Cafe A La Zouve Or My Barbaric Way Of Making A Pint Of Joe

[Alum Ladd]

This is my way of making a pint of coffee wherever I am.

I use one of those superb US M1910 1 pint mugs with lid.

Then what I do is pour about 3/4 of a pint of boiling water in.

Then I put 2 heaped tablespoons of a basic but reliable ground coffee in. I kind of scatter it on the water.

I leave it 2-3 minutes then I pour about an inch of cold water in. I try to cover the whole surface. Picture was mid-water sequence.

Then I put the lid on and wait, 4-5 minutes max.

The cold water seems to make the coffee grounds sink. Then I pour in some milk, and I have a good smooth pint of coffee.

This method seems to make the brew much more mellow.

The grounds are firmly at the bottom, so you can drink the whole mug.

The method seems to have been first recorded by French colonial soldiers in Algeria in the 1830's. Cafe A La Zouve (A Zouve was a French army light infantryman)

It was then first recorded in English by Victorian French celebrity chef Alexis Soyer who wrote a soldiers' cookbook during the Crimean War in 1855.

It was then reprinted in the American Civil War under the immensely popular Beadle's Dime Books imprint.

I believe this is the origin of Cowboy Coffee.

 

[Multum in parvo]

No offense Simon but I would rather face the Firing Squad than downing this…

My regular morning dose consists of a Bialetti Moka Express (6 Espresso servings) condensed to 4 and poured into one cup.

Anything approaching the amount of your canteen sends me running.

 

[lasta]

Seems legit!

I'd guess this is similar to what the pros do at cupping sessions.

I enjoy the occasional cowboy too, but get yourself some whole beans and grind fresh. Big difference, even with store brands.

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

Hmm......Yeah....... I think I will stick with my Behmore brewer there Simon, because it brews my coffee to perfection every time, but the best part is, it filters my coffee, so I don't have an oil sludge at the bottom of my mug. But hey, if your method brings military nostalgia back to ya, then enjoy!

 

[ChriWilson]

Very cool, but you’ve missed the sock step

Sounds strange, but on travel I always pack a heap of Cafe L’or or Nescafé instant.

Aeropress and jettle take too much room unless I check bags.

At home, it’s all about the French Press or Hario v60

 

[Ad Astra]

Time-honored and proven method. I have that civil war book referenced, sold at many American parks. Civil War soldiers drank a ton of coffee, nonstop it seemed. Boiling your water was a real good idea at the time, there's even a classical reference on the periphery of understanding cholera and dysentery, like...

Major Kendall: [to Marlowe] As usual, I'm just presenting the grim facts. Colonel Secord doesn't seem to understand that the coffee tastes better when the latrines are dug downstream instead of upstream. How do you like *your* coffee, Colonel?

A great memorable quote from the The Horse Soldiers movie on Quotes.net - Major Kendall: [to Marlowe] As usual, I'm just presenting the grim facts. Colonel Secord doesn't seem to understand that the coffee tastes better when the latrines are dug downstream instead of upstream. How do you like...

www.quotes.net

AA

 

[Alum Ladd]

Time-honored and proven method. I have that civil war book referenced, sold at many American parks. Civil War soldiers drank a ton of coffee, nonstop it seemed. Boiling your water was a real good idea at the time, there's even a classical reference on the periphery of understanding cholera and dysentery, like...

Major Kendall: [to Marlowe] As usual, I'm just presenting the grim facts. Colonel Secord doesn't seem to understand that the coffee tastes better when the latrines are dug downstream instead of upstream. How do you like *your* coffee, Colonel?

A great memorable quote from the The Horse Soldiers movie on Quotes.net - Major Kendall: [to Marlowe] As usual, I'm just presenting the grim facts. Colonel Secord doesn't seem to understand that the coffee tastes better when the latrines are dug downstream instead of upstream. How do you like...

www.quotes.net

AA

The original receipe with complete instructions.

An excellent video from an excellent ACW re-enactment channel, the Civil War Digital digest.

A great channel, which taught Mrs Ladd and I how to make the best fire for cooking. A subtle nuance.

This gives the original Soyer recipe for ten men.

So you can spread that caffinated lurve all the more!

I believe this system was used by US servicemen up to the early 1930's when a half oz of ground coffee was in the iron ration. The 1938 C ration began to use the new Nescafe instant coffee in small plastic envelopes, also seen in the 1942-45 breakfast menu K ration.

To be honest, when I have my pint of joe made this way, with three good dessert spoons, it takes a pipe wrench to get me off the ceiling for a good 3 hours. The M1910 canteen cup holds exactly one pint.

It makes a smooth rather mellow brew. It gets you there!

 

[Old Hippie]

The 1938 C ration began to use the new Nescafe instant coffee in small plastic envelopes, also seen in the 1942-45 breakfast menu K ration.

And they made a lot of C ration. By the time I ended up in green in the early 80s they were giving the new MRE ("three jokes in one box") to the regulars and the "vintage" C ration was trickling down past the Reserve to the National Guard. Edit: I was a bit wrong. It was the "Meal, Combat, Individual" or MCI. But still called C Ration as it was mainly a change in nomenclature.

"Sea Rats" were the most dangerous thing we ever had to face. I believe I still have faint scars on my chest from my P38 can opener (on my dog tag chain) digging in when I'd hit the dirt.

The "coffee" was best if one simply dumped all three little packets -- coffee, whitener and sugar -- into the mug and drank it off like Socrates.

My favourite part of the deal was the can of "Orange Nut Bread." I wasn't a hoarder but any time I got one of those I saved it for when I needed a bit of encouragement.

O.H.

 

[Quaznoid]

Sounds very good to me. I made similar on numerous backpacking trips. This is the way most coffee drinkers in the world make it. Most folks don’t have burr grinders and milk steamers.

 

[Quaznoid]

The original receipe with complete instructions.

An excellent video from an excellent ACW re-enactment channel, the Civil War Digital digest.

A great channel, which taught Mrs Ladd and I how to make the best fire for cooking. A subtle nuance.

This gives the original Soyer recipe for ten men.

So you can spread that caffinated lurve all the more!

I believe this system was used by US servicemen up to the early 1930's when a half oz of ground coffee was in the iron ration. The 1938 C ration began to use the new Nescafe instant coffee in small plastic envelopes, also seen in the 1942-45 breakfast menu K ration.

To be honest, when I have my pint of joe made this way, with three good dessert spoons, it takes a pipe wrench to get me off the ceiling for a good 3 hours. The M1910 canteen cup holds exactly one pint.

It makes a smooth rather mellow brew. It gets you there!

The Confederates had no coffee, the Federals no tobacco. Naturally there were many trades between the lines.

 

[Alum Ladd]

The 1938 C ration began to use the new Nescafe instant coffee in small plastic envelopes, also seen in the 1942-45 breakfast menu K ration.

I've since found out that small cans of Nescafe were also issued in the wartime C ration B units. Also larger cans for 5 or 10 men were included in the 5 in 1 and 10 in 1 group rations.

Here is the lengendary Steve 1989 opening and consuming several 1945 C ration B units. They were apparently issued and sent to a unit in Alaska and stored unused, which may account for their perfect preservation.

This is a great video. It has coffee related content!

Better than anything on TV. Well worth the full watch.

Enjoy!