• Water temperature which affects the brewing taste and its consistency from beginning to end
• The contact time between the grounds and water
• The ability to get all the grounds equally soaked with hot water throughout the brew cycle
• A successful attempt to initially soak the grounds and then allow them to settle prior to the full brew cycle. This last ability is most critical when using fresh-roasted, fresh-ground coffee.

So, how’s the SimplyGoodCoffee Olson brewer perform this taste list? Here are the parameters:

Water temperature – The SimplyGoodCoffee Olson brewer has a fast-water heat rise time. It performed as well as any high-performance brewer. This is important because, as any of us who are familiar with professional commercial brewers, know that consistent brewing temperature throughout the brewing cycle is vital to the cup’s taste. Underperforming brewers that don’t get the water to within 5 degrees of 200F actually produce sour taste notes; those that brew too high (rare but possible) brew bitterness.

Contact time – The SimplyGoodCoffee Olson brewer takes six minutes to complete brewing a full batch of coffee. This is excellent and meets longstanding industry brewing standards. Lately, it has become common for manufacturers to offer twelve cups as their standard. When they optimize their brewing cycles for this larger batch, those of us who brew eight cups (or less) as their preferred size typically lose a minute or two of water/grounds contact time. This results in under-extraction and a weaker tasting cup of coffee. The SimplyGood Coffee brewer was right on the money with its results. The best I’ve tested in a while. Kudos.

Water Soak Equality – Just look at the above photo! The SimplyGoodCoffee Olson brewer performed about as well as a manual pour-over, my highest praise for automatic drip. Look closely at the water droplets and realize the grounds are receiving nice full coverage. My month-long exclusive use of this machine shows it consistently did its job, spraying the hot water over the grounds, while the brewed coffee exit hole at the filter’s bottom is ideally sized to maintain a slightly elevated water level throughout the brewing cycle. You’ll note in the photo below how the grounds bed looked just after brewing. This “after” shot clearly shows how evenly the grounds have been soaked, a reliable indicator of evenly showered water over the grounds. The SimplyGoodCoffee Olson brewer goes beyond simply outperforming other automatic drip brewers; it matches the best manual pour-over devices that set the original standard!

Pre-infusion – Pre-infusion is the final step that closes the divide between superior manual drip and the industrial age’s attempt to automate it. All fresh coffees create a carbon dioxide foam similar to pouring a can of soda into a glass. The best remedy is to momentarily halt the brewing process immediately after the first hot water fully immerses the grounds. The pre-infusion stage works beautifully with the SimplyGoodCoffee Olson brewer. It pauses just long enough, but not too long, and then lets things proceed. From this point on the grounds remain submerged in hot water for the rest of the brew cycle.

Build Quality – When SimplyGoodCoffee’s designers went with mimicking the Moccamaster, they should have expected the comparison to that brewer’s noteworthy build quality. Even those who nitpick some of the Moccamaster’s quirks of its pioneering designer, the late, beloved Gerard-Clement Smit, everyone agrees about its lasting build superiority. There’s no way I can predict longevity of a brewer; a 30-day test just doesn’t cut it. The best I can say is that such superficial details as its appearance and exterior fit and finish all appear first-rate.

History Lesson – The SimplyGoodCoffee brewer is the brainchild of Laura Sommers, a highly experienced, highly coffee-aware entrepreneur and her experienced design and manufacturing team. Laura’s previous company, Espresso Supply, had the original mission to market a Melitta-badged-as-Bonavita brewer and its following iterations. What these brewers all have in common is an awareness of the mass expansion of specialty coffee and the importance of an affordable highest-performing automatic drip brewer for home use. Rumor has it that noted coffee guru George Howell was among those who helped tweak a high quality Melitta brewer to its state-of-the-art circa early-21st century performance. All of the brewers in this category meet the standards first established by a U.S. trade association based upon observed performance parameters of commercial coffee brewers. The SimplyGoodCoffee Olson brewer is the latest product designed to meet these rigid standards and still be affordable for families and individuals who know good coffee, but don’t necessarily have commercial sized budgets. Laura told me of her vision before the first design was submitted. I will stop far short of predicting super longevity akin to the Moccamaster for the Simply Good Olson Coffee brewer. I can only say I own the first samples of the earliest Melitta brewers upon which Laura cut her entrepreneurial teeth and they perform to specification to this day.

Personal taste test results – I have found a great bean is Big Shoulders’ Colombian House Drip. They are so nonchalant, but it really is a good coffee, one that has gobs of chocolate on both the nose and tongue. I had a last-minute afternoon guest and made us a full pot. I used 62 grams and medium fine grind. I can honestly say it was the best this bean has ever tasted. It just has everything in one place. Another favorite, Alana’s Coffee’s Ethiopian Sidamo Ardi natural process gave a hardcore group of visiting home roasters an exotic thrill or two. This jaded coven seemed almost humbled in the presence of this coffee. It seemed to inspire them to perfection as they seemed more enthused than ever to discuss a home roasting event at next year’s CoffeeCon. These are just two noteworthy brewing sessions with the Olson, but it shows how consistent and easy it is to use and adept at putting its culinary capabilities on display.

Conclusion – The SimplyGoodCoffee Olson brewer has really floored me in its attention and meeting all the important brewing details. Those willing to spend around $150 on a home brewer should consider it in the top tier of the best available choices, and possibly the best choice. More money may buy you more features such as the Behmor Brazen’s adjustable temperature settings, the Ratio Coffee maker’s sexier curb appeal or Moccamaster’s proven-longevity and build quality, but this one very possibly brews the best coffee and won’t empty your pockets. That alone, at this price point is simply awesome. Nice job, folks!

