We’re big fans of portable coffee makers. Nothing hits like a freshly-brewed cup of coffee, after all, and they make it possible to enjoy that even in the outdoors. Problem is, they tend to require a bit of work, on top of the extra gear taking up space in your pack. That’s why some people have embraced the inelegance of cowboy coffee, just throwing in the grounds with hot water and drinking it without straining. Yeah, you will end up spitting some grounds doing that. The JoGo wants to add a little sophistication to your cowboy coffee.
No, you won’t do anything different to prepare the brew. Just take some coffee grounds, throw it in a mug, and pour hot water in the same container. From there, you just let it steep until the coffee has seeped in, maybe stirring it now and again. Once that’s done, though, you don’t sip straight off the side of the mug like you normally do. Instead, you insert this straw, which will filter out all the coffee grounds, so you’re only sipping the good stuff.
The JoGo is, basically, a metal straw with an integrated mesh filter at the base that keeps out all the tiny ground beans, so you can enjoy your cowboy-style brewed coffee without the bitter particulates. We know, sipping coffee through a straw feels a lot less natural than sipping it off the side of a cup, but if you want to do away with the complicated rituals of coffee brewing in the outdoors, this gets you that without getting coffee grounds on your tongue every time you take a sip.
The outfit class it a “coffee brewing straw,” which, let’s be honest, is far from accurate. You don’t actually brew anything with the straw. It does, however, allow you to do away with filters, presses, and any type of brewing equipment while enjoying full bodied coffee without any of the ground coffee debris, making it an excellent addition to anyone’s coffee drinking gear at camp.
The JoGo has a body cut in stainless steel with a micron metal mesh filter at the end, so it’s as durable as you can expect a metal straw to be. Since the sipping tips of metal straws can get hot when you’re using it with hot drinks, they covered the tip with an insulated BPA-free silicone layer that allows you to enjoy hot beverages without burning your lips. Both the filter and the silicone layer are removable, by the way, making the whole thing very easy to clean.
It measures just 7.8 inches long, allowing it to take up very little room in your pack compared to even the most portable coffee makers out there. Aside from cowboy coffee, the straw should also be viable for use with any other drinks with loose particulates mixed in, such as loose leaf teas and fresh juices with seeds, making it particularly handy for refreshments when you’re out in the wild.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the JoGo. You can reserve a unit for pledges starting at $19.