How to make coffee like a sailor
Learn how to make coffee according to a recipe used by 19th century seamen (warning: this is definitely not your regular flat white).
Cutty Sark may have been built to ship tea to Britain, but we certainly wouldn't say no to a good cup of coffee either here at Royal Museums Greenwich.
The National Maritime Museum has a wealth of objects dedicated to the beverage in its collections, not least a silver coffee pot that belonged to Admiral Lord Nelson.
However, one of our favourite items is a 19th century recipe book called Cookery for Seamen, which contains all manner of strange (and, yes, occasionally revolting) dishes that would have been standard fare on board ships of the time.
The original book is in our Caird Library, but a pocket-size reproduction is available to buy from the Royal Museums Greenwich shop.
Below is a recipe for makng 'Crew's Coffee', clearly designed to keep sailors sharp during a long night watch.
The proportions may be a little excessive for a standard morning brew, but the amounts can always be tweaked if you're brave enough to give it a try at home.
Find out how to make coffee 19th century sailor style below.
How to make 'Crew's Coffee'
Ingredients
10oz (280g) coffee
20 pints (11.4L) water
Method
Place the coffee in a bag made of white bunting. Put it in a coffee boiler with the cold water. Leave it until the water comes to the boil, take the boiler off the fire and leave the bag standing in the hot water for 10 minutes, then take it out and throw away the coffee. Should the coffee be left in the water longer than 10 minutes, the bitterness from the coffee grounds will spoil all. This process should be followed in making tea, keeping separate bags for each.
Recipe taken from Cookery for Seamen by Alexander Quinlan