Kevin What’s Oren’s origin story? What made you decide to become coffee store owner?

Oren I know this will shock some people, but initially I got into coffee by a virtual roll of the dice so to speak. I admit I did lots of research. I’d decided I wanted to go into retail. I knew it. My father was a retailer, at the May Company. But, after working on the training program at Saks Fifth Avenue I realized it wasn’t for me. I couldn’t manage upward. (laughs) That is, I couldn’t self-promote as one had to in a corporate environment to be successful. What I did learn there was that the top quality of any item was the easiest for me to sell. That alone was a valuable asset!  

I researched, researched, researched. I considered everything from shoes to dental supply. While I was doing all this research I began frequenting a local coffee place that was in the building where my wife Nancy and I lived. The guy who owned this place did a pretty good job. I liked the environment. The coffee was, while not probably knockout by my later standards, far and away better than I’d had anywhere else. He didn’t roast, but he was proud of his shop and he showed me an option that seemed to contain all the elements I was searching for in a career. I really liked the concept of finding all these () different coffees from around the world and making them available to people. While people were in the store, I would always be brewing coffee with my beans. The thing that made the concept work was doing my own roasting. That made the coffee unique. And you could smell the aroma down the block.  

Kevin Was in-store roasting still a rarity?

Oren Yes, it was rare. Most coffee stores bought from some larger local or regional roasters who had these old big roasters. They’d get coffee once a week, not daily. That’s part of the reason I chose to name my business Oren’s Daily Roast.

Kevin How come I taste a fuller flavor in beans, than those same beans roasted by other roasters?

Oren We don’t roast too light or too dark. I never have roasted as light as many third wave roasters do. I insist on a full roast.

Kevin In my ongoing quest to make great coffee accessible to my friends who own K-cup machines, is it possible to just grind superfine and use a refillable K-Cup? The Eckobrew one is certainly well made.

Oren Interesting you mention it, I’ve done a lot of testing to see if we could recommend Oren’s in just such a configuration. If you think it’s frustrating for consumers, it’s a huge segment. I know they love coffee. I know they really love Oren’s coffee. How can we provide them with it? The challenge is you need to grind fine for the K-cup’s flash contact time. I mean if you open a standard-issue K-cup, it’s close to espresso grind. Well, in all our tests we found if you grind too fine, it risks machine clogging and winding up with a tiny driblet of coffee. One thing you have learned over the years is I’m brutally honest. I won’t say it works so I can sell something. I remain unconvinced that refillable K-cups provide a good enough alternative at this point. I am however, still willing to try any new one that comes along. I’m certainly not disinterested in this huge market. Meanwhile, for just a small amount of money and minimal instruction, as you’ve done with online brewing tutorials, you can own a Chemex and taste the same cup Nancy (Oren’s wife) and I enjoy every morning, and that you and Pat do when you visit us.

Kevin Yeah, you’re preaching to the converted. But… there are loads of people who will say they need to brew a cup of coffee with automation. Is there an automatic brewer you’d say fills the bill and truly represents all the work you’ve spent tasting and selecting the beans, your roast, and in some cases your blending?

Oren Bonavita currently makes a $99 brewer that just blows away what was available in auto-drip just a short while ago. You may prefer another brewer’s design, a feature such as a timer, or the hand-made longevity of some costlier brewers, but you can definitely make coffee with the Bonavita that shows off all the work that the farmer and I put into it.

Kevin Speaking of farming, how about green. You’ve been one of the credible voices I’ve heard saying that green prices need to come up. As someone who recognizes the risk-taking and hard work of farmers I’m interested in seeing them get more, but it’s against my nature as a consumer to wish prices to rise. How do you want me and others to reconcile? Why should consumers support this?  

Oren One way to look at it is look at the price of coffee today and the price when I first started in 1985. I think the price for coffee Friday closed around $1.22. When I started planning my business in 1985 the price was $1.75. And that 1.22 is not adjusted for inflation. So the farmers are earning much less than they used to earn on coffee. 

And as far as not wanting to pay more, who wants to?  But by continuing to pay these prices we are keeping coffee farmers in an untenable situation. Many will simply stop growing coffee and that will be both devastating and by necessity increase prices as supply declines. 

Kevin I note you offer a number of blends. What is your approach to blending?

Oren Well, to start I take a different approach than most people think of when it comes to blends. Most blending done in the industry is finding a way to combine multiple price coffees an make them taste good. Believe it or not, I actually applaud the ability of these blenders. The guys at the various big brands are really amazing and are the unsung heroes of their companies. My passion is bringing great coffee to people. Single origins are fine. I am a fastidious cupper. If I divided up my time I’d say I devote a good part of my week, the most enjoyable and most important part, is spent cupping green samples.

Kevin So how about your blends?

Oren Where Oren’s differs from the majors is my idea of a blend is three or four terrific single origins. Each is thoroughly enjoyable by itself. However, when they are blended together, there’s a new and unique note that is worthy of its own name and identity. My original Oren’s Blend has two roasts of a Colombian coffee, plus one other coffee. My Canterbury Blend was pre-blended and then roasted. Others are roasted singly and then blended.

Kevin That makes a difference?

Oren It makes a significant difference.

Kevin How do you determine whether to preblend or roast separately?

