“...just pull this out of your tackle box and you can have a coffee”

November 26, 2016 9:51 AM

'Bripe' A Coffee Brewer for Outdoor Enthusiasts in the Shape of a Pipe [CBC.ca] Two Ottawa-area entrepreneurs have created a coffee brewer for outdoor enthusiasts in the shape of a pipe, or as they call it, a bripe. The coffee machine is made of copper with a stainless-steel filter and stem. It requires a blue flame lighter or a candle to heat water to brew coffee or tea. Tim Panek got the idea while hiking in Costa Rica. "I was dying for coffee," he said. "I wanted to make something you could use with just a lighter."
posted by Fizz (37 comments total)

For people who don't think their Chemex sufficiently resembles something you'd use to cook meth.
posted by box at 10:06 AM on November 26, 2016 [27 favorites]

"Let's imagine, you get up early in the morning, you're out fishing and you're like, 'Wow, I wish I stopped to make coffee.' You just pull this out of your tackle box and you can have a coffee anywhere you are," he said.

Looking forward to the mini pipe toilet for taking a dump after that coffee.
posted by snofoam at 10:07 AM on November 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

This is very similar to the traditional Argentine gourd and bombilla for drinking mate.
posted by Stewriffic at 10:12 AM on November 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

this could totally be turned into something vaguely malignant ("THE HEDONISTIC PIPESMAN") by LiarTownUSA
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:16 AM on November 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

Heh. This seemed right on the edge of being a This is That segment.

For people who don't think their Chemex sufficiently resembles something you'd use to cook meth.

To be fair, it looks more like something hobbits would use to cook meth.

Saying or hearing "bripe" spoken aloud elicits the same visceral annoyance reaction I have to saying or hearing "vape."

But hey. If you want to get your coffee on in way that's satisfying to you, who am I to judge? I do have to say, though...instant coffee totally has its place. One of those places is when you're in the woods and just want a hassle-free cuppa.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:18 AM on November 26, 2016 [10 favorites]

"Dude... I bet I could modify this bong to make coffee!"
Three prototypes later the bripe was born.
posted by FallowKing at 10:20 AM on November 26, 2016 [16 favorites]

The word "bripe" cannot be allowed. Otherwise it's a good novelty Christmas present.
posted by howfar at 10:22 AM on November 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

Glad to see I wasn't the only one thinking this could be a This is That segment.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:22 AM on November 26, 2016

Three joints prototypes later the bripe was born.

Fixed.
posted by Fizz at 10:23 AM on November 26, 2016 [12 favorites]

And like the bombilla there'll be a lot of burnt tongues with this gadget.
posted by Rumple at 10:37 AM on November 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

this could totally be turned into something vaguely malignant ("THE HEDONISTIC PIPESMAN") by LiarTownUSA

"Stem Raiders."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:42 AM on November 26, 2016

"B-ear"
posted by clavdivs at 10:55 AM on November 26, 2016

"Bripe"?!
Tomacco!
TRONC.
posted by chavenet at 11:05 AM on November 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

We get it, you bripe.
posted by boo_radley at 11:10 AM on November 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

The word "bripe" is all the proof I need for the concept that engineers should not be allowed to name their own inventions.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:11 AM on November 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

So is there some kind of filter in the stem? Because otherwise you're gonna be getting a mouthful of grinds.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:13 AM on November 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

This will be popular with backpackers,
if it's the real deal. Every ounce of weight in your pack counts.
posted by middleclasstool at 11:23 AM on November 26, 2016

I dunno, man. The Aeropress is already pretty much perfect for making coffee on the trail: indestructible and quick, especially if you get one of the metal filters. You do need a mug, though.
posted by kaibutsu at 12:06 PM on November 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

I was super excited but, this is basically a Turkish coffee maker (tiny pot with handle; put very fine grounds and water in pot; hold pot over open flame via long handle; pour out into cup, let grounds settle, sip) combined with "cowboy coffee" (put rough grinds in a pan, add water, boil; pour carefully into another cup) where the innovation is "bore a hole into the handle of the coffeemaker and sip it through there." If you were doing Turkish coffee you'd use very fine grounds that mostly dissolve, but in the cowboy coffee version, yes you do get mouthfuls of grounds if you do not sip very very carefully.
posted by holyrood at 12:15 PM on November 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'll just reach into my tackle box, (no actually just into my bag,) and pull out my thermos. Not hating just can't see the point. On the other hand that bicycle pump espresso machine thing, now that I could get behind if I could get around the price and the out of touch preciousness of it all. (Which, truth be told, I have done in the past and will probably do in the future; hey! I didn't make this world, I just have to live in it.)
posted by Pembquist at 12:15 PM on November 26, 2016

I dunno, man. The Aeropress is already pretty much perfect for making coffee on the trail: indestructible and quick, especially if you get one of the metal filters. You do need a mug, though.

I thought of that (I bring my Aeropress on non-group camping trips) but the added volume of the bigger maker and the mug is a minus there. I figure if I'm roughing it I'd rather suffer a few grounds in my mouth if that buys me more space and weight in my pack. But who knows how well this thing works.
posted by middleclasstool at 12:27 PM on November 26, 2016

I have one of these helical coil dohickeys that fit a #2 filter and fold flat when you're done. Best thing I've found for coffee on the trail. They weigh next to nothing and produce a chemex pour-over style cup. Easy as anything.

