The main thing that should be said at the beginning of this article is that a car is the most unfavorable room for making quality coffee. Therefore, even the most successful of the devices described here will not prepare you gourmet-level drinks. However, it will definitely be coffee or tea, and they will definitely be fresh and hot.
How to heat water in a car
From a technical point of view, we should warn you that today we will consider only electrical gadgets, and we will leave devices that use gasoline, gas, firewood and other sources of open fire to heat water until next time.
Meanwhile, the car’s electrical network is, in principle, poorly suited for working with heating devices. It has a low voltage (12 volts) and low power power sources – a generator (1.0 – 2.0 kilowatts) and a battery.
Based on these parameters and the parameters of regular energy consumers on board, we can say that the car cannot be counted on to safely use electrical appliances with a power of more than 0.5 kW. Do you remember how much your home electric kettle or coffee machine consumes? That’s right, about 1.2 – 2.2 kW. Therefore, we ask you in advance not to be offended by portable car electric heating devices for their modest characteristics. Moreover, they are all connected to the cigarette lighter socket, which structurally cannot withstand power of more than 0.15 kW. You should also know that heating devices drain the battery, so it is better to use them with the engine running.
Kettle
A car kettle often looks like a regular home kettle, but on a smaller scale. However, regardless of the shape of the body, a 12-volt kettle heats its water very slowly – a temperature of 70–80 degrees is reached no faster than in 25–35 minutes. Few models can bring water to a boil, but, fortunately, there are varieties of tea and coffee capsules that do not need 100 degrees.
Coffee maker
The simplest car coffee makers work about as slowly as kettles. One large cup of drink (200 g) takes about 15 minutes to prepare, and a serving of coffee for two cups (400 g) takes no less than 20 minutes. Life hack – pour hot water into the coffee maker, then the process will speed up.
Vacuum coffee maker
Recently, portable coffee makers have appeared on sale, including car coffee makers, that operate like vacuum coffee makers. Due to pressure and a small portion of coffee, in the range of 80-120 g, they prepare the drink within 4-5 minutes. Most models use one or another standard capsule, but there are universal options that can be charged simply with ground coffee. The big disadvantage of these rather successful devices is the technical complexity and high price of 5 – 8 thousand UAH.
Drip coffee
The method is relatively new, but already well known to coffee lovers. Drip coffee is natural ground coffee, packaged in individual portions. Moreover, the packaging of each portion is such that it is convenient for the user to pour hot water directly through it. The filter is also built into the package, so the number of manipulations for the driver is kept to a minimum. There is only one problem – the same hot water that needs to be obtained somehow. Despite the fact that most often you need a fairly high temperature, about 90 – 95 degrees.
Boiler
This is a last resort option, because most of these boilers are of very poor quality, which is fraught with a short circuit and (at best) a blown fuse. However, there are models that can actually boil water. We hope you understand that this can only be done in a parking lot, when there is no danger of pouring boiling water over the inside of the car.
In short
Even being an ardent gourmet, it is difficult to immediately say which option for getting coffee or tea in the car will be the best. Ideally, it would be to test each of the methods acceptable to you and make your choice based on the tests. As an alternative, try to consider the option of a thermal cup or thermos – the best models keep the temperature for 5 – 6 hours with virtually no significant loss of degrees.
2024-03-03 06:22:09
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