Oren By taste. That’s the only reason I ever do anything.

Kevin What’s happening of interest in green coffee?

Oren Perhaps Anerobic processing. For the past few years, there’s been some experiments but so far, it hasn’t thrilled me. Over the past decade especially, producers have been seeking new and improved ways to differentiate themselves, moderate their coffee’s flavor profiles, and offer exciting and interesting flavors to roasters and consumers all over the world. Sometimes a little experimentation and ingenuity can go a long way without having to re-invent the wheel, which is why we’re interested in the increasing popularity of anaerobic-environment fermentation. I’m interested if not yet excited with the results.

Coffee production is already being affected by global warming causing more disease and more defects in the coffee.  Obviously this is a worldwide disaster. For specialty it means that top quality coffee is much harder to find under these new conditions. The farmer is caught by this with either lower production or lower quality or both. We need to always keep the farmer in mind and pay him, or her, what the true value of the coffee is, not the commodity price.

Kevin What’s next in your career?

Oren Well two years ago, I’d have a different answer. Covid has changed everything. Whatever anyone thinks about its impact on health, its impact on the coffee business, on all business is inestimable. It may be maddening but I suggest the most practical, survivable and healthy response is to embrace its dynamism and inevitability. There’s no doubt that home is now a much more popular place to brew. Yes, drive-throughs are doing well, but of course I live in one of many cities where this is just not practicable. Overnight, it puts you, Kevin and your Coffee Companion educational role in a new important position, but it also returns me to my role as a purveyor and procurer of beans and then roasting. That’s fine with me. I only want to discover where I’m best placed in the world to do just that and I’m basically a happy fellow.

The final frontier of coffee is freshness. It’s the biggest current weakness in coffee compared to say craft beer or wine. Beer is shelf stable for months. Wine is for years, although I know some wines age well, while others don’t. But, over a few months no problem. It’s therefore not unusual, and in fact it’s considered desirable for a wine enthusiast to stock multiple wines for food matching or just plain variety.

Just press a button to replace staling oxygen with preserving Co2.

How about coffee enthusiasts? Come on. Admit it. You culinary coffee relationships have been condemned to serial monogamy. You buy one, drink it repeatedly in its youth until it’s gone. Then move on to another. While this practice may seem like a good compromise, it limits your enjoyment. For one thing, your wine and beer buddies get to drink whatever kind of beer pleases them.

So, what can we as coffee enthusiasts do?   Well, you can freeze coffee. “Oh, no!”, you say. Well some of us do this unashamedly, although much of the industry claims it results in everything from freezer burn to less-than-full flavor. “No one freezes oil” say the geeks. I’m not taking a side on this in this article, but let’s for the moment say that no one claims it’s a first choice, nor as good as fresh-roasted unfrozen coffee.

One-way valve bags were the industry’s great hope of the 90s. This invention, which basically lets gas escape, but no air in, was sold as The Answer. What many of us found, or at least I did, was it was better than nothing. The valve offers protection against outside competing scents. Yes, it allows bean de-gassing in an otherwise sealed bag. But, it slow, rather then prevents staling. Consensus seems to indicate it does a good job of prolonging a bag of beans for a few months, maybe as long as six. Best results are claimed if the beans are scrupulously packed in a nitrogen-flushed environment.

With cover removed it’s easy to replace cartridges, available at Target and Wal-Mart.

Good so far, right? However, when you purchased that six-month-old sack and break the seal, consensus is they stale quickly, like one-too-many facelifts on a Hollywood star. That fountain-of-youth pill suddenly wears off. I know people, I think sincere ones, in the coffee industry who swear by one-way valve bags, but those are often the same folks who don’t really believe in the whole “fourteen days from the roaster” dogma anyway. I suppose I do, so we gradually drift apart.

The Coffee Freshness System, or CFS for short, is a mechanical storage system consisting of a method of sealing a canister, which you fill with beans. After locking it tight, you simply place it on a mother unit, which draws all the oxygen from it. Meanwhile, Co2 from a replaceable can. This is the ingenious part as it effectively emulates the same effect as nitrogen. When you open the canister, up to a month or more later, to make coffee, the beans are still fresh, presumably as fresh to taste, smell and brew as when you sealed them. I must admit at first I was dubious, but intrigued.

The is of preserving one coffee is enough. But, suddenly it occurs to me that we have a potential revolution on our hands. As individual canisters are sold separately, it is possible to stock several coffees in your home, creating a coffee wine-cellar (coffee cellar?) so to speak. Imagine inviting a friend to drop over and have them pick their coffee the way a wine collector lets you pick a fine wine to open and share.

I knew I had to try this. I begged them to loan me a sample, which was easy.

Why easy?

Apparently the trade doesn’t see the value of this invention. My thought is, “Are they Crazy?” I can’t understand. I asked several of my roaster friends. None of them seemed very excited by it. It took me a while to analyze this but eventually I realized why. People who work at a coffee roasting plant, or even near a small shop roaster are deluged with fresh coffee. They likely aren’t wanting for fresh beans to take home each evening, so they just grab enough to fill tomorrow morning’s brew basket. I’ve even found doing my FB live video conversations with roasters that many do not even brew before coming to work. Why not just wait and sample some when they arrive each morning?

WELL, KEV? HOW WELL DOES IT WORK?

Enthusiast game-changer. Buy multiple canisters and collect coffees. Finally!

