As coffee aficionados know, coffee beans need to be ground just before
brewing in order to get the best flavor and the most anti-oxidants. On
bicycle camping tours (and camping in areas with no electricity), it's
difficult to haver freshly ground coffee, and lack of fresh coffee can
seriously affect your riding. The small hand grinders sold by REI and
Campmor are fairly worthless, as they are extremely slow.
I realized that my 12 volt lighting system battery was just looking for
another reason to be taken along on tours (I only use it for lighting on
the commute bike). It doesn't take much power to run a 12 volt grinder,
so being able to recharge the battery isn't a concern unless it's a very
long trip.
I added a photo of my setup to the Bicycle Coffee Systems sub-page on
Brewing and Grinding.
See "http://nordicgroup.us/bikecoff/brewgrind.html" or go straight to
the photo at "http://nordicgroup.us/bikecoff/bcimages/batterygrinder.JPG".
It could be made smaller in bulk by getting rid of the cigarette lighter
plug and jack, and shortening the power cord on the grinder.
Just don't use this set-up on a cattle drive....
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