Stanley is transforming itself from a second rate copy cat company of cool camping gear into a top notch source of goodies for camp decadence. The latest evidence of that is their 1-liter Vacuum Coffee System. You still need a stove to get the water hot enough to boil it for making coffee and your favorite beans ground to your prescription, but Stanley’s VCS handles everything else once you’re ready to brew a fresh pot.

Included in Stanley’s Vacuum Coffee System are:

• 1 liter pot with a folding handle to mix water and grounds
• Integrated French Press
• 1 liter vacuum bottle to keep the coffee hot
• Two drinking cups
• Storage container for coffee grounds

All these elements nest inside each other — the press in the pot, vacuum bottle inside the press, the container doubles as the bottle cap and the cups nest inside each other and top it all off. The pot and vacuum bottle are stainless steel and the plastic frame of the press is BPA free so your coffee will taste clean and stay hot long after you brew it; a perfect camp and road trip companion.

While the concept sounds awesome, it appears to need a bit of tweaking. When brewing my maiden pot of coffee it became evident the press wasn’t designed for a full pot of what I consider to be full strength coffee. My typical daily ration is shy of a full quart, roughly 24 oz. (0.7 l). In my world that calls for six scoops of beans finely ground. When pressed out, the press wasn’t able to seat all the way so the notches in the side of the plastic frame couldn’t lock in place. If you like weak coffee it won’t be an issue. For full strength coffee that can give your heart palpitations the press needs to allow for more coffee grinds below the screen than it currently does, but it’s still a cool system.

Stanley claims the vacuum bottle will keep hot liquids hot for 24 hours, cold liquids cold for 20, and ice will stay frozen for 100 hours. I’ll have to report back on the veracity of those claims but even if they’re shy a bit, that still sounds plenty good to me.

Stanley
Vacuum Coffee System
MSRP: $60
Weight: 2 lbs., 7½ oz. (1120 g)
Capacity: 1 liter, 1.1 Q

© 2014