ronzorini

They make them with unbreakable stainless steel liners too

Doing a quick search, the largest I could find was 3.8L...so you'd "only" need 8 of them

Bunn 2.5L/3.0L/3.8L Airpots – Stainless Steel Liner
https://www.cw-usa.com/equipment-comm...s-airpots.html

Sammyboy

Even two minutes is a bit tricky. It becomes more like 4 minutes by the time you've stopped for the customer, ascertained what he wants, made the coffee, taken his money, etc etc. I know that doesn't sound like a long time, but if you take the environment into account, it can be. It's worth considering though - with your method, it is at least possible. The beauty of the tea is that we can provide a much better range than you can get in any shop in the area. We'll never compete with Starbucks on coffee.

Gravity would mean having the tap very low down, or the water very high up. The former is not desirable because of waving teacups around near the ground, and the latter is a potential problem if it's a lot of water. A 5L airpot up high, with all the rest stored at the bottom of the box - no problem. A 35 litre tank up so high that the tap is at or near the top of the box - problematic. The beauty of the airpots is the redundancy. One fails? No problem - you've usually got a couple more. Getting low on water, but really busy? Well, once we have a teashop as well, someone can leap on another bike, and deliver you a few fresh airpots.

Sammyboy

I actually found a 5 liter one, available in the UK, with stainless liner. Only 6 required then. https://www.clickonstore.net/stainles...ml?advert3p1nv

JunkyardWarrior

id atleast get one of them and test it out. i have a stainless lined thermos with a vaccum between the inner and outer shell and it will keep ice in it for 12 hours.......it melts but there is alot unmelted

these might do the trick......go for it

squirtdad

Here are some links from googling 'gas samovar'

https://www.zomorrodian-co.com/english/PRODUCT.htm

https://www.akbarbaradaran.com/EN/Pro...asSamavars.htm

There would be a challenge in mounting them, due to a high center of gravity....but it could look very impressive....part of the image/marketing.

otherwise the air pots and maybe a burner pot combo to top off the pots from time to time with hot water...until you get your teashop might be the kiss (keep it simple stupid) way.

Little Darwin

A couple of comments.

First, it sounds like a great idea!

If you want to store water as hot as possible (whether sent through an instant heater or not) I would think there may be some advantage of coloring the box black to absorb heat from the sun.

Also, there is some coffee that comes in bags, just like tea. You should keep some of them in your stash as well if you think some customers may want coffee, and willing to settle for run of the mill stuff.

Sammyboy

The samovar is awesome! I've been in Iran and seen those things for real, too, and they are WAY cool. Perhaps we do need to come up with some sort of coffee service method. I think the challenges with mounting the samovar would make it a non-starter for the trike, though it would be SOOO memorable if we could make it work. The fact that the tap is at the bottom makes for challenges too. In the shop though, I believe we'll have to have a Samovar. You guys are awesome with this stuff!

dcb

Also note if you keep the water under pressure, you can heat it up more. If your insulated vessle can handle 15 psi, you can unplug your heater and have the water at about ~250 degrees Farenheit when you take off. Depending on how well insulated, it may still be above 212 when you are done.

Also with an electric heating element, you might be able to rig up a generator that runs when you pedal backwards or something...

thdave

You guys are just a bunch of ...teatotelers.

Marrock

Yeah, we use these since I'm the only one here that prefers regular to unleaded and I rarely have more than a couple cups a day so why make a whole pot, got Folgers to try them out and have been using A&P's and Stop & Shop's store brands ever since, takes the same time to brew as a cup of tea and it's real coffee, not instant.

So far no complaints.

Doug5150

I haven't read through the other answers--but I would get a portable propane burner of some type. There's camping ones that can hook up to various sizes of tanks.

In the US at least, propane doesn't cost a lot and it puts out a lot of heat.
-----
The solar power idea is a no-go; you would have to cover half a singles' tennis court with solar panels to power a decent electric stove burner, and solar panels aren't cheap anywhere.
~

Marrock

Get an old hot dog cart and gut it for the burners and all, you could even re-use the stainless steel box to keep the trike from going up in flames.

wahoonc

When I was thinking solar I was figuring a direct heating of the water...not a solar to electric conversion...too much power loss on that. I have built solar reflector ovens that will boil water, out of little more than a few pieces of highly polished aluminum or stainless steel.

I think the stainless vacuum bottles are on the right track, along with some type of propane heater.

Aaron

K6-III

Given weight limitations:

Highly insulated tank pre-heated before departure.

Primary solar heater with propane secondary assist.

Allen

https://www.worksman.com/
^^^
Can't believe I forgot about Worksman. That's what those guys make. Friendly company, I don't know if buying from them would be feasible given The Pond is in the way (then again with the $ <2:1 vs. the £), but they may be good for information at least.

Sammyboy

Looking at their vending cycles, they're $2000 even before shipping. The trike we're looking at is £550, and we can probably fit it out to our needs for another £3-400, but the Worksman site is interesting to look at, for sure.

Rincewind8

Just some ideas...

I think it might be possible to use a small 12v solar panel attached to a 12v immersion heater element that you somehow rig to the cap of a thermos to keep the water warm for a long time (depending on cloud coverage and outside temperature). The water would have to be warm to begin with, because this setup will probably not be powerful enough to actually heat the water. You could also add a thermometer to this setup to see when you should switch the heater setup to the next thermos...
This would be very low impact, but the solar panel is the problem. They are not really that cheap.

Another idea might be to heat a number of bricks or similar "temperature-storage" at home an then transfer them with the already heated water to the cart.
That's relatively low impact and very economical, but heavy. Also i don't know if it would be such a good idea with a wooden box/cart.

Keep us updated!

Allen

They sell parts as well as full carts/bikes. They are a friendly company, may be willing to describe how their units work.

Marrock

Worksman is great to deal with and they'll work with you.

When my girlfriend got her trike from them she could only afford a single speed but she told them she wants to upgrade it later so they sent her one that had the frame tabs already on it to add the conversion kit when we can get it.

Otherwise I'd have had to get some welding done on it when the time comes.

wahoonc

+1 on Worksman The plant I am currently working at has a huge fleet of bikes, trikes and 4 wheeled movers. I called them on some parts that I was using as an experiment on something else and they were happy to give me the specs on them, and shipped the ones I asked for ASAP.

Aaron

Sammyboy

This is moving forward apace. I've won some freelance training design work which will earn me enough to pay for the bike and the fitout before Christmas! We're going with the Airpots for now, because it's simple. So, we'll get the bike in ASAP, and I'll have to round up some friends with woodwork skills.....

Stax

check out this rig

https://cycleliciousness.blogspot.com...an-coffee.html