Jeff Mahoney was frustrated with the coffee options he had while camping. On a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon with his family, boiling water was always available but instant coffee was the only option. He wanted a system that would be compact and durable that would use K-Cups to make coffee. His solution is the Koffee Cap, the portable K-Cup brewing system.
Mahoney is currently running a Kickstarter funding campaign to create a production run of the Koffee Cap. He answered some questions this week about the design and development process, and the work that went into creating a product ready for Kickstarter.
After a few months of prototyping in the kitchen, the original drip brew system was abandoned. Gravity brewing the coffee took more than five minutes and that was deemed too long to wait. Pressure was the next step but the team had to decide between a small pump or physically squeezing to brew the coffee. Squeezing was a much simpler design choice and also allowed for a smaller design footprint.
Sourcing a bottle that could be compressed and able to withstand the high temperature of boiling water was a research problem. Once a bottle was found the brewing top was designed as an injection molded assembly. Mahoney’s long term goal is a small heating element that can be dropped in a bottle of cold water that could be incorporated with the squeeze brewing process. An additional incentive allows backers to earn a reusable filter that will fit into the Koffee Cap and let users brew with their own grounds.
Sustainability is a big concern for an outdoors enthusiast and the current recommendation is that users dump the coffee grounds, pierce the filter and stack the cups together. This will allow for a smaller space required for the user to take the waste back out to be properly recycled.
Outdoors enthusiasts in general, especially campers, cyclists, and skiers, are great at seeing a need while enjoying their hobby and then creating a product to fill that need. The Kickstarter page has a nice run down of the prototype evolution of the product and a demonstration of the brewing process. If funded shipments of the Koffee Cap are expected to start in June 2016.