I’m going to tell you after testing for several months I consider the Coffee Freshness System a major breakthrough. I used it one canister several bags of beans, keeping it for a period of weeks each time, which no discernible aroma or scent reduction. It is amazing to have beans for a period past a month or two and break it open and brew it and have it foam up as the water first hits, just as you would with just-roasted coffee.

For a second canister, I grabbed a particularly tasty Kenya Coffee from Big Shoulders in Chicago. These beans were highly rated by the Coffee Review and had a particularly unique flavor footprint. I kept a small amount for nearly four months, then opened the canister and brewed. Again, no difference, at least none I could detect.

The end result. I took three-month old beans from my Coffee Freshness System canister and brewed a Hario V60 batch. Notice the gentle foam, signaling fresh coffee. Oh yeah. It tasted great!

I consider it a coffee enthusiast game changer. I literally did invite friends over and let them choose their bean, as I’ve let them choose which brewing method in the past. I am now considering amassing more canisters. Warning: You are going to want to do this to maximize the social potential of this invention.

THE COFFEE: HIGH BUT WORTH IT

The Coffee Freshness System is not cheap at $500. It is well-made. I’ve noticed no bugs with it, impressive especially for what must be an early generation product. Some larger companies with more to spend on R&D and tooling have far more tweaks in their early product issues. Robert Wallach, Coffee Freshness System’s primary inventor and founder, is to be congratulated on his invention. Wallach is a coffee enthusiast who likely created this product for his own use, hence his passion and resolve to make it right the first time. Frankly, coming from a video and audio hobbyist background, this price tag is high but not outrageous. I live in a world where hobbyists spend that much on turntables and styluses for their high-end turntables. Wine connoisseurs pay this much for a single bottle of an historic vintage. My older brother paid this much for his first CD player.

It’s an invention that finally makes it possible to collect coffees. Think about that!

Hario syphon in flight. A beauty isn’t she?

I’ve waited forever to do this review. Why? I don’t know. Words fail me when discussing syphons, which used to be called vacuum makers, glass makers or sometimes percolators. You likely think I mean the dreaded pumping percolator, which became shortened to the single word designation, but I don’t. The two used to be distinguished from each other, but as the vacuum version got phased out, the pumping percolator got called a percolator. Since then, it’s been blamed for virtually taking the coffee industry down, but that’s another story… and blog post!

CoffeeCon Syphon class taught by long-time pal Charlie Sarin (thought not pictured). The Syphon is open-ended tech, with different presenters offering their individualized hacks and variations on the theme.

The Hario Syphon is one of two relatively popular and widely available syphon brewers. The other is made by Bodum and deserves its own review. Let’s take the Hario syphon and examine its strengths, and any potential weaknesses. It’s really not hard to understand a syphon. The lower bowl is really a kettle, where the water is heated in order to make coffee. The two bowls are fitted together. Once the water is heated to nearly a boil, hot air in the lower bowl expands, forcing the near-boiling water up through the upper bowl’s tube, through a filter where it starts bubbling as if it’s boiling – it’s not. At this point the barista (at home, you or me) adds finely ground coffee to the upper bowl and stirs it swiftly so it starts the extraction process. After roughly a minute, the siphon is removed from heat and the brewed coffee travels downward, as cooling air in the bowl below creates a vacuum (hence the original name) and drawing the coffee through the filter, where the spent grounds are trapped. When the coffee liquid is all down below, the two bowls are carefully detached (they’re hot!) and the lower bowl simply becomes a serving vessel.

At this point, lots of question should come to mind. For this reason, I’m inserting an FAQ here.

Syphon FAQ

• Does the syphon boil to make coffee? No, the water never boils. It remains at a near-ideal 200°F for the duration of the brewing contact time. The bubbles that appear are more expanding air being released as gas expands in the lower bowl. If just looks like it’s boiling.
  

  Flame heat is slower, prone to wind, but otherwise effective. Call me a modernist, but I prefer Infrared bean heater for their consistency, ease of use and glamour effect. You simply pull this out when entertaining watch the jaws drop.

• Why finer than drip grind? The siphon’s contact time between hot water and grounds is roughly two to three minutes, approximately half that of most drip brewers. You can grind finer, which reduces grounds surface area exposed to the hot water and the overall beverage strength will even out. Note: Automatic syphon brewers may take drip grind. Follow your maker’s recommendation.
• How did we get so lucky that the temperature in the upper bowl happens to be 200°F? We didn’t. Truth is, the standards that recommend 200°F brewing temperatures were developed by observing a siphon brewer and measuring its temperature. That temperature became the de facto ideal recommended extraction temperature for various brewing methods. Note, the syphon naturally brews at 200F, but if for some reason you want a lower or higher temperature, you’d best choose another method.

• 

  Competitor’s syphon compared. All syphons are reliable at achieving 200F brewing temperatures. Differences are durability, capacity and ease of use. Hario’s excels at all three.

  Why wait until the water all goes to the top before adding the ground coffee? It’s the most reliable way to time the contact time, which must be done for consistent results. But, you don’t have to. There are several ways to use a siphon. I’m just giving you the one I’ve found works best in my experience.

