It's been a while since I did any kitchen blogging, largely because I haven't needed much in the way of new equipment. However, the timer on my giant Cuisinart coffee maker died after only four years (grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr), so time for a replacement.
I actually bought two replacements, both of them manual to minimize the possibility of future such incidents.
For individual use, I bought an AeroPress, which makes one or two double espressos (just dilute with hot water for American coffee). It's a tad fussy: you heat the water to exactly 175 F and then press it down through a microfilter.). It's sort of like a cross between a french press and a vacuum brewer, takes about 30 seconds from water pour to coffee, and makes one of the most delicious cups of coffee you've ever had.
For larger groups, I now have a Chemex. This makes regular drip coffee; you pour a little hot water over the grounds to make them blossom, then fill the filter with water. Five minutes later, beautiful drip coffee.
The Aeropress looks cool. Right now I'm using a mini and ancient Mr. Coffee (makes 2 legit cups perfect for me not so perfect for guests). My favorite coffee is old fashioned Melitta drip into an insulated carafe--basically the same as the Chemex but with more convenience and probably worse flavor due to the plastic thingy. I'm just too lazy to boil water in the morning. Speaking of the Chemex, I think my grandparents had one of those as well as my mom. That thing must be old as the hills.
Your life is not complete without a Bialetti Moka Express. Cheap, indestructible, and the coffee is delicious.
I absolutely LOVE my Chemex. I evangelize for my Chemex. Like Robert E. Lee I would fight for my Chemex over my country.
Congratulations.
The king of the coffeemakers remains the dutch Technivorm. All the rest are poseurs.
I like coffee. But you give me a coffee mug of some quality ginko infused green tea and my hand will shake. And when I'm using stimulants thats the effect I'm going for.
I find it fascinating that people are now reverting to the methods of making coffee that their forefathers gladly sent to the landfill as soon as cheap automatic coffeemakers came on the market.
The thick ceramic cone coffee-filter holder my German grandma owned (early post-war cheapo Melitta model) fell apart from disuse after being retired and replaced by a snappy plastic automatic. I still have her old manual coffee grinder (early 1900s) with an iron grinding gear and wooden case below where there's a pull-out drawer-type drop box for the grounds. Wonder how much someone could make by producing such impractical retrodevices and making urban yuppies pay for them through the nose? They'd be the latest scream in status items, soon to be followed by a horse and carriage.
The Santos Vacuum Pot from Bodum makes great coffee and works like a charm. Sure to please your inner geek.
Good going w/ that AeroPress, it seems, to me, to be underknown/appreciated.
An added + is that you've taken some of the stress off the U$D/RMB cross-rate..
Here's betting that 'Cuisinart' was Made In China.
Any clue where the Chemex was made?
Whatever you do, be sure to bear in mind that French press coffee is for homos -- elevated homosysteine levels, that is!
Maybe some far-sighted city councils should get on banning those gadgets in the name of public health...
Hand-blown by free-range West Indian chickens.
Ever use one of those little silver Italian espresso makers? Looks like an old coffee pot. 2 piece, top screws to bottom, little stemmed-cup widget for holding coffee, steam from bottom shoots through widget to collect the finest espresso on top. Make right on the stove burner. Very cheap and absolutely foolproof. No hinges, timers, calibrators, filters, motors, heating elements. Lasts a century.
I love my AeroPress.
If you have a microwave, you can figure our how many seconds it takes to microwave the amount of water you use to get it to 175 degrees; one minute for me.
According to http://www.fantes.com/chemex.html, Chemex coffee makers are made in Taiwan. I'm with fellow who mentioned the Bialetti espresso pot - damned thing got me through grad school.
Hmmmmmm.
1. I prefer to make my coffee from a stainless steel Bialetti Moka express maker. Not too into the aluminum. The only downside is it's difficult to clean properly.
2. Vacuum coffee makers are really great! The problem with automatic drip makers is that they really don't let the coffee grounds soak enough.
I've got a Black & Decker vacuum coffee maker that's my pride and joy, and totally irreplaceable. For some reason they got out of the market. It's a shame because I'd buy another dozen of them for use as gifts if I could.
The problem probably was that few people understood how to use one. A vacuum maker has two containers connected together by a funnel. The coffee grounds go into the top container, the water into the lower one. As the water heats it rises as steam and collects in the upper container and is infused by the coffee. Once all the water has risen into the top container the steam pressure in the lower container collapses and the perfectly brewed coffee in the upper container now flushes, with a "whooosh" sound, into the lower.
Many people made the mistake of reversing this. They put the water into the top container and the grounds into the bottom one.
3. I like roasting my own coffee beans. More complex flavors, a little cheaper and definitely fresher.
4. Paper filters are for wussies.
Thanks to those that mentioned this:
1. I prefer to make my coffee from a stainless steel Bialetti Moka expresso maker.
I hadn't known they existed.
"Not too into the aluminum."-- m---machine
I'm wondering if that's b/c of the aluminum/Alzheimer's link?
@Nolanimrod I use one of those. I believe that technically it is not espresso but rather strong coffee because the pressure it brews under is less than that of an espresso machine.
I second the praise of the Bodum Santos, my daily brewer (and I have a few other brewers).
The Aeropress is perfect for the sediment strain on cold-brewed coffee. There was an NYT article about cold-brewed coffee a while back, but we found it's easier for us with an Aeropress. Steep the grinds overnight (12 hours) in room temperature water (1/3 cup grinds to 1.5 cups H20), run the mixture through a sieve to remove the grinds, and then run the liquid through the Aeropress to get out the last bits of sediment. The resulting concentrate can be diluted one to one with water for cold coffee that is way more flavorful than hot coffee that's been iced. Perfect for summer sipping.
The other advantage is that you can run batches through the Aeropress and refrigerate or freeze the concentrate for future use. So it feels more efficient than the process to get two servings of espresso with the thing...