The only thing better than an adventure is an adventure where you get to drink scrumptious coffee. We sent five of our Explorers out into the wild, with nothing but the essentials (Read: coffee mug, hot water, and Single O Parachutes®) to see how good an adventure can actually get.

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Countries on which these adventures take place who have occupied and cared for these lands and waters for thousands of years. We pay our respects to them and recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.

Mount Cordeaux, Main Range National Park, QLD

Alex Spurway

I’d had my eyes on Mount Cordeaux for a while. It’s a relatively short hike that isn’t too far from my place, and home to some pretty epic views across the Great Dividing Range southwest of Brisbane. I had a couple of days free at the end of the year so decided it was the perfect opportunity to head out for a solo sunrise mission. 

I left Brisbane at the eye-watering time of 2am to arrive at the trailhead with enough time to summit the peak before sunrise. The hike itself is relatively tame, considering its elevation and the views you’re rewarded with at the end. 

 

 

It’s a 7km return hike gaining 600m in elevation, but you’d hardly know it as the rise is very gradual. After around an hour of hiking, the treeline opens up to reveal the first glimpse of views to the south across Cunninghams Gap, north towards the Cordeaux summit and distant peaks of the Great Dividing Range, and east across the Fassifern Valley. 

The ‘summit’ trail doesn’t actually reach the peak, terminating slightly short at a sheer vertical rock face – mind you, you’re still sitting at 1350m at the end. The rocky slab at the end of the trail was my vantage point for sunrise, and the perfect spot to brew up a surprisingly good coffee. 

I’d packed fairly light for this mission as the weather was good and my camera kit was scaled right back to keep weight down. In my kit I was carrying a stash of Single O Parachutes, a MIIR Vacuum Insulated bottle with boiling water from a few hours back, and a Single O double-walled stainless steel keep cup to make up a brew – pretty much everything you need to be able to brew up a high-quality specialty coffee these days. 

 

 

As dawn was barely breaking, I cracked open a Parachute – Sugarplum blend – and hung it over the keep cup, letting it brew up while I watched the light dance across the distant peaks and valley below. A pretty epic way to start the morning; simple, slow, and surrounded by mountains. Nothing fills up my cup more than spending a morning solo in nature. Except maybe doing so with a great coffee and camera in hand.

 

 

Brewing up a high-quality specialty coffee in the outdoors, whether you’re scaling peaks or remote bush camping, has never been easier or more accessible. Not to mention the Parachutes are a zero waste solution as everything’s compostable.

Read more: Remember to leave no trace!

Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra, ACT

Mattie Gould

Canberra has a regular little coffee-outside-crew that meet up for biking, coffee, and good times. There are often as many different stoves and coffee apparatus as there are people.  

This week Stu and I took a chance on a slightly wet weather forecast and pedalled around Lake Burley Griffin to a new spot we’d noticed last time we were out.

 

 

The weather was still fine and the lake was calm as we parked our bikes, pitched our tiny chairs and pulled out our stoves. 

Stu favours a traditional steel camp stove, while I use a combination mini burner, titanium cup and the lid off a tin of bamboo shoots. 

 

 

Water boiling, we opened our Single O Parachutes, poured the water over three times and were good to go. In addition to my minimal setup, I always pack a baby bottle of oat milk – baby bottles are a perfect size, seal well, and are indestructible. The bottle’s also good for transporting the coffee chute and packaging back to the home compost, without getting my bag soggy. 

@oldsteelguy

Stu’s usually in charge of pastries but these were sorely lacking this time around. 

Our coffee outside meet-ups are a great way to get a mini dose of adventure in the morning, without needing to get far from home and work. I’m already looking forward to the next one.

Wild Dog Mountains, Blue Mountains, NSW

Rachel Dimond

It was a Christmas adventure like no other. Too hot, too cold, too rainy, and too hail-y. Lost a thong to a dingo (yep), drank good wine, ate good cheese, and consumed dangerous quantities of good coffee. Perfect.

Christmas day was hot and humid up in the Wild Dog Mountains, by the afternoon we were willing the forecast storm to open the flood gates. We found a small stream, stripped off and laid in it naked, watching the skies grow dark. Of course, this is when it started pelting with hail (ouch).

The next couple of hours were spent scrambling through the bush and up the mountain to our destination in the pouring rain, with a short cave stop as lightning passed us by. We were rewarded for our efforts with a wonderful stormy sunset accompanied by the cheese and wine we’d snuck into our packs to enjoy a moment just like this.