• No matter how long I wait, all the water never really rises into the upper bowl. What am I doing wrong? Nothing. All the water will never rise into the bowl. Just understand, it doesn’t have to. All the water never needs to be in contact with the grounds. However, all of the grounds do need to be in contact with the water in the upper bowl.
• Is stirring necessary? Yes, I think so. I realize so-called automatic syphons don’t require nor recommend it. These designed used a developed force to propel the water up into the upper bowl and agitate the grounds, which were added before pressing the on button. This simplified method seemed to work, but I think the manual glass method used by Hario (and others) works best when the end user waits for the water to be mostly up in the upper bowl, adding the grounds and immediately stirring to make sure all the grounds are enrolled in the extraction process. The second stir is done because, on occasion, the grounds re-clump together during the minute or so after the initial stir. I realize I’m insisting upon being thorough here, but you may as well learn to do it right. It happens to me often enough that I think it’s worth sharing as a step.

How Did We Test the Hario?

Note bubbling, boiling water in lower bowl during upper bowl brewing. This boiling water has no effect on brewing process, nor is it cause for concern that all the water never attends the extraction process. The syphon brewer is an excellent method.

I tested the Hario using it precisely as I described above. However, there are a few options for you to choose. The filter for instance. Hario supplies both a metal permanent filter and a cloth filter. As a long time syphon fan, to me there is no choice. I prefer cloth as the definitive filter of choice with this method. Metal is fine, but it does let some particulate through and into the final cup. While hardly objectionable and certainly never to the point of being described as sludge, I simply prefer the viscosity and taste of coffee filtered by cloth. To me it offers the ultimate coffee mouthfeel. While cloth filters are not permanent, they do last a month or more if carefully rinsed and stored. They take no more care than the metal permanent filter and they are renewable and inexpensive. I misplaced the one that came with the brewer and didn’t have the nerve to request more from Hario. I went online and purchased some from Amazon for around $5 shipped Prime. About a year’s supply for me. I can’t complain.

On the left is a fresh cloth filter, after its first use. Right is a two-week-old filter. Notice discoloration begins immediately and darkens with each use, regardless of scrubbing. Works fine regardless. I suggest not worrying about discoloration which seems to have little effect on cup taste.

Don’t be a Purist. The benefits of pre-heating water

One thing I recommend. Don’t pour cold water directly into the syphon for heating. Boil it in a separate kettle. It saves time and energy. I just used a nearby BonaVita kettle but any one will do. I set it to 203°, my normal drip set temperature and used its gooseneck to carefully pour the near-boiling water into the lower syphon bowl. Then I placed the syphon bowl on a heat source. I guess I qualify as a barista because Hario supplied me with an infrared beam heater. I do not know if these heaters are available to the public, but if they are, I highly suggest one if you are committed to syphon long-term. They are simply so easy to use. They also illuminate the process beautifully. Admit it. Part of the syphon’s allure is its theatrical visual as it does its stuff. The beam heater captures all this in its glory.

Looks like it’s boiling, but it’s not. The upper bowl, where extraction takes place, is typically within a few degrees of 200F. Many consider this ideal contact temperature.

Beam Heaters versus Flame

A check online of beam heaters tells me it’s at this writing a $250 option.  Meanwhile a flame lamp is easy and inexpensive at around $30. Frankly, some baristas tell me they think it’s the ideal way to brew with the syphon. More responsive and direct heat using the flame. If you preheat it, it takes very little time. If you don’t, the beam heater is still too slow.  Visually, the lamp gives very little to the beam heater. Both make great coffee. Your call.

Is the Syphon Hard to Use?

The Syphon is not hard to use. It does take some effort and attention, but it’s not hard. The method is actually very reliable and, assuming you agree with the industry’s standards, the syphon follows them perfectly. As I said, it was the model for those standards.

Here are a few potential cons to syphon brewing.

• Thorough cleaning. Not dishwasher safe. As far as I know you cannot just pop the Hario syphon parts into our dishwasher. They require hand washing. You need to thoroughly rinse and perhaps use a little mild or unscented detergent to clean a syphon before putting it away after using. It’s not difficult. The Hario syphon is substantial. It is far better made tempered glass than most others I’ve tried over the years. Still, while hot all syphons are more fragile than cold.
• Syphons get hot. I just finished teaching a syphon class at CoffeeCon NY in Brooklyn. There were two small children in the first row. I wasn’t worried at all, but know that I would always use care when brewing in a home with children. The parts get hot, near-boiling water if traveling up and down in the unit. The beam heater or lamp both get even hotter to do their job. It’s not a unit to ever leave unattended. However, I also made stovetop French fries the other evening when my family was over, and all the same risks remain. Same cautions.
• A cloth filter takes an extra step. It must be thoroughly rinsed and a drop of detergent may be helpful as well to keep it free from oil buildup. It never looks clean after initial staining, but practical use has shown me this means little and doesn’t in my opinion compromise its effectiveness in the coffee making process.

Grind fineness depends upon contact time. The Hario typically takes a grind finer than drip coupled with a 3 minute contact time.

Conclusion

Do you need a syphon? Of course not. The question is akin to asking, “Do I really need an iPad? There’s virtually nothing you can do on an iPad  you can’t accomplish on a laptop or other mobile device. The point is it’s ideal for some situations and uses. Same with a Syphon. I know of no better, more thorough and reliable extractor of coffee oils than the Syphon. It never needs to be de-limed with citric acid. Its filtration contains little or no plastic that can become smelly with time and use. The syphon is the best method of extracting from all the grounds. No matter how thoroughly you use drip, most drip cone designs contain some “trouble zones” where grounds in those areas are likely to be less extracted. The syphon’s natural bubbling acts as an extraction facilitator, using what Bunn Corporation calls “turbulence” throughout the contact time. The very dry spent grounds observed after the finished coffee beverage has been drawn down below is evidence of the effectiveness of the final separation of brew from grounds of the syphon.

