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Snow Peak titanium French press

Snow Peak titanium French press review: Great coffee in the woods

I love to camp, but there are some things I refuse to do without when I’m “roughing it” including a comfortable pillow and real coffee. After years of reliable service from my dad’s old aluminum percolator, I decided to downsize and lighten up a teenie bit for backpacking trips with the Snow Peak titanium French press.

Snow Peak titanium French press
It’s a sturdy pot you can jam into a pack without fear of damage.

Out of the box, the press is well constructed and appears to have all the bits and pieces you’d expect from any standard French press. One thing I found odd is a clear rubber ring around the outside of the filter (more on that later).

Snow Peak titanium French press
Note the rubber ring around the plunger.

In addition to the normal mesh filter screen, it also has an additional fabric screen that is even finer.

Snow Peak titanium French press
The plunger includes a traditional wire mesh and a fabric screen.

The capacity is roughly two small cups of coffee. While you could, for me, the press is really not wide enough that I’d put it straight on a camp burner for boiling water for fear I’d knock it over. I prefer to boil water in something else and then pour water into it over my ground coffee – like you’d do with a regular press.

Snow Peak titanium French press
You could boil water in it, but I think you’d have stability issues.

If you demand a perfectly filtered cup of coffee, the Snow Peak titanium French press is probably not for you.  I’ve found that it almost always burps some water around the edge of the filter as you depress the plunger – no matter how slowly you go.

Snow Peak titanium French press
Water levels are clearly marked and easy to read.

It does this either with or without the additional fabric screen. I suspect the rubber ring around the plunger base was added to try to get a tighter fit, but it doesn’t seem to help on mine.

Still, a few grounds in the bottom of my cup don’t bother me, and overall, I like the product. I’ve jammed it down in overstuffed packs more times than I can count and it holds its shape and serves me well.