortlessly plunge it out into your cup, and all within a couple minutes. (R.I.P. Isaac Newton, you would have loved this.) I’m bringing it along next weekend when I travel for a wedding; I’d take it camping, or anywhere I was staying that didn’t have good coffee. In fact, I used it this morning in my own home. The AeroPress Go comes not only with the iconic branded plunger, but a very cool plastic mug, lid, and coffee scoop—and it all fits perfectly in the mug, for ultimate travel ease. I couldn’t give a higher recommendation for a travel coffee maker.

OXO is synonymous with both ease and economy, and its single-serve pour over is one of the brand’s finest achievements (or, at least almost 8,000 people on Amazon seem to think so). This bad boy includes a pour over, an auto-drip tank to control water flow, and a lid to keep heat in. Just place it over your mug of choice, and the heat-retaining lid also doubles as a drip tray.

JK, this wasn’t invented by Walter White; and despite its looks, it’s also not a podcast microphone or a landmine. This portable espresso machine uses hydraulic extraction to perfectly pressurize and create high quality espresso. “The unit is built solid, it’s easy to set up, it’s easy to use, and it’s easy to clean,” one reviewer on Amazon wrote. “I will never have a sub-standard espresso again while traveling.”

Durability icon Stanley went hard with this all-in-one French press. You can place the whole honkin’ thing above a campfire or stove to get the water poppin’ off, and then put in the coffee and press it. Foldable handles mean you can keep the heat away.

Is the Hario V60 classified as a travel coffee maker? Not really. Have I wrapped it in a T-shirt and packed it in my bag with some filters for easy pour over when I travel? Many, many times. If you’re already decent at making pour over coffee, you can absolutely get by with just this. It’s a basic, no frills pour over setup that absolutely gets the job done (just peep those many, many impeccable reviews).

This all-in-one pour over system from Brümate lets you get the whole damn thing done in a portable tumbler. That’s right: You put a little filter in the pour over, brew coffee directly into your tumbler, remove the grinds, and attach a handy, leak-proof lid and go about your merry subway ride (or drive/Amtrak ride/horse and buggy journey/walk/et cetera).

The Wacaco Nanopresso portable espresso maker is, contrary to its high-tech looks, a manual device. Basically, you pump it with your hand, and it reaches a maximum of 261 PSI to extract super-flavorful espresso. It’s also absolutely tiny, so you can take it camping, to a hotel, into a movie theater, on the bus, or anywhere else you might need espresso desperately and immediately. If you’ve had some practice pumping with your hand, you should be a natural with this.

Who needs Starbucks when you’ve got a tiny espresso machine in your Jansport?

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals?Sign up for our newsletter.