I can’t imagine being a coffee enthusiast without owning a syphon. And, Hario makes one of the best; perhaps the best.

Silo Coffee Brewer

New French Brewer

We’re living in a golden age of brewers. If you think they’re all alike, think again. The new Silo drip maker is stunning looking. But looks alone don’t warrant a mention in The Coffee Companion. What sets this one apart is its filter. Another attribute is its double walled carafe. It keeps the coffee warm without a warming plate. I met Romain Gauthrot, designer, at Coffee Fest in Chicago this past June.

Designer Romain Gauthrot

I hope to get a sample to test, but all signs are good from my initial taste. As you may know, I’m not a big fan of permanent metal filters. But, this one seems to really work – that is separate the grounds from the brew. I could detect virtually no sediment in my samples. Apparently, Mr Gauthrot was able to make two separate screens work together to accomplish this.

This is one of those inventions that has much that has happened before. But the sum total of his efforts is so effective that it warrants a second look. People often presume a new drip brewer can’t taste different from ones that have come before. That’s just not correct. Details can make big flavor differences. Mr Gauthrot has promised a sample and I hope to be able to rigorously subject it to my kitchen in the future.

Meanwhile below is an interview I did with him right at his exhibit space at Coffee Fest.

I’m sure you’re already aware that I’m a big fan of this brewer. So is George Howell who uses it to accompany his tasting seminars at our CoffeeCon events. But, if someone were to ask exactly how I make coffee with this automatic drip machine it would be as follows:

Grind – If you’ve been with me for awhile, you know I advocate erring a notch coarser when using most brewers. But I also advise playing around with grind and, once in a while, it pays to just experiment a notch at a time. For instance, with this brewer I go one notch finer. That may be because I don’t usually make a full 8-cup batch, but rather fill the water only to the 1 liter mark. Just so you understand the testing procedure for SCA certification,  brewers must make their coffee, start to finish, within six minutes. So when you make approximately 25% less, it’s likely that it will be a little rushed traveling through the grounds. I’ve found by grinding slightly finer I slow the drip rate and this increases brew strength. If I make a full batch I coarsen the grind slightly.

Recipe Measurements – Consider that we may have gone from using too few grounds to using too many. Maybe this brewer does such an efficient job it does not need the requisite 55 grams specified for a liter of coffee. If you make one liter, I suggest you try using 50-51 grams. I found this to be the best recipe. I discovered this by accident as I only had 50 grams left of a particularly memorable ReAnimator coffee when a friend arrived for a visit and a cup. Since I needed to make one liter, I decided to chance it. To my surprise I preferred it using this formula.

Pre-infusion – This brewer has a pre-infusion stage, which drips a few ounces of water over the grounds to saturate them before the majority of water is released and dripped over the grounds. I strongly recommend using it if your coffee is fresh, meaning just a week or two from its roast date. If your grounds are older than this, or you use pre-ground coffee, you may skip this stage, although it won’t hurt, so if in doubt, use it. Its purpose is to allow the coffee to de-gas, which prevents foaming up and potentially spilling over the filter holder’s top edge. Pre-infusion also allows it to de-gas and settle down before the majority of water drips through, which actually helps facilitate the extraction process.

Filter holder – If there’s one area where manual drip still reigns supreme it is the end user’s manual water dispersion over the grounds and subsequent even extraction.  Fortunately, the Bonavita already does a good job dispersing the water. But, for a perfectionist end-user, we are able to occasionally swivel the filter holder to vary the showerhead’s position over the grounds. This is kind of tweaky, but shows to what extent I’ve played with mine over the years. I would not expect this tweak to make a night and day difference with this maker, but it is a slight tweak and just goes to ensure that all the grounds get wet. If someone told me this is too far to go to make coffee, I’d likely agree. But, I do it. Look at my “after” photo of the grounds post-brewing and see if yours matches. Again, if it’s too much, skip this if you like.

I define tweaks as anything I do beyond the instruction manual, that appears to make a better pot of coffee. This brewer is noteworthy in that none are necessary for it to perform its stuff. But, I’m comparing to the best manually brewed coffee I’ve ever had. That fact that it’s that close to perfection already is impressive. I simply believe I can match that perfect flavor with this brewer, with just a little attention to details.

What are your tweaks?

Well, I’m exaggerating a bit with that last line. In this case, Espresso Supply has an app which will definitely be finished. Meaning it will be released and no doubt work for its purpose. Its purpose? It’s designed to assist you when making coffee in a manual brewer. I noticed that they brought along a Chemex, which of course made me happy as it’s one I often use at home. It was quite inclusive of them, considering they have a number of their own manual brewing designs. Glad to see they’re above corporate jingoism that might have cause them to insist it be one of theirs.

The idea is to weigh your coffee on this scale. The scale sends this information to your phone and the app then tells you how much water to pour, step by step. It’s really quite simple to use. The goal is to make manual brewing as consistent as possible. It also allows you to change your grounds weight; then the app will automatically change how much water it tells you to pour into the brewer. This is one of those products where descriptive words take more time and effort than just using it. Espresso Supply’s Elliot Jackson demonstrated this in-development app for me, I recorded his demo along with his observations about its potential.

