burningman

Anyone ever use one of these? if so can you relate your thoughts on it?
Thanks

WaltM

Does it really make coffee?

burningman

yes it does..

GottaHaveIt

Seems kinda fishy:

yes it does..
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Creating the Lie Studio

cdynaco

It looks like one of the old vacuum coffee makers. But where's the stopper?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_coffee_maker

WaltM

You gotta boil water; too much work for me...

http://www.chemexcoffeemaker.com/About%20Us.htm

cdynaco

I can tell you after ten years of sales and service of gourmet coffee and espresso, that the best method for brewing coffee remains the drip method by European standards.

A proper cup of gourmet coffee needs:

*clean equipment
*fresh clean water (preferably without chlorine)
*fresh ground arabica coffee beans (higher altitude beans mature slower which provides better flavor oils. preferably the 'wash' method of removing the 'cherry' pulp)
*clean paper filters of medium thickness (no bleach - yes they make quality white paper filters without bleach)
*formula of 2.5 - 3.0 oz of coffee per half gallon water (64 fl oz)
*water temp as close to boiling as possible (say 200oF)
*time: the water should be in contact with the grounds from 3 1/2 - 4 1/4 minutes - around 4 is best providing you have a thick bed of coffee grounds such as a cone filter basket (see formula).

You do not want to extract 100% of the coffee bean - much of it is cellulose, pulp, harsh, bitter flavors. Just like fresh squeezed OJ - you don't want to grind the peel in with it. That's why percolator coffee is disgusting - you've extracted everything. With drip, the water passes over one time, pulling the sweeter, better flavors, leaving the rest behind in the filter. Often when people complain of bitter coffee, they will add less - the exact wrong response.

Even if this is too rich for your tastes, keep to the formula, add hot water or milk/cream (sissy) to your cup to dilute to taste.

As for the dark roasts, what is funny is what a fad that is. Good arabica's don't need to be roasted so dark to bring them to peak flavor. European coffee was not so dark in most areas. In fact dark roasting came about because high grade coffee is a cash crop for growing countries to export. What was left behind for the locals were the robusta's (low grade) or poor quality arabica's. So the poor folk learned to dark roast to caramelize the sugars to make the junk palatable. Now its the rage. LOLOL (And usually done to mask less than high grade coffee, while charging you "gourment" price. )

If you don't know a good source for quality beans, you can't go wrong with Supremo Columbian. Not just Colo.... Supremo is a specific grade not just a name. I buy Supremo and French from Costco and mix and match myself depending what I feel like. Costa Rican, Guat, etc. are nice too. The Africans, Sumatra's, etc are too earthy for me and are mostly robusta's. The biggest grower/exporter? Brazil - and most all is low altitude robusta's - now you know what goes in canned coffee like ewe-bran, fudgepackers, and maxwell's outhouse. LOL

While airpot brewers (like at C-stores) are considered state of the art, unless the glass thermos bottles are kept scrupulously clean (urn cleaner), you can have a stale taste. However, their advantage is that they trap the steam, remove the coffee from a burner (which break down the oils after about 20 mins). I prefer a coffee pot on a burner and drink it up within 15-20 mins, make more if I want more. And airpot coffee is not hot enough for me unless I catch it pretty fresh - even if they pre-heat (like they should but most don't). If done right, airpot coffee stays at peak flavor up to one hour or so.

The absolute best coffee maker for the buck is the Technivorm KB-741 from Holland (no I don't get a commish any longer). I bought one when they first came out in mid 80's. Still going strong! Several of my friends bought them and they are still working great too! Never had a customer complain about them. They were tested for 30,000 cycles on the bench with no failures. Proper temp, proper time, every time. I don't do microwaves so it is also handy for making hot water fast for cooking and thawing frozen stuff. Your typical braun, krupps, black & decker, etc. don't get hot enough nor brew quick enough and that's why their coffee sucks.
http://www.boydscoffeestore.com/brewing/kb741.php

The KB-741 uses a small heat exchanger about the size of a small box of stick matches. This way you aren't wasting energy like with the BUNN (which keeps a hot water tank going at all times). But the BUNN is second best with proper time and proper temp. The BUNN will build up with scale over time and have to be rebuilt.

http://www.bunnomatic.com/retail/products/b.html

The third best is a French Press. But they're messy, time consuming, you have to preheat everything, use boiling water, and after I press the grounds down (4 mins) I pour 1 cup and then immediately pour the rest into a preheated thermos or a hot coffee pot and put on burner (otherwise you are over extracting almost like a perc). But it does make a rich cup of joe.

Although I had free access to espresso (sold and repaired machines), I'm a drip man. A nice cup of hot, fresh, rich joe!

Good luck!


PS: As to people claiming a 'buzz' from espresso, what a joke. The extraction take place so quick you only get about half the caffiene compared to a cup of drip. That 'buzz' comes from all the sugary Italian syrups they put in for their latte's and mocha's. The Italians laugh at us - but gladly export espresso machines to the US.

WaltM

****, you're the "Joe" Guru. My hat is off....

burningman

I'm gonna go with the Chemex as it's a manual drip maker. Supposedly it's got the reputation in alot of coffee circles as the best possible bang for the buck. And it makes a great cuppa joe too from what I hear.
Thanks for the input Charlie. you learn something new everyday!

Going by your discription of how to make a great cup of Joe it seems the Chemex fits the bill perfectly!
I'm tired of automatic makers..time to get back to a manual deal.

cdynaco

How is it any different than a Melitta?

burningman

I couldn't say I never used either. I'm only going by what I've read so far...but i can say it looks better than the Mellita at least IMO

cdynaco

You artist types! LOL

I used a Melitta years ago and it made great coffee. Just like the Chemex directions - boiling water, wet the grounds a tad, pause, then pour slowly in a circle so the extraction is done in about 4 mins.

I still do that when I'm camping - fresh air, the outdoors, campfire, and a great cup of coffee just like in your kitchen!

Course I don't camp much anymore because the ranch is like that - with all the convenciences of home.

cdynaco

Thanx Walt! I really found my niche with that career. Salesman of the year 3 times - in a rural area competing with the city boys. Too bad my stallion ended it early.

WaltM

You're welcome. Btw, Can you recommend a quality coffee maker that has a timer w/auto shut-off?

Evil_Capri

You thought about a French Press?

burningman

Yeah I'm an artist so I'm kinda fickle like that.

Jason..I've thought about the french press but I'm so not into silt in my coffee. From what I understand the coffee a FP makes is a bit more think for lack of a better work..have a different mouth feel from drip coffee. Charlie could clarify that though. He's obviously very Java versed

cdynaco

No. The ones I've seen don't do the temp and time correctly.

cdynaco

Yeah that was my third choice at the bottom.

The silt isn't much but there's a tad. Sort of like gourmet cowboy coffee.

WaltM

Bummer. It's for my parents. They're seniors and forget to turn things off....

cdynaco

Well if its like my parents, they grew up on perc coffee. They probably wouldn't notice the poorer flavor from the too long of cycle and less then 200o temp. Something like black and decker would probably work great.