The James Bond way to brew coffee
I had been in the market for a siphon-style coffee brewing station for a couple of years now. I'm glad I waited so long. The recent introduction of electricity to this process turned out to be the clincher "por moi". Well that the price drop. At under $30.00USD (including shipping) it was hard to deny myself this pleasure any longer. The contraption came well boxed and with an adequate instructional manual that has obviously been loosely translated into English from Mandarin, I suspect. It delivers about 16ozs (or a typical Travel Mug) or two 8oz cups of the finished product. All of the unique tools and laboratory equipment you'll require to construct the final concoction come with it as well, except for an efficient way to clean it. It really is quite an exciting process. It's a blast for any of you that messed around and messed up your parents basement with a home chemistry kit as a kid! In the end I found it all quite unnecessary. It's not as if the final brew is that staggeringly eloquent and far above par to anything else that you've tried so far. I'd say it's most reminiscent of the bright, clean glowing aftertaste of any good drip brewing method such as those delivered by Chemex or Coffee Gator products. The difference being the INSANE novelty of the syphoning process as opposed to the simple low technology of the latter systems. Then there's the clean-up. Forget about it. There is NO comparison. A quick run under the sink and the drip brewers are ready for Round Two. You'll be pondering how to safely get inside the syphons lower chamber for an hour. I wound up cutting a regular dish washing sponge in half and stuffing it inside of the boiling chamber with enough soapy water to do the job. The linen cheese-cloth style filter is apparently reusable but there's no mention of it's service life anywhere in the accompanying literature. An online search using the makers brand and model number in conjunction with the word "filter" will produce pages of pre-wrapped or bulk loose packed replacements. Either way, they're NOT cheap but if you've committed to this products process than the additional investment won't seem too dear. I've just been washing the original one very, very well and have put about 20-25 brews thru it so far. I know I'll have to break down and purchase those eventually if I'm to continue to use this "thing" as the water is beginning to turn up a bit brown as it enters the brewing flask on top during the initial step in the process. If you do go with the replacement filters initially, I strongly suggest that you purchase the pre-tied ones. The process is tedious to say the least and is more akin to crocheting than anything else. Busy work for small, well trained fingers.
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