DoubleShot Space Program

Around ten years ago, I decided to start the DoubleShot Space Program. I bought a model rocket and put a DoubleShot sticker on the side as a symbol of the program’s launch. Like all space programs, we’ve had our struggles getting things off the ground. But we have come a long way, and it’s time to take things to the next level.

The mission of our space program is to provide an excellent coffee experience for people living in microgravity. This has posed some interesting complications for grinding and brewing and drinking in space, some of which have influenced the way we understand fluid dynamics and the possibilities for grinding here on Earth.

The initial problem for enjoying coffee on the space station is that most beverages are consumed through a straw. But no one (besides high maintenance women trying not to mess up their lipstick) wants to drink coffee through a straw (unless you’re talking about all the people who drink “coffee” through a straw, but that doesn’t count). So a very clever astronaut named Donald Pettit designed an open drinking vessel called the “capillary cup” used for drinking in zero-gravity. The idea is based around the idea that fluids run along an inside corner, so even in space you can direct fluids by making a dihedral-shaped channel for them to run along. Pettit’s design is sort of a tear-drop shape, with one solitary corner flowing toward the “lip” of the cup.

From this, we learned why certain pourover drippers flow faster than others. It has to do with the surface area and the presence of inside corners to direct the flow of water down and out of the cone. Those without raised contours simply form a pipe with a restricted exit, which causes drag agains the walls, a sheeting action, and the smaller opening drastically impedes the flow of liquid.

According to reports, astronauts have to make do with aluminum bags pre-filled with freeze-dried coffee, milk, and sugar into which hot water can be pumped. This is an atrocity. In 2015, the Italian Space Agency, working with engineering firm Argotec and coffee company Lavazza, designed the "Isspresso Machine," dubbed the world's first microgravity espresso maker. The forty-four pound machine spent two years aboard the ISS and used steel hydraulic pipes to produce a cup of fresh hot espresso in around three minutes. Even with the Isspresso's advanced design, coffee was still pumped into a bag for drinking. By my estimates, it cost nearly one point five million dollars to transport that machine to space.

Without gravity to push water through a bed of ground coffee, astronauts are forced to use a method that contains its own pressure system. In an effort to reduce the usage of energy, we’ve found that manual brewing methods are best, and those that use air pressure tend to be the most efficient. Though the aeropress is a nice travel companion, a more robust version of that same system would fare much better on the space station. Therefore, we recommend a modified version of the Superkop espresso maker. it can be mounted to a wall so it’s out of the way, and it’s virtually indestructible and requires very little service over time. Another benefit of Superkop over the Aeropress is the ability to produce actual espresso coffee versus a brew that’s more akin to three bar extraction like moka pot coffee.

We run into a much more difficult issue when it comes to grinding coffee. All known Earth grinders use gravity to force coffee through a set of burrs. So in space, we would need to either design a machine that uses centrifugal force by spinning the grinder around a fulcrum at the loading hopper or consider alternate methods for grinding coffee into consistently sized particles. A method that involves crushing or shearing forces could do the job, but we think that this issue would be best resolved by an expert in the field. We recommend instituting the services of Ilan Maimon, who graduated from the Israel Institute of Technology and spent a career designing coffee grinders and burr sets. While still on Earth, we find his Pinecone Pinion grinder to be one of the best on the market, and have no doubt that he will invent a grinding mechanism that is effective and consistent in space.

Since astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have found themselves unexpectedly stuck on the International Space Station for the next several months, we have major concerns about the longevity of their coffee supply, if there’s any to be had. It is with great urgency that we prioritize our grinding and brewing solutions for space, in order to provide relief to these brave American heroes when a rescue mission is launched with SpaceX. Boeing’s titanic spacecraft will be brought home unmanned, which leaves plenty of room to stow any inferior coffee equipment and residual refuse from spent coffee pods or disposable cups.

We are currently drawing up plans to dock a capillary cup to the portafilter spouts for retention of espresso as it flows out of the basket. As with coffee on Earth, it is with utmost importance that we source and roast the right coffee for best results. In our humble opinion, not any coffee will do. In this unusual circumstance, it seems only fitting that the absolute best coffee on the planet should go into orbit. We are currently working with a specialty coffee producer in Colombia and partnering with DoubleShot’s roastmaster on his purist-inspired “nemesis” project in order to procure the perfect coffee.

We are aware that freight cost to the space station can be exorbitant. During the tenure of the space shuttle, cost per pound skyrocketed to around $32,800, and put a very fine point on what is essential. With Falcon 9, costs have come down to a more manageable $1,330 per pound to freight equipment and supplies to space. 

The nemesis project will allow those still on Earth to drink the same coffee our astronauts will be enjoying, once SpaceX agrees to take the coffee or alternatively, once they return to the planet. Just as there’s no free shipping offered to the space station, the meager shipping cost to earth-based residences will be applied at checkout. Special packaging has been created to resemble the wings of an aircraft, and we anticipate this limited edition offering will sell out quickly. Again, this is the same coffee the astronauts will be drinking, and the project will fund the acquisition, roasting, and distribution of the coffee both here on Earth and ultimately to space. We hope this opens up a larger conversation about what excellent coffee looks like in space as we expand upon international plans to explore the final frontier.