# Cowboy coffee - using cold water to settle the grounds?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-coffee-using-cold-water-to-settle-the-grounds/918971
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** coffee
**Created:** [August 25, 2020, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-coffee-using-cold-water-to-settle-the-grounds/918971 "2020-08-25T12:02:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2020, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-coffee-using-cold-water-to-settle-the-grounds/918971/1 "2020-08-25T12:02:46Z")
[Cowboy Kent Rollins shows us how to make camp coffee.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UAoT21eqXI)
I’ve been watching Kent Rollins on YouTube because I’ve been experimenting with that kind of open fire and hot coal dutch oven cooking. I don’t know how serious to take his advice on practical matters but he’s enough of an entertaining watch for me. In the linked video above, we learn his method for preparing coffee for a large crew. I’m not going to get into the discussion of whether or not his method makes a fine cup or not. When I saw that can of Folgers, that pretty much told me what I need to know, YMMV. Lets just agree that _sometimes_, the best cup of coffee is the world is the one that someone puts into your hand when it’s below freezing at oh-dark-thirty.
My question is specifically about using cold water to settle the grounds and keep them from pouring out when a cup is filled. I’ve heard this bit of camp wisdom forever. My dad was a cook in the National Guard and he told me exactly the same thing. Longstanding lore doesn’t automatically mean fact though. Does this actually work to keep most of the grounds out of your cup? If yes, how? Can someone explain the science of this?
---
### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2020, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-coffee-using-cold-water-to-settle-the-grounds/918971/2 "2020-08-25T12:11:47Z")
IDK but cowboy coffee grounds settles on it’s own. Perhaps at the liquid cools off naturally and the cold water accelerates it.
---
### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-coffee-using-cold-water-to-settle-the-grounds/918971/3 "2020-08-25T17:21:39Z")
No idea, however I have heard of using [eggs to settle coffee](https://www.thespruceeats.com/egg-coffee-2952648), and also just the [egg shells](https://coffeedorks.com/eggshells-in-coffee/) [though with that I would guess it is the residual egg white acting as the precipitation agent.
If you like campfire cooking, try the [Townsends](https://www.youtube.com/user/jastownsendandson) youtube channel.
---
### Author:  [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2020, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-coffee-using-cold-water-to-settle-the-grounds/918971/4 "2020-08-25T17:35:15Z")
I have a friend who is a Korean war combat vet. He said they made coffee in a helmet (boing water and coffee) and then stuck a cold bayonet into it to get the grounds to settle out.I have no doubt that he actually did it but I have no idea why it would work or if, in fact, it did.
---
### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2020, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-coffee-using-cold-water-to-settle-the-grounds/918971/5 "2020-08-25T17:42:21Z")
If you pour cold water into hot coffee, _it will cool down the coffee._ So, don’t do it.
---
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cowboy-coffee-using-cold-water-to-settle-the-grounds/918971/6 "2020-08-25T18:17:34Z")
> [@MikeF](#):
>
> stuck a cold bayonet into it to get the grounds to settle out
An object of any temperature would break the surface tension and cause things stuck to the surface to settle.