It’s worth noting it’s my opinion that the use of such a tool will become more and more useful as it covers more variables. If course as it stands today, it will help maintain brewing consistency. But the real power will come when it monitors the grind. Those of us who attempt to vary batch sizes in a drip brewer know that slight grind adjustments can enable practically identical flavor profiles when changing batch sizes, and this is really difficult. While the demo didn’t demonstrate the app’s capability to change batch size parameters, and it’s unlikely that v1 addresses grind at all. Long term this is the dream I have for all of these products.

Congratulations, Espresso Supply for taking some first steps to move toward this along. Here’s hoping it’s released in in field use soon!

Attention to balance. OXO has this down. The idea of making sure it’s easy to handle and perform all tasks.

Deep ridged filter, to allow air to circulate. Facilitates brewing. The filter bottom is narrow, but flat, leading to efficient, consistent flow during steeping.

Double walled glass carafe. Cool outside. Evenly hot inside. Designed high enough to place ice cubes in bottom for instant cold coffee, while retaining all the benefits of Specialty Coffee Association specified hot brewing.

It’s interesting to see OXO moving towards manual gear. It gives me hope that there’s life in new manual methods. While this may be refinement more than reinvention, I can think of no more thoughtful minds than OXO’s folks to apply themselves to getting more from your precious grounds. I’ve requested a review sample and am eager to see how it fares in my own kitchen. Meanwhile, enjoy this conversation I had at OXO’s space at Housewares.

I hope you will be able to attend CoffeeCon, the reason I keep taking it around the country, and hope one day beyond.  Here is a rundown of our upcoming LA event, which has the benefit of being an established venue (a big advantage) and a good nearby source of presenters. Let’s go.

CoffeeCon LA is the only CoffeeCon featuring US grown coffee. Yes, coffee not only grows in California, we have California coffee grower Jay Ruskey, who will be sampling his 100% Made in Mainland USA beans and offering coffee plants for sale you can take home. Who knows? Maybe you’ll grow enough beans for an AeroPress.

Beanscorp, the Korean entrepreneurs who seem to live on coffee as they tour the world will be again at CoffeeCon LA. In addition to their innovative Cafflano Klassic grind and brew one-cup travel drip maker, they’ll be sampling from their new Press device. Is it a manual espresso or a step beyond the AeroPress? Taste it and tell me.

Chemex is coming to every CoffeeCon event this year. They’re innovating with customer personalization collars and ties, giving the Chemex yet another advantage over any other brewer. They’ll also be bringing some historic artifacts from the Chemex archives to give you a mini-tour from the Chemex museum I keep telling them they should create.

Bonavita’s Marcus Boni came up with an idea so close to my own heart my only disappointment is I didn’t think of it. Marcus will brew the same excellent coffee in four difference brewing methods: An automatic drip maker, a Chemex, a full-immersion dripper and the new Rattleware cupper. Tastes will be shared with the audience to demonstrate the difference brewing makes.

Mokhtar Alkahnshali’s got the oldest story in coffee. One of a magical bean, one that for some years all but disappeared until he started a one-man crusade to restore its prominence and availability to the world. It’s a compelling story. You’ll be on the edge of your seat, as I was when I first learned of it.

While we’re on an oldest kick, the oldest method of making coffee is almost unknown in mainstream US of A. It’s the ibrik (pronounced ee-brick). It’s the way everyone brewed coffee since that fake news-created dancing goat got high chewing berries. We have Turkish Coffee World ibrik champion Turgay Yildizli on traveling half-way around the world to demonstrate his techniques, which are different from any other ibrik make I’ve ever before seen; hence I reached out to him to bring his art to our event.  

Everyone’s got an artist inside them, and Klatch Coffee’s champion barista, Heather Perry will show you how to create artistic latte art in your home espresso. Just in case you thought, oh it’s easy because she’s using a giant commercial machine like a café does, Ms Perry does her magic using a home machine, albeit a fine one.

Local San Diegan roaster Marc Wortman of Make Good Coffee will teach a home roasting class. This is a first for us here in LA. At our Chicago events, our home roasters are virtually a separate event within the event. Marc is both a skilled professional and someone who started roasting as a fun pastime. His knowledge and enthusiasm are infectious. If you’ve ever wanted to create your own first crack, but haven’t known where to start, now’s your chance.

What do you know about the 98% of your coffee beverage, water? Too hard or too soft, water can affect your beautiful cup of coffee, so much so that new companies are offering mineral-enhanced waters designed for brewing. We’ll warn you right now. We’ve asked a water expert who’s a strong advocate for such waters to come and preach it to you. But we think the arguments are strong enough to let them be heard in our classroom. Use your own judgment, but be prepared to learn about coffee’s number one ingredient. Our expert will be

All this presumes you have already spent time on our tasting exhibit floor, the most important of all reasons to attend. No one, not even our visiting expert presenters and professional tasters, can coordinate the giant array of coffees brewed seconds before tasting. This is more than simple cup differences due to growing regions, farms and lots, but also through idealized roasting and brewing. I do well at home, but there’s no better way to enjoy coffee for me than to attend CoffeeCon.

I wanted this to be an easy read, and mimicked the phone call I’d give if you called the night before and told me you wanted to see everything, impossible really, but at least now you can come close. See you soon.

The great thing about giving gear is it’s likely to be there in the kitchen a year from now. Beans will not be. At least  I hope not!

