Coffee Pørn
I have a horrible, hideous confession to make. I spent $200 on a coffee maker. And no, it’s not some Italian espresso maker, because I frankly don’t like espresso. I spent $200 on a drip coffee maker, A Dutch drip (why does that sound like some STD?) coffee maker, that you can only get from one place here in the states.
And it makes the best damned coffee I’ve ever had.
Behold, my friends, gleaming stainless-steelitude that is
the Technivorm MoccaMaster
I mean, when you say that in your best Ahnold voice it just sounds too cool. And as I said the coffee is fantastic; why is described here, but suffice it to say that with the consistent proper temperature that this maintains during the brew cycle it makes the smoothest, fullest-flavored pot of coffee you’ll ever have. As an added bonus, this sucker is fast. It makes a full pot in under 5 minutes, which leaves our old Krups machine that you see cowering in the backround of the top picture in its dust. And the carafe keeps the coffee quite tasty for a long time.
If you love drip coffee, and if you really don’t want to make a mortgage payment this month, get one.
Swill Food and Grog | Mr. Bingley | 
March 31, 2007 11:55 am
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Hmmm.
Sorry but that’s not the best. This is:
Black & Decker VB100 Vacuum Brew 10-Cup Coffeemaker
Not so much the specific brand per se, but the method. I love vacuum coffee makers rather than drip. To me the dripping hot water really doesn’t absorb enough of the coffee oils and volatiles because the grounds are never actually immersed in the hot water. Instead the production of coffee requires the dripping coffee to precipitate out what oils and volatiles it can during it’s vertical traverse of the packed ground coffee. And the ability, plus time, of the dripping water to absorb these important oils and volatiles depend highly on the proper grind of the coffee and how well it’s packed.
IMHO a vacuum coffee maker is far far superior to any drip maker.
The vacuum process has the grounds in the upper vessel and the water in the lower vessel. The water boils and turns into steam with the steam traveling up the tube into the upper vessel, this ensures that the temperature of the hot steam that interacts with the coffee grounds is the proper temperature.
As the water in the lower vessel boils off the water level in the upper vessel will rise until the water in the lower vessel is completely boiled off at which point the brewed coffee in the upper vessel *splashes* down into the lower vessel with the grounds held back by a small permanent nylon filter. Which is another positive point as I despise paper filters which do nothing but take and absorb from the brewed coffee those essential oils. The most important point IMHO is that the coffee has time to be immersed in the hot water and for the hot water to be infused with the oils and volatiles from the grounds.
*shrug* I’d take a vacuum coffee maker over a drip coffee maker any day of the week. I include the link to the vacuum maker above since that’s the one I have.
Hmmm.
Another thing against drip coffee makers is that I’m not entirely convinced that all of the coffee grounds are being extracted from equally. Usually the hot water is delivered to the coffee grounds from a single source over the center of the grounds. Wouldn’t this mean that the path of least resistance is through the center of the grounds? That the hot water would progressively spread to the outer edges of the grounds as the center became saturated.
Which means that a drip coffee maker with a single water source would be far more likely to overdraw from the coffee grounds in the center while leaving the grounds along the edges the least affected.
Hmmm.
The last bit is that I prefer to buy my coffee as raw green beans and home roast them. For most home roasting I use:
Zack & Dani’s home roaster
Primarily because it’s easy, automated and relatively quick with little overall mess. The green beans go in. The power gets turned on. The beans are roasted, ground and then coffee is brewed. The green beans are generally much less expensive and can last up to a year. So buying in bulk makes sense. Additionally a large part of the coffee flavor comes from volatiles that will evaporate over time right from when the beans are roasted. So to maximize the flavor you should really roast every day or, at most, every other day. Now his method of roasting works up to a medium to a medium-dark roast. A really dark roast is beyond the abilities of this machine as it requires a lot more heat.
For something like that I’d suggest using a steel can with holes punctured in it attached to an outdoor grill rotisserie attachment. That’ll give you a nice dark roast though you’ll have to do trial and error on the time and heat levels to get the preferred roast. Another method I’ve never used before is to use a hot-air popcorn popper or even a metal dogfood bowl and a heatgun. The idea in all cases is to apply heat to the green coffee beans while mixing the beans to ensure an equal roasting.
IMHO the very best in coffee goodness is freshly medium-dark roasted Ethiopian coffee ground medium coarse and then brewed in a vacuum coffee maker.
Combine this fine coffee with a good cigar and a VSOP cognac chaser that this is the breakfast of champions. You’ll be prepared to deal with the idiots du jour and handle any crisis that’s to come.
Memo, I haven’t had coffee from vac pots yet; I’ve heard it’s great, as you say. But I’ve also heard the machines are rather delicate. From threads at Coffeed.com here and CoffeeGeek.com here there seems to be a rather lively discussion about them.
Full disclosure: My job is coffee. And by that I don’t mean I have a goatee and multiple piercings and make double latte mocha cappa ventes for people; I buy coffee from Brazil/Colombia/Guatemala/etc in full container loads and import it in to the US and sell it to various roasters. I have a 4 cylinder Jabez Burns sample roaster in the office that’s nearly 100 years old and I cup hundreds of cups of coffee every day.
oops, gotta run; it’s Palm Sunday and the church choir calls!
Bing, that machine is glorious. I suffer envy. Especially because my stainless machine died a little while ago (that’s what I get for going the “free” route).
So are you grinding at home now too?
No, I don’t grind at home; I frankly find it to be too much of a pain in the butt to have to clean out the grinder, etc every time.
Well, that’s non-sequitor spam, for sure!!!
Time to start mis-spelling m0rtgage to fool the spambots, I guess. Just like p0rn.
PS: Cool coffee maker, Mr. B! Alas, I can’t afford a new one right now….I’m still paying off the new furniture in the living room. Not to mention a few other bills.
Hmmmm.
“Full disclosure: My job is coffee.”
Now that’s a cool job! :):)
1. The problem with vacuum pots is that they’re not easily understood like a drip maker. A lot of people put the water in the top vessel and the coffee in the bottom one, which is the exact reverse needed. And you are right. For whatever reason it does seem that few people can make a decent vacuum coffee pot.
2. I like the Black & Decker, but it’s discontinued (sorry). There are downsides to it, but it works pretty well. When I’m really in the mood I use a double glass vacuum maker but that’s a bit of a production.
3. Since you’re in the know, so to speak. Any ideas for a decent thermal carafe? I’ve been looking around but every thermal carafe I’ve tried hasn’t worked out very well. Not overly demanding but I’d like a carafe that will actually keep the coffee hot for at least an hour.
4. Now all I need to do is find a couple local bloggers who import fine cigars and spirits and the three primary food groups are set! 🙂
Yeah, I’ve heard both rave reviews about the B&D but those are always followed by “and the @%^#$ dopes don’t make it any more.” And I hear a lot of complaints from even knowledgeable coffee folks about how easy it is to break the glass machines, what sterno should they use to boil the water, etc etc; sounds like a whole lot of work to my lazy persona.
As far as carafes go I’ve only heard good things about the Nissan models. The one that came with this maker is great; it keeps the coffee at a good temperature for quite a long time.
Hmmm.
Thanks! I’ll go look for one this afternoon.
I really do think the main reason why they generally suck as a manufactured product is because it’s a niche style.
I wonder what would happen if someone designed a good vacuum maker using aerospace quality glass. That stuff is almost as tough as steel.