Coleman Camping Coffee Makers: The 5008-700, the QuikPot, and What Actually Works Outdoors

The original Coleman 5008-700 Camping Coffee Maker has been out of production for years. If you have one in your camping gear, hold onto it; it’s a solid 10-cup stovetop drip maker that sat directly on a propane camp stove and brewed coffee with no electricity needed. If you’re shopping new, Coleman has replaced the 5008-700 with the QuikPot Propane Coffeemaker, and there are several other camping coffee options worth knowing about depending on how you actually camp.

Here’s the current landscape of camping coffee makers, what each one is good for, and which option fits your style of outdoor coffee.

Coleman QuikPot Propane Coffeemaker (the current Coleman option)

The Coleman QuikPot is Coleman’s current production camping coffee maker. Unlike the old 5008-700, the QuikPot has its own integrated propane burner. You don’t need a separate camp stove. Just attach a 16 oz propane bottle, fill the water reservoir, load the basket, and brew.

What it offers:

• 10-cup capacity (same as the old 5008-700)
• Self-contained propane burner – doesn’t take up a burner on your camp stove
• Brews in roughly 18 minutes from cold start
• Drip-brew design, similar to a household coffee maker
• Works in moderate wind (Coleman’s PerfectFlow technology adjusts gas flow)

Retail is around $150-180 depending on retailer. It’s heavier and bulkier than alternatives (about 8 lbs / 3.6 kg), so it’s a car-camping option, not a backpacking one. For an established campsite where you’re cooking breakfast for a crew of 4-6, it’s the cleanest way to produce 10 cups of drip coffee without a campfire or electricity.

Alternatives by camping style

Car camping with a group (4+ people): stovetop percolator

A stainless-steel stovetop percolator like the Coletti Bozeman 9-Cup ($60) or the GSI Outdoors 8-Cup ($55) sits on any camp stove burner or campfire grate. No propane fitting required, more compact than the QuikPot, and the percolator design tolerates rougher handling than a glass-carafe drip maker.

The coffee from a stovetop percolator is stronger and more rustic than drip coffee. Many people prefer this for camping; the bolder flavor matches a 6 am cup outdoors better than the comparatively delicate flavor profile of fresh drip. The trade-off is that you have to watch it (over-percolating produces bitter coffee) rather than walking away.

Solo or 2-person car camping: AeroPress

An AeroPress ($35) plus an Etekcity 1L pot ($25) and any camp stove gives you genuinely excellent coffee in about 90 seconds, per cup. The whole kit weighs less than 1 lb (0.5 kg) and packs into a small dry bag. Cleanup is instant: pop the puck out into the campsite trash, rinse with a splash of water.

For solo or two-person camping, this is honestly the best coffee setup. You’ll make better coffee than anyone else at the campsite. The catch is that you brew one or two cups at a time, so it doesn’t scale well to a crew of six.

Backpacking (weight matters): pour-over or instant

For a backpacking trip where every gram matters, the choice narrows:

• Collapsible silicone pour-over cone ($15, GSI Outdoors makes a good one) plus paper filters. Weighs almost nothing, brews into your mug or pot. Excellent coffee.
• Single-serve specialty instant coffee like Mount Hagen sachets, Waka Coffee, or Cusa Tea & Coffee. Just add hot water to your cup. Truly weightless, decent flavor at the high-end brands.
• AeroPress Go ($45). The travel/backpacking version of the AeroPress, slightly lighter and includes its own mug.

Overlanding or RV: full drip setup

If you have 12V power available, a small drip coffee maker designed for RVs (like the West Bend 12V or the RoadPro 12V) brews 5-10 cups using your vehicle’s electrical system. Slower than a household drip maker because of the lower power, but works fine on a 30-minute timer.

If you have an old Coleman 5008-700

The 5008-700 was a good design. It sits on top of a 1-3 burner camp stove (most commonly the Coleman 2-burner propane stove). It has a glass carafe, a drip basket, and a pause-and-serve function. It brews 10 cups in about 18 minutes once the water comes up to temperature.

If you own one and it’s working: keep using it. Replacement carafes and baskets are available on eBay and through appliance-parts retailers. Coleman no longer manufactures replacement parts for this model, but the third-party market handles most needs.

Common 5008-700 issues people report:

• Plastic taste in early brews: Run 2-3 batches of hot water through it before brewing real coffee for the first time. The taste usually clears.
• Glass carafe breakage: The carafe is the most fragile part. Wrap it in a dish towel when transporting.
• Slow brew time: Make sure the camp stove burner is at full output. The 5008-700 is sensitive to flame strength.

My actual recommendation

For most camping situations, an AeroPress + a small camp pot ($60 total) makes better coffee than a Coleman drip and weighs a tenth as much. Unless you’re cooking for 4+ people at an established campsite, this is the right choice.

For large groups at car-camping sites, the Coleman QuikPot Propane Coffeemaker ($150) is the cleanest 10-cup solution. Self-contained, reasonable brew time, no need to commandeer a camp stove burner.

For backpacking, specialty instant coffee sachets (Mount Hagen or Waka) plus a titanium mug is the lightest workable setup.

For RV/overlanding, a 12V RV coffee maker is the convenience pick, though anything that runs off a small solar setup will also work.

The old Coleman 5008-700 was a good machine for its era. The current options across categories are mostly better. Whether you upgrade depends on whether your old gear still works.