Scoutman
Explorer
I used to be 100% against a french press, simply because it was an extra item. The way I understood it you needed the container to heat water in AND the press to make coffee. 2 items, unrelated, and 1 of which is only useful for it's one job. It sounded like a big mess and I am not enough of a coffee snob to be bothered with it.
That being the case I preferred to stick with the good ol' percolator, at least it's guts stayed inside and it doubles as a good water pot if needed.
Then I ran across this by accident, really liked the design, and got it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H7MK3IC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I've used it around the house to make coffee and love it, haven't camped with it yet but I already see it as a huge improvement over the percolator. It's smaller, it's self contained, should be easier to clean since it's fewer pieces, it makes 30oz which just so happens is exactly the size of my travel coffee mug, so less wasted coffee from me being overzealous with the water. (Not as good for sharing though.)
The pot can be used for heating anything by itself (can of soup or such), the press nests inside, and when you make the coffee it's all self contained. Only thing I don't like is it spills all over if you get in a hurry pouring, and I found a post by another user here pointing out it's the design of the spout at fault there and they supposedly fixed it with some minor filing to the lip.
It is a french press but without the key feature I hated about a french press, the separate hardware. Heat the water to almost boiling, spoon in some coffee, let it sit 4-5 minutes, stir again, slide in the press. It also keeps the water hot because you are not transferring it around and can keep the lid on it.
As for coffee, I like New England Breakfast Blend when I can find it. Work used to supply it for us in the office, and I got used to it, then they took it away for some cheap crap. I use Community coffee more now as places seem to carry it. Overall I'm not too particular as long as it's just regular coffee and contains caffeine.
I use the same one for the same reasons you mentioned. I used to use a GSI drip but hated the pour and it required a separate pot for the water heating.
I like the Stanley but I find that the seal of the press gets bound up sometimes. It's either easy to push with no 'blowby' or it's a pain to push and it ends up with liquid in the space between the press and outer vessel.
I would like to see how they filed the spout since I made a mess with ours this past weekend pouring into cups.