TGO has had a couple of items over the last couple of issues that caught my eye. One was the GSI Java Drip reviewed by self confessed caffeine addict John Manning. Unfortunately, as with seemingly most pieces of kit, the review came before any chance of finding a UK supplier. A typical example of a pull strategy; get reviews, potential customers ring up, demand is assessed and suppliers, convinced of this demand, are sold the items for retail. I write potential customers as you have to be pretty damn persistent to bag some of these items. Or pretty lucky with finding a supplier who’s buyer is going to step outside the usual comfort zone of ‘We’ll stock Berghaus because everyone else does, and it sells.’ In the niche market of outdoor trade this avoidance of competition crushes differentiation.
So what has this to do with the GSI Java Drip? And what’s special about it? It’s USP (might as well stick with the marketing jargon) is that it’s a third of the weight of a MugMate and more packable. For someone who is forever on the search for that great cup of coffee in the outdoors this makes it an item to covert. Especially as this means I get to choose what bean I make my coffee out of, and not between what Lyons put in their coffee bags or what Starbucks pack in their Via sachets.
It’s simple to use; clip the legs on to your mug add the desired amount of coffee, pour on the hot water and wait for the dripping to stop. The capacity of the filter is about 200ml, so to get the volume of coffee that I prefer I topped it up. To clean, the filter ‘sock’ is simply inverted and the used grounds knocked out. A quick rinse will remove any stubborn remaining particles. It packs flat and will fit inside a Snow Peak 900 or fry pan lid of a Primus 1l pan set. And my postal scales agree with the 11g stated weight.