 

 

During the night the usual sounds of the bush permeated through the dark. The pattering of rain on the tent fly, the rustle of trees in the wind, crickets chirping and animals making those weird noises where you sit up and wonder what exactly is happening out there. James woke multiple times claiming something was wandering around the tent and at one point jumped up to tell me something had tried to sniff his hand through the mesh inner. I rolled my eyes and went back to sleep.

 

 

As is the ritual, I got up with the sun to make us coffee. Jetboil, surprisingly good coffee, cliche mountain mug. Check, check, and check. James, having smelled the coffee, crawled out of the tent half asleep and blurry-eyed.

After a few minutes he yelled at me ‘Rach, why did you take my thong? You have your own!’ Uhhhhhh, I hadn’t…. We searched high and low for the thong. We always keep our boots and camp shoes right at the tent door for our nighttime ablutions. It was gone. The dingo stole James’ thong.

As we all know, coffee makes everything better, especially good coffee, but it couldn’t make the missing thong materialise. After a few brews, we packed up and were ready to face the long haul home. We spent the hike discussing what the outcome would’ve been if the dingo had taken James’ hiking shoe instead. 

 

Echo Point, Lamington National Park, QLD

Harrison Candlin

Two of my best mates and I decided to tackle the longest day hike we’d all ever done. Roughly 22km out and back to Echo Point in Lamington National Park. This hike was all about catching up with each other and getting a little nature fix as we’d all been glued to our office chairs for the last few weeks. We needed bird sounds and the crunch of dirt under our feet, badly. 

We arrived at Echo Point around midday, and I was honestly so surprised by how nice the view was. Huge steep rainforest-filled walls to the right, and views out to the Pacific on the left.

 

 

We whipped out the snacks, the Jetboil, and a few Single O Parachutes, and got brewing. We weren’t out in good golden light or anything like that, but we did notice that the clouds were brewing out to the west, and given the humidity, there were definitely storms on the way. 

Brewing the Parachutes was dead easy. I boiled two cups of water in the Jetboil, enough for two coffees. I opened the Parachutes over the cups and followed the instructions to fill the Parachutes three times.

 

 

Total preparation time was probably four minutes, which is crazy quick for quality specialty coffee. Beats a cup of diarrhea inducing Nescafe Blend 43 any day. We all gave it 10/10 for taste. 

We left around 2:30pm and the entire walk back just got darker and darker. It was so dark in the forest I was shooting ISO 4000. Luckily we made it back to the car by the time the lightning was striking. It was seriously close now. Ten minutes down the road, I made the decision to pull over as 90kph gusts of wind were ripping through the mountains, shaking the car about, and lightning was striking every 10 seconds. It was seriously scary, but what a day out with the boys. 

Bells Falls, Perth, WA

Vanessa Hidaya

With our busy work schedules Brandi and I needed a quick getaway to refresh ourselves and get back to nature. We planned a little trip down to Bells Falls with a fresh set of eyes, as nearby Bells Rapids is one of our favourite gems. Not to forget, our four-legged friend was keen for a change of scenery too.

Sunrise rolled around and the alarm went off, we had our bags packed in short order and then set off for a heck of a day. The drive into the falls was pleasant and to top it off we had a pretty awesome hike in.

As massive JetHeads, now was the time to whip out our trusty JetBoil Flash, Sea to Summit X-Mug, and Keepcup. We were super excited to try the Single O Parachute, our bodies were dying for a pick me up. 

 

 

We were pleasantly surprised that it was extremely idiot-proof; the system is much like a traditional pour-over coffee. Using our mugs, we simply hung the bag over, poured water over the chute three times and let the water drip through. Being fancy, schmancy people, we also added a teaspoon of powdered milk to make it a wild flat white.

 

 

This was the quickest drip coffee we’ve brewed (and maybe the quickest we’ve polished off too!). What’s even better is the Parachute didn’t require buckets of water to get a good bold brew.

Being weight conscious, we love how Single O Parachutes fit nicely in our JetBoil, plus once we were finished, we chucked the used Parachute in a compost bag, brought it home and it went straight into our compost bin. Easy!

A no-nonsense go-to every time we want a good brew while enjoying Australia’s unique landscape and wildlife.

Did you get your hands on some Single O Parachutes? Don’t forget to upload an image on Instagram using #BrewingUpDifferent to go in the running to win the Brewing Up Different Coffee Collection worth $1,081 AUD.