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One Cup Drip Coffee Maker In Cambodia

A fast, effective, and waste-saving way to make a cup of coffee.

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There’s now more ways to make coffee now than I care to consider. Brewing a cup of the beverage was once a straight forward endeavor that nobody gave much thought about — you put the grounds into a machine, add water, out comes coffee. Now making coffee has become a complexity akin to a laboratory experiment, and can include glass beakers, twisting pipes, and open burners.

“It gets rid of the bitterness.”

“Isn’t bitterness the taste of coffee?”

I just want a fucking cup of coffee.

But while on the road the conventional ways of preparing this cup is far more of a conundrum. Most types of coffee makers are either fully un-portable counter top appliances or are otherwise bulky and delicate. I’m not going to carry my wife’s grandparents’ three-cup glass French press in my backpack — it would take up too much room and wouldn’t last a day anyway.

Adding to this problem is the fact that as coffee has proliferated over the world it has been branded a middle/ upper class drink in places that don’t have a tradition of consuming it. This means it’s often expensive. I’m not going to spend $3-$5 for a mere cup of coffee.

I need to make it myself.

But how?

I used to just use an old sock. It works excellent but is messy — definitely not appropriate for sticking back in a rucksack when still wet.

So I just kind of forgot about the problem for a while, and in the places where it’s a little price, just stopped drinking coffee.

Then I came into Cambodia and saw that they have these simple, effective, durable, and easy to clean, single cup coffee makers.

The apparatus couldn’t be simpler. It’s ultimately just a stainless steel cup that’s roughly the size of a standard coffee cup which is welded onto a stainless steel saucer that has holes punched in its bottom. You simply take the filter, fill it with ground coffee, place it over your cup, pour in the water, and fresh coffee drips through.

I don’t know why these aren’t being used everywhere.

Drip coffee maker (3) Drip coffee maker (2) Drip coffee maker (5) Drip coffee maker (4)
Filed under: Cambodia, Coffee, Food, Tools

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3694 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

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VBJ is currently in: New York City

12 comments… add one

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  • Archana Dheer January 17, 2019, 10:06 pm

    Have just returned from traveling in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia n Vietnam. Bought the coffee filter you mention in Cambodia. Then bought coffee in South India- the only coffee I can drink. Today rather just now used that coffee n filter for the first time but didn’t seem right. So thought will write to my Cambodian guide to tell me again how to use it. Shd have taken a video when he was showing us how to use this. But then thought let me google. So happy to find your blog. Totally agree with your comments about coffee makers. So complicated n costly. Even the traditional steel made South Indian filter is way complicated than thos Cambodian one. Thanks man! Will follow your blog. All the best!

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    • Wade Shepard January 19, 2019, 12:01 am

      Excellent! Happy it’s working out.

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  • Kayser September 19, 2019, 4:14 am

    Really interesting and helpful article. Though you’ve travelled many countries did you try coffee everywhere? If it is then which one was the best coffee?

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    • Wade Shepard September 19, 2019, 11:55 am

      Who has the best coffee? Not sure. I tend to focus on price and availability. So Ukraine is the best for that. In many countries coffee is a luxury drink, so I tend to avoid it. A funny thing is that in many coffee producing nations where you would expect the coffee to be excellent everyone is drinking Nescafe.

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  • Naseef October 1, 2019, 6:09 am

    Could you please tell me some specific models of drip coffee maker in this article?

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    • Wade Shepard October 1, 2019, 8:20 am

      No idea. Probably something they bought at the local Chinese market.

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  • Afsana Begum November 5, 2019, 9:18 am

    Really an amazing idea of fast, effective, and waste-saving way to make a cup of coffee.I would like to try your idea.

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  • Ismail December 17, 2019, 12:05 pm

    Informative article about coffee

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  • emon January 4, 2020, 12:46 am

    This way is the better way for maintaining time when we go for office or other work at morning time it’s work for removing sleepy mode or hangover & go for work timely with very fresh activity

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  • Sonia October 7, 2020, 5:50 am

    wow! it’s looks amazing and really it’s a fast, effective, and waste-saving way to make a cup of coffee.

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  • Nasrin December 13, 2022, 10:57 pm

    I don’t think it will be bad idea to have a coffee maker at home.

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  • Mamun April 5, 2023, 5:08 am

    A truly brilliant concept for a quick, efficient, and waste-free coffee-making method. I want to test out your suggestion.

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