The light goes out just as you reach for the kettle. If your morning coffee depends on an electric kettle, a grinder or a machine, load-shedding can take it away for hours. The good news is that coffee is older than electricity. With a gas stove, a pan and a little planning, you can brew a cup that is every bit as good as the one you were about to make.
What actually needs power
Before you change anything, look at which part of your routine needs a socket.
- The kettle. Easy to replace. A pan or a stovetop kettle on the gas does the same job, just a little slower.
- The grinder. This is the real problem. An electric grinder is useless in a power cut, and whole beans are no good without one.
- The machine. An espresso machine or drip machine is out until the power returns.
Everything else - a French press, a moka pot, a pour-over cone, a tea strainer - works perfectly well without electricity.
Plan the grind before the power goes
The simplest fix is to keep some coffee that is already ground. If you usually buy whole bean, keep a second, smaller bag ground for the brewer you would use in a power cut. Ground coffee loses its freshness faster than whole beans, so keep it sealed, away from heat and light, and use it within a few weeks.
If you want whole bean for everyday use, a hand grinder is worth having. It takes a minute or two of turning, needs no power at all, and is quiet enough for an early start.
Load-shedding does not stop coffee. It only stops the gadgets around it, so plan the grind and the rest is easy.
Four ways to brew without electricity
1. Moka pot on the gas
The moka pot was made for the stove. Fill the base with hot water to just below the valve, fill the basket with fine ground coffee without pressing it down, and put it on a low flame. Take it off as soon as it starts to sputter. You get a strong, sweet coffee that works on its own or with hot milk. Our guide to moka pot coffee without the bitterness covers the details.
2. French press with water from the stove
Heat water in a pan until it boils, then leave it for half a minute so it is just off the boil. Pour it over coarse ground coffee, stir, put the lid on and wait four minutes before you plunge. The French press needs nothing but hot water, so it is one of the easiest brewers to keep going through a power cut.
3. The pan method
No brewer at all? Use a pan, the way you would make chai without boiling it hard.
- Bring water to the boil, then take the pan off the heat.
- Stir in coarse ground coffee.
- Cover and leave it for four minutes.
- Pour it through a tea strainer, or a strainer lined with a paper towel for a cleaner cup.
4. Cold brew made the night before
If you know the schedule, cold brew needs no heat and no power at all. Stir coarse ground coffee into cold water at night, leave it to steep, then strain in the morning. Make it before the evening outage and you have a ready supply for the next day. Our overnight cold brew recipe gives the ratio.
Which coffee to choose
Brewing in a pan or on a gas flame is a little less precise than a kettle with a thermometer. Water temperature drifts and timing is harder to judge in the dark. That makes a forgiving coffee the sensible choice.
Brazil Rio Minas suits this well. It is nutty and milk chocolate, low in acid, and it tastes sweet even when the brew is not quite right. It is also very happy in a moka pot and with milk, which covers most of the ways people in Pakistan drink their coffee.
If you would rather have something stronger to see you through a long afternoon without a fan, Vietnam is a Robusta: earthy, roasted and heavy, and good over ice once the fridge is back on.
A few small habits that help
- Keep a lighter or matches by the stove if your burner needs one.
- Fill a flask with hot water before a scheduled outage. It stays hot enough for a French press for a good while.
- Keep the bag sealed. In Karachi heat and humidity, an open bag goes stale quickly, power or no power.
- Know your brewer's grind. Moka pot takes fine, French press and pan take coarse, pour-over takes medium.
Ready for the next outage
Pick the brewer that works on your stove, keep one bag ground for it, and load-shedding stops being a reason to go without. Every Steep coffee can be ordered as whole bean or ground coarse, medium, fine or espresso, and delivered across Pakistan with cash on delivery. A good place to start is Brazil Rio Minas, ground for your moka pot or French press.