Vacuum Brewing

[liralen]

A lady at work let me borrow her Bodum, Mini Electric Santos Vacuum coffeemaker for a few days. I took it home, yesterday, and, this morning, I carefully set it up with water in the bottom, grounds in the top, and turned it on. The water shimmered, heated, swirled, and then started bubbling, and as the vapor collected in the bottom it pushed the water out and up to the top. When the water cleared the up feed tube, the coffee infused water above bubbled violently (and almost out the vents, as noted in the Sweet Maria's Review of the beast) until the heat turned off.

Then, the vacuum in the bottom sucked the coffee from the top, through a filter, and I ended up with a container of nearly dry grounds, and a pot of coffee. Piping hot coffee. So hot the first sip nearly burned me, but it was complex, interesting, and very, very tasty. The freshly ground coffee was from Coffee Jones, their Dragon Blend, and I was very, very pleased with the results.

John didn't like it as much, not cool enough to drink; but the whole spectacular show of just doing it that was just gorgeous. It turns out that vacuum pots have been around much longer than French Presses. I was curious about them, but hadn't wanted to shell out the money without at least tasting the results. A French Press I can get at any good coffee shop, and drip coffee is everywhere. Vacuum brewers are much rarer, so it was very sweet that I got to try someone else's out before I bought my own.

Yes. Mine is more manually controlled. I'd rather control how long it brews. Also, with the experiment, I found that the heater in the electric boiler was so powerful that it really made the coffee boil and burst around the top, which think a lower flame would control much more readily. Plus, there was a good deal of sediment from the plastic filter. I can get that from John's gold filter drip brewer. :-) Plus, since John usually brews his coffee, I don't really intend to use this as often as every day. It's more for show and for fun.

Huh. It would be really fun to have a coffeehouse where I could give people a setup with ground coffee in the top, warm to hot water in the bottom and then set up a spirit lamp to actually do and finish the brewing process for themselves. Then they could control how strong their coffee was and watch the gorgeous process for themselves.

Comments

[a-machine.livejournal.com]

I /think/ there are places that do just what you describe. I seem to recall a friend telling me about such a place in...Quebec? I forget and will ask him on your behalf.

I'm glad to see a description of a vacuum brewer from a real human, I've been wanting to see one in action and taste the results for some time, but have been unwilling to make the leap with no net.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

That would be really cool to know if there is a place. I hear that some really nice restaurants and B&Bs will use the larger ones to serve their customers freshly brewed coffee; but a coffeehouse would be cool to know about. I'll admit, though, that I don't get to Quebec that often. :-)

If we do a road trip to the East Coast this summer, I'll bring the beastie along, as it can use our camp stove pretty easily, and offer you a taste. :-)

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

holy crap. Science! And coffee! All at once!

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Exactly! What fun! AND it tastes good, too! Hee. Proper temp and proper brewing time. Whew.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

how would this technique work for tea?

[liralen.livejournal.com]

It could work just fine for some black teas and oolongs. It would be very bad for greens and whites.

Usually, one wants coffee to brew at about 200 F, not 212 F, though espresso pretty much is at the boiling point, if not more (bad boiler machines go 'more', and can burn the coffee as it's brewing it, good pump machines keep the steam at about or just a little above the boiling point, but not by too much). Hm. Anyway... I was originally assuming that the water wouldn't be AT boiling when it went up, as the vapor expansion often happens when some of the water is at boiling point, but most of it hadn't hit it yet.

With black tea, you want the water that hits it to be at boiling, not missing those ten degrees of heat, as those ten degrees can make a difference in the depth of flavor. I know this as all altitude brewed tea misses that ten degrees (water boils, up here, at 200). It does miss something up here, but not enough that I can't drink the tea. I do, however, brew a cuppa every time I get back to sea level, just to prove that I can burn my tongue as well as anyone. Yeah, tea, up here, is always drinkable right from the teapot.

So I'd probably experiment with blacks, just to see if the method was acceptable to me. But for most oolongs, the 200 degree water is perfect, as they don't really want a full boil when first hit by water. Most oolongs can get bitter if brewed too hot, like greens. Whites are just so delicate (butter and chrysanthumum sweetness) that I brew them down at the 170 range, so they would be right out from a vacuum pot.

[flit.livejournal.com]

Hee. I don't even really drink coffee (and am not supposed to, so I keep my digressions to a minimum) but my first thought on reading this description was "so cool! I want one!"

It is just NIFTY.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*grin* It is. I'll have to bring it when I come visit. Hee.