This is basically a Turkish coffee maker

I had the same thought, kind of a personal ibrik that doesn't need a cup. Were I to use this, I'd be tempted to use a espresso/turkish grind. But they draw from the wrong part of the cup, on the bottom. That would get a mouth-full of sludge with turkish coffee.
posted by bonehead at 12:30 PM on November 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

This will be popular with backpackers,

Nope, I'll stick with my Ilsa Neapolitan.
posted by humboldt32 at 12:49 PM on November 26, 2016

That coffee will get you strip searched.
posted by Catblack at 1:16 PM on November 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

Idiotic, more or less a cezve or rakwa (ركوة) with a straw. Watching the video I do get the feeling that this "inventor" has never seen how coffee is made in the mena region (and, accordingly, has missed out on the best coffee in the world).

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bripe-coffee-everywhere#/

"His research found that the coffee world was focused on detail and complexity and did not have a simple coffee brewing system."

Uh… your research skills are awful. The coffee world extends far beyond your white walled, minimalist cafes with chemex and pour overs. And this is more complicated than a rakwa.
posted by standardasparagus at 1:26 PM on November 26, 2016 [10 favorites]

I find this irritating and this fellow to be insufferable
posted by standardasparagus at 1:27 PM on November 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

A derail, via Mahmoud Darwish, Memory for Forgetfulness: Beirut, August, 1982, on his Arabic coffee:

But how to reach the kitchen?

I want the aroma of coffee. I want nothing more than the aroma of coffee. And I want nothing more from the passing days than the aroma of coffee. The aroma of coffee so I can hold myself together, stand on my feet, and be transformed from something that crawls, into a human being. The aroma of coffee so I can stand my share of this dawn up on its feet. So that we can go together, this day and I, down into the street in search of another place.

How can I diffuse the aroma of coffee into my cells, while shells from the sea rain down on the sea-facing kitchen, spreading the stink of gunpowder and the taste of nothingness? I measure the period between two shells. One second. One second: shorter than the time between breathing in and breathing out, between two heartbeats. One second is not long enough for me to stand before the stove by the glass facade that overlooks the sea. One second is not long enough to open the water bottle or pour the water into the coffee pot. One second is not long enough to light a match. But one second is long enough for me to burn.

I switch off the radio, no longer wondering if the wall of this narrow hallway will actually protect me from the rain of rockets. What matters is that a wall be there to veil air fusing into metal, seeking human flesh, making a direct hit, choking it, or scattering shrapnel. In such cases a mere dark curtain is enough to provide an imaginary shield of safety. For death is to see death.

I want the aroma of coffee. I need five minutes. I want a five-minute truce for the sake of coffee. I have no personal wish other than to make a cup of coffee. With this madness I define my task and my aim. All my senses are on their mark, ready at the call to propel my thirst in the direction of the one and only goal: coffee.

Coffee, for an addict like me, is the key to the day.

posted by standardasparagus at 1:29 PM on November 26, 2016 [9 favorites]

He was in Costa Rica. They have a perfectly good way of making coffee with a sock. He already had all the equipment he needed, no need for a pretentious "invention."
posted by jhope71 at 1:38 PM on November 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

You know.
posted by zennie at 3:35 PM on November 26, 2016

I work at Spadina and Queen in Toronto and I'm really not looking forward to seeing people standing around vaping their coffee.
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:33 PM on November 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

Does this make coffee that's better than the Starbucks Via instant satchets?

(And what are good non-Starbucks instant coffees?)
posted by sebastienbailard at 6:09 PM on November 26, 2016

I have one of these helical coil dohickeys that fit a #2 filter and fold flat when you're done.

If you're a cheapskate a Melitta "Ready Set Joe" costs 3 or 4 bucks and weighs half an ounce more - and while it doesn't collapse, you can stick your filters and ziploc bag of coffee in there. From an aesthetic and design perspective that Soto Helix is a clear winner though, it would have been a good addition to that camping coffee gear article I linked.
posted by nanojath at 7:30 PM on November 26, 2016

The coffee world extends far beyond your white walled, minimalist cafes with chemex and pour overs. And this is more complicated than a rakwa.

The crazy thing is this guy is from Ottawa. We have a pretty huge arab population. There are half-a-dozen or so shops that sell rakwas within a decent throw of where I'm now sitting. It's not like they're hard to find here or something.
posted by bonehead at 7:37 PM on November 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

Saying or hearing "bripe" spoken aloud elicits the same visceral annoyance reaction I have to saying or hearing "vape."

With a bit of overboiling, I'm sure you could vape with a bripe.
posted by flabdablet at 6:17 AM on November 27, 2016

Costa Rica. They have a perfectly good way of making coffee with a sock.

I was relieved to find in the linked article that this sock was not expected to go on anyone's foot, either before or after the coffee was made.
posted by lagomorph at 8:11 AM on November 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

Who takes a three day hiking trip to costa rica without bringing instant coffee?
posted by mikek at 9:51 AM on November 27, 2016

Or bring a pourover which adds like 2oz to your pack?
posted by mikek at 9:53 AM on November 27, 2016