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July 26, 2006
"Coffee, (which makes the politician wise, / And see thro’ all things with his half-shut eyes)."
My parents tasked me with finding a good coffee maker, which proved to be a Learning Experience.
For example, an Ask MetaFilter question about hot drip coffee makers taught me that most coffee makers suck.
See, according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, you want your water to be around 185-200 degrees Fahrenheit before it hits the ground coffee. Most coffee makers never get the water that hot. The coffee geeks' intensity on this matter knows no bounds:
I don't have a lot of respect for auto drip coffee makers.
It's not because I don't like the taste of the coffee that auto drips are capable of making. I don't like these machines in general because they are underpowered. Most appliance manufacturers manage to limit the top brewing temperatures of the water in auto drip coffee makers, either on purpose (fear of lawsuits from people who manage to spill 180F + coffee on themselves) or through poor product design and poor parts quality.
Poor product design is reflected in the tendancy for many auto drip coffee brewers to use the same heat source for water as they do for the hot plate under the carafe. That's right - in many cases, water is flash heated as it passed through the exact same heating coil/device that is used to keep the pot warmer hot. Problem is, to adequately heat up that water to proper brewing temperatures, the hot plate would be too hot for the carafe, so they dial down the heat. Your brew suffers.
What's even more scary is the "company line" followed by some appliance makers. I had the head technical troubleshooter at Saeco USA once tell me that coffee is "supposed to be brewed at 165F" when he was contacted about complaints that the Saeco Latte was brewing too cold. And once, I wrote Braun enquiring why their machines never seem to produce temperatures hotter than 180F at the showerhead (in the carafe, the coffee is closer to 175F), and they told me that their extensive scientific study has "proven" that 175F to 180F is the optimum brewing temperatures.
Folks, they are fooling themselves. For over a century now, coffee experts have known that for gravity filter drip coffee, 190 to 200F is the general range, and 192-197F is the sweetspot range for proper extraction (sources: Ukers, All About Coffee (1935) to Specialty Coffee Association of America, current day). Don't settle for anything less.
The best drip coffee maker that gets water hot enough is made by crafty Dutchmen and has the impressive name of Technivorm. It costs around $200 bucks, tho.
I also found a great review of Nissan's Thermos product line. I think I'm going to order a TGS1000 NSF-certified restaurant-grade coffee carafe (the TGS1000 keeps things hot forever) and a JCA350 12oz soda/beer can insulator. And maybe a JMQ400C leak-proof travel mug too (the JMQ400C really is leak-proof and well-insulated). Perhaps a JMW500 leakproof backpack bottle as well?
I'm a sucker for liquid containers. The last time I got near Nalgene's online store I ended up with two 32oz bottles, a 48-oz canteen, a flask, two different 16oz bottles, a dropper bottle, and a set of various smaller vessels...
The Krups Moka Brew also looks interesting, with its whole pressure-based system, but it seems a little complicated for my parents...
I'm not hard-core enough to go for a vacuum brewer or a french press.
Posted by Jon Rubin at July 26, 2006 10:19 PM
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