Japanese coffee brewing maching
San Francisco's new Blue Bottle Café brews its coffee in an ultra-engineered "siphon bar" from Japan. The Steampunk-looking machine uses halogen bulbs to heat the water. The grounds are hand-stirred into the perfect whirlpool using bamboo paddles. Apparently, the siphon bar is the only one of its kind in the United States. The cost to buy and import it? $20,000. Yesterday's New York Times featured an article on the resurgence in brewed coffee and a slideshow of coffeemaker fetish photos by Peter DaSilva showing how the siphon bar works. From the New York Times (click image for full photo):
Previously on BB Gadgets:
• The Other Monstrous "Clover," a $20k Coffee Brewing Vacuum Siphon Link
Link (via Laughing Squid)Could this be the age of brewed coffee? “We’re right there at the threshold,” said George Howell of Terroir Coffee, a retailer of roasted and green beans. “Coffee has never been a noble beverage because the means to perfectly produce it haven’t existed,” said Mr. Howell, who is also a founder of the Cup of Excellence, an annual competition that seeks to identify the best beans in each coffee-producing nation.
But, he said, with recent advances in coffee-making technology, “now you can get perfect extraction.”
(Blue Bottle Cafe owner James) Freeman is not trying to end the era of espresso. He still starts his days with a cappuccino, and his cafe serves drinks mostly from espresso machines, including a lovingly refurbished San Marco from the 1980s. But he’s excited by the possibilities of brewed coffee.
“Siphon coffee is very delicate,” he said. “It’s sweeter and juicier, and the flavors change as the temperature changes. Sometimes it has a texture so light it’s almost moussey.”
Previously on BB Gadgets:
• The Other Monstrous "Clover," a $20k Coffee Brewing Vacuum Siphon Link
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Coffee siphons are all the rage in Japan, and really do brew some great coffee. Plus, they are fun to watch.
That sounds pretty amazing, but it's basically a variation on the infinitely less expensive vacuum brewing method. Whether or not the bamboo whirlpool introduces $20,000 worth of flavor is for those more refined than I to discern... But you can get a Bodum vacuum brewer in the $100 ballpark, and there are any number of other fine vacuum options available, many of them even less expensive.
There's a tea place in Houston that uses them for tea... They use candles instead of incandescents though.
Had some brew like this in Japan at UCC coffee, a chain cafe. Some of the best coffee I've ever had, hands down. Oddly enough, UCC coffee is also available there in little cans. Not nearly as good though.
It is a very interesting brewing method, no doubt, though it is a shame that it is the overinflated price-tag that has really generated the interest (there is no way that cost $20K).
It is an interesting brewing method from a technical point of view as it is very temperature stable in the upper chamber during infusion and the cloth filter is a great filtration method for the percolation as it seems to let through more than paper but still keeps the cup nice and clean.
I keep meaning to buy a decent syphon but using a Chemex for most of my home brews just makes me too lazy.
Coffee porn...*shivers
I'm still wanting to try those expensive civet crapped beans.
Ditto #2
I've had a Bodum Santos vacuum pot for years, and it makes great coffee. I'm sure I could rig up a halogen lamp for considerably less than $20k though.
Error in title:
"Japanese coffee brewing maching"
Should be "Machine"
Nice, Pesco. I like The Times title for their bit on this: "Finally, a $20,000 cup of coffee!"
Looks awfully similar to the Cona coffee pots from the 1910s.
Eh? I swore i saw this on Boing Boing before, oh yeah =P : http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/01/23/the-other-monstrous.html
Anyways the Coffee is great there. I was there opening day and took a few snaps that are on my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zuhaib/sets/72157603781751074/
Its pricy tho (not $20k a cup as the nytimes article states) but around $10 with the one i got going for $11, but it amounts to more then one cup. Its more like 3 cups.
I like my coffee brewed in a big-ass Bunn that hasn't been cleaned since 1979. Served by a frazzled blonde with a bad attitude.
My mom used a coffee vacuum siphon years ago. It was a stove top model.
The cost then was about $7.00 per unit.
You could adjust the heat by turning an etched, graduated, knob which read; Low, Medium or High located on the front of OUR STOVE!!
What will the Japanese come up with next, a small, cylindrical stylist filled with propriatary dye that can be carried in the pocket and used to note one's inner thoughts on a pulp based medium all for , oh, say, $900,000 yen?!?!