In no particular order:

Chemex Ottomatic Automatic drip brewer – This unit is recent, but really a re-creation of the original Chemex electric drip brewer. While not cutting edge circa 2016, it has a unique feature fans of the original claim is more important than simply delivering SCAA-approved water temperature.  It repeatedly pauses during brewing, just like you do when you use a kettle and manual drip maker.  The cost is high, but it’s hand-built in Ireland and if you like the Chemex taste footprint (and many do!), it’s the only choice if you want an automatic way to achieve that taste. Street price: $350

Handground Manual coffee grinder – A good grinder is one of the keys to great-tasting coffee. To update an old cliché, “What this country needs is an under-$100 grinder”. The Handground Manual coffee grinder might be just what this country needs. It’s well-thought out and engineered. While I haven’t yet tested it for 30 days, including a laser analysis test of the grind quality, in casual use, it’s done well, especially for medium fine grinds needed for manual pour over methods (not Chemex, though). There’s a real high quality ceramic burr inside and it’s under $100. If only my parents had gotten me one of these when I was going away to college. Street price: $79

Rattleware Cupping Brewer – This one floored me when Laura Sommers of Espresso Supply showed it to me in her office one day. We all like to analyze our coffees right? This one comes closer to replicating the taste of the fastidious cupping procedure than any other brewer I’ve tried. It allows you to steep the coffee and easily remove the grounds. It’s small and stows away for storage. Well made, and it’s inexpensive.  Street price: $18.99

Behmor Plus 1600 roaster – I wrote about this years ago. It solves the number one issue with indoor home roasting north of the 35^th parallel – smoke! That is, the Behmor really doesn’t emit any or at least not much in normal use. If there was a home roaster that would make home roasting a mainstream art, it’s this one. There are others, and they are good machines, but this one is the one that has all the features in one well-made chassis. Built to last, and I know because I still have the original and it works fine. If you want a brewer to match it, consider the Behmor Brazen Connected, which can download programming from hip roasters who can help you brew their top beans to perfection, taking this nuance-based hobby to another level. Street prices: Roaster: $369 Brewer: $199

Bunn MB Home Trifecta – Single/two cup automatic brewer. I got Bunn to bring a dozen of these to my very first CoffeeCon and, guess what? – they wouldn’t sell them, even to the foaming aficionados waving their credit cards! Still one of the best-kept secrets in the business, the Trifecta, originally hand-made from a Bunn employee’s child’s doll furniture, is one of those coffee business head-scratchers. It’s failed in the café business where they marketed it, but that’s because it’s really ideal in the home or office of someone who cares about coffee but has no time. It’s as easy to use as a K-cup, and makes a range of great-tasting coffee types. Costly, but not considering that it does – as close to a siphon as any automatic machine has ever made. Street price: $549

Cafflano Klassic – I keep wondering if this unit has made the penetration it should, but whenever I see these guys we just tell jokes and talk about coffee, not business. It’s the ideal bohemian coffee brewer. When they remake The Blues Brothers, wouldn’t Elwood make coffee to go with his toast using this brewer? It’s got a hand-grinder using a ceramic burr. It is so intuitive you really don’t need instructions. Best of all, it make one perfect cup of coffee. I have spotted them in offices, especially ones that have K-cup machines in the break room. Hehe. Street price: $95

Brewista BrewGlobal Smart Scale – You say you’re into coffee but still don’t own a scale? There are lots of them, but the Brewista is as good as any (they’re all accurate enough), and it is attractive as well. The idea is to do everything by weight. You weigh your grounds. You weigh the water. You weigh the final brew. Of course, you can do it however you want, but after using weight for a while, I doubt I’ll go back. Street Price: $59

Hario Next 5 Syphon – Hario’s v-60 dripper gets all the attention, but to me the jewel of their lineup is the syphon. When Oren Bloostein sent me some of his precious Guatemalan Geisha, I brewed it in the Hario Syphon. The Syphon, or siphon or vacuum as it’s been called over the years, is a high resolution brewing method, arguably the highest resolution brewing method of all. The physics of its design ensure all the grounds undergo equally probing extraction at industry-established ideal temperatures. This unit ships with two filter choices. The metal mesh filter is capable, but those of us who are fanatical will prefer the cloth, my favorite. The infrared heater is as costly as the brewer itself, but it completes the perfectionist’s quest and is much easier to use than a butane heater. Street prices: Syphon: $75 Infrared heater: $219

Moccamaster – Any model of Gerard Smit’s machine, still hand-built in The Netherlands, is worthy. They still lack some features of other brewers, but the basic principle is simple and effective. It is the best made coffee brewer of all time. It gets the water to 200F. It uses paper filters. It will likely last longer than you are likely to. It is costly, but there are sales (not at Christmas time though) and it will pay for itself over the years and you will never need another coffee maker. Street price: $299

Baratza Sette 270 – I have been testing this grinder for a couple of months. I am taking longer, not because it’s bad, but because it’s so good. It is the best grinding in its size you can get, period. It does something no other home grinder does well, espresso. I rekindled my interest in home espresso after testing (and tasting) its results. For a Hario syphon or Technivorm automatic drip, it does better than any other grinder except the giant and big-buck Mahlkonig EK-43 (something Patricia told me would not be acceptable to her for our kitchen). The only disappointment is it doesn’t go coarse enough for my Chemex preference, but I may be wrong. They claim it works. Hey, I’m not done testing. Hahaha Expensive but well-made and just a wonderful machine. Street price: $379

That’s my list. There are other worthy coffee gear items. These are all recommendable. Remember the most important thing isn’t the gear or the coffee. The most important thing is sharing your coffee with a friend.

Merry Christmas!