The Pourigami
There is something very satisfying about seeing a Kickstarter succeed. Having backed a few very inspired ideas over the years (Bibliotheca & Wayre) I would become very invested in watching a product go from someone’s dream to a reality. Don’t mistake me for one of those high-level backers, I generally pick the cheapest option with a reward. A few months ago Miir announced the Pourigami Kickstarter.
The Pourigami is a single-serve pour-over device that is three metal pieces in a little wallet like case, small enough to fit in your back pocket. Miir dropped a video showing this clever contraption and I set an alarm in my calendar to alert me of the Kickstarter launch. On launch day, when I went to back the project, Pourigami Miir was already 75% toward their goal. Within hours, the Pourigami was fully funded. Then began the months of update emails narrating the production process and finally, the arrival of my Pourigami. If you are a coffee lover and have not heard of Miir, check them out. Not only are their products super high quality, but they support lots of community development projects around the world.
Currently, life seems to be convulsing with endless options and simultaneously devoid of options, both open doors, and insurmountable walls. Endlessly, I turn these options and non-options over and over in my mind, exhausting all options and thinking much too deeply about how much I think I have control.
So the other day, to shut my hamster wheel of a mind down, I went outside and sat in damp grass to browse a book of hikes. Reading about the backcountry of US National Parks gave my mind a sense of serene escape (now accepting suggestions and adventure buddies for a weekend backpacking trip–Catalina, Channel Islands, Yosemite, etc.). Along for the ride was my Pourigami. This was my first time using it outside of my kitchen. It was thrilling to find it super easy to transport all the necessary tools for a perfect cup of coffee. Catch me using my Pourigami everywhere, nowhere is off-limits now.
Taking a quick break from the narrative of my life, I will now describe the extremely easy process of using a Pourigami to make coffee on your next adventure.
Bring a small thermos of hot water (I brought my 12oz Bindle Hydroflask), a reusable baggie of coffee, paper filter (looking for a reusable one HMU), and a mug for your coffee.
Put together Pourigami, insert a paper filter, pour some water on the filter, pour out the water removing the paper taste onto a nearby plant.
Dump in coffee grounds to Pourigami, tap to level out, bloom coffee with hot water.
Proceed with your usual pour-over methodology, keeping the grounds wet.
When done with the pouring over, put the filter with used grounds into your empty water thermos, break down Pourigami, clean it on the grass, put away in its tiny pouch.
Drink coffee.
Somewhere between my second and third round of pouring hot water from a thermos onto coffee grounds, I stopped thinking about all the things stressing me out. For me, the process of making coffee feels almost meditative. Instead of the millions of thoughts morphing hourly, never truly settling, I focus on one task. Pour water on coffee grounds. Wait. Pour more water. Wait. Pour maybe more water. Wait. Drink coffee.
For my short but restorative reading break from reality with my Pourigami in the wild– ‘the wild’ being an overgrown grassy field–I calmed down. I breathed in the smell of Sprout’s coffee because unfortunately the micro-roasters got cut from my budget, and it was good. I drank my coffee, flipped through topo maps of trails, and blessed this little metal contraption.
COMMENT your suggestions for backpacking trips and reusable pour-over filters ⬇️
