Good Coffee and Bottle-Feeding!

For my recent trip to VW Whitenoise, I took the opportunity to test and review two products which I felt would be an asset to family camping and festivalling.

Smartcafe Mug

Smart cafe mugThe first one being the Smartcafe Hot Cafetiere Mug. I bought this some time ago now as I love proper coffee but making a huge cafetiere of it wasn’t really practical for every day use. In using this product at home for a few weeks I thought what a brilliant addition to our camping kit it would be. Fresh coffee on the campsite without having to trek to a catering van, genius.
It’s a simple concept, it’s basically an insulated mug with a cafetiere press, you put in a spoon of real coffee, pour boiling water to the line marked on the inside, allow to brew for five or so minutes then stir and push the plunger down. You can add milk and sugar to it at this stage but have to take care in stirring so you don’t catch the bottom of the cup. I drink my coffee black so this wasn’t a problem.

My first cup of coffee after setting up the tent in the rain and dealing with an overtired and overexcited toddler was the most wonderful thing, such a treat. The only thing was having to rinse out the grouts after use, which was best done under running water but my husband managed to do it by swilling some water round the cup and tipping them out on the grass and then tipping some water over the filters.

The cleaning is a minor thing though.  This product is a revelation to the coffee lover who wants a decent cup in the morning and doesn’t want to trek to the nearest overpriced burger van for a cup of over brewed filter coffee or, like me, is just very fussy about their sacred coffee.

These cups will be at the top of our camping box for our next trip. As it is I use them on a daily basis as I am such a real coffee addict!

Chillipeeps Multi-Purpose Teat

The next product I offered to review as I had been fascinated by it for a while and think it’s a really ingenious idea for feeding babies while travelling.

Chillipeeps TeatThe Chillipeeps Multi-Purpose Teat is basically a portable teat with a screw on one end that can be screwed into ready to feed formula cartons and selected water bottles.

It’s easily sterilised in sterilising fluid and then just pop the covers on the teat end and the screw end and it’s ready to pop in your bag to go out.

My first go with the teat wasn’t too successful. I screwed it into the formula carton and checked again with the instructions that I had done it enough. I managed to feed my son most of the carton but had quite a bit of leakage from the top of the carton.

The second time I used it I had a problem with the flow of the teat. It is a variflow teat, so depending on how you hold it you can adjust the flow of milk to your baby. I tried all the different flow rates to find the right one but my son kept spluttering so I must have been doing something wrong.

The third time, the carton just leaked everywhere so I think I may have over-screwed the teat in.

In all honesty, I didn’t get on very well with the Chillipeeps teat but I think in hindsight I should have just practised with it first before going away. It was very easy to clean, I took it apart and washed it up then put it in a small tub with sterilising solution so ideal to be used when camping. Also it doesn’t take up much room in a bag and saves having to boil and cool water and measure out powder.

So overall I think the Chillipeeps Multi-Purpose Teat is a very clever product, but I think it pays to have a couple of trial runs with it before you go away!


5 thoughts on “Good Coffee and Bottle-Feeding!

  1. Thank you for your very fair review ‘I think it pays to have a couple of trial runs with it before you go away!’ I do say this to everyone, there is a knack to screwing it into the carton. The trick is to pierce a small hole (with the end of the screw thread) and then screw gently, let the screw do the work, don’t push it in. It will cut it’s own thread to create a leak proof seal. Once you feel it tighten near the bottom, stop. If you keep screwing you will pull it back out and it will leak. Once you get the hang of it, it is leak-proof feeding everytime. so I totally agree to practice before you go away. with regards to the teat, any standard neck teat should fit into the Chillipeeps teat, if you find the vari-flow doesn’t suit your baby. Thanks again, Claire

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