I can't wait for the new Apple iPEN.
I'm saving now!
The Clover machine is slightly more cost effective.
Dictionary.com's definition of siphon: a projecting tubular part of some animals, esp. certain mollusks, through which liquid enters or leaves the body.
Nice.
I'll drink my coffee from these guys instead.
Siphon coffee is nothing new if you live in L.A. My brother-in-law owns a shop, Cafe Balcony (www.cafebalcony.com) that's been serving up bunsen burner powered siphon coffee for 10 years. I'm no coffee connoisseur, but this stuff is good.
"Steampunk-looking?"
I feel as if the very compelling "Steampunk" genre/aesthetic is being beaten to a pulp.
I think those ARE Cona siphons - they're identical to the one I have - not from 1910 though - those were made from quartz rather than the modern Pyrex ones - I guess it's the heating system that's the thing that's new - I don't think it really boils water $20,000 dollars worth better though!
Hiroko's Place in NYC's SoHo uses siphons. 75 Thompson Street .
@10: Mr Tom, I am in your debt - you have solved a minor mystery for me.
For the last decade I have owned a mysterious piece of lab-equipment looking glassware that I picked up at a garage sale. The only identification on it was the word CONA and some esoteric codes.
Now I know what it is. It's still more or less useless without the rest of the apparatus, but it does make a nice vase.
... of course, I could have just searched the internet at any time in the past 10 years. But hey, now I don't have to!
CoffeeGeek.com is my coffee website.
There are many vacuum brewers available, brand new, right now. The Bodum Santos is an "automatic" electric one that doesn't do a very good job (too weak). You can get one for about $100.
The glass ones are less expensive, but there are two tricky parts:
1) Heating them without causing the glass to crack.
2) Managing the filter that keeps the grinds out of the brew.
If I'm feeling like the standard drip brewer just won't be good enough, I make my coffee in a saucepan:
1) Grind to medium 1 troy ounce of beans per 16 fluid ounces of water, or to taste. (Note that most office coffee is about 1::24, and that pale coffee they serve at cheap conventions is 1::32)
2) Heat water in saucepan until just boiling. Add coffee, stir, cover pan, remove from heat. (Optimal temperature for coffee brewing is 200 F)
3) Wait 5 minutes. (Optimal brewing time is 4-6 minutes, but if you use less coffee, brew shorter. Longer = bitterer, shorter = weaker.)
4) Pour coffee through chinois (conical, fine strainer) into serving carafe. Don't bother using a pestle to squeeze the last drops out unless you're a fiend.
You can make as much coffee as you want with this method. Ideal for large parties.
Chinois: Here's a typical chinois set: http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-Three-Stainless-Chinois/dp/B0000VLPMQ/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1201219761&sr=1-11
Amazon also usually has some in the $15 range.
Note: ANY strainer will work as long as the mesh is fine enough to hold back the grounds, AND the straining surface area is big enough to allow the coffee to pass through the strainer in just a few seconds. The Chinois has a steep conical shape for this exact reason. A standard "bowl" strainer would soon become clogged with grounds and have a bunch of coffee dripping through very slowly.
Chinois is also great for making stock, straining jelly, etc, and extracting juice from difficult fruits like pomegranates.
I think this is also the ideal thread to note that, just now, my brand new AeroPress arrived.
I'm off to make a coffee...
That 20k system is just a bunch of "Tabletop" model Yama brewers on a $19,800 halogen light.
You can get those *exact* same VacPots for ~$50 each.
VacPots are great.. they're very similar in taste/body to french press, but easier to clean/maintain. Yama and Bodum both make stovetop versions. The Bodum one is ok, but a little flimsy - i've broken 2 so far. Never tried the Yama.
Personally, I prefer Chemex coffee in the winter, and cold-brew in the summer. But a good vacpot or french press is a nice treat.
and much love too the coffeegeek and home-barista communities...
don't forget the high end audio cables!!!
wow what will they think of next???
$50 watermelon - cool!
In Philly, near Chinatown, in the early 1990s, there was a coffee bar and cafe that featured a line-up of siphons and to-die-for coffee. They also served decent pan Asian food, but the real appeal was the desert and coffee menu (if I recall, standard cups of coffee started at like $4 or $5 and went up from there). The joint was Ray's Coffee Shop, and i think it opened in 1990 or 1991. I have no idea if it's still there or how long it lasted after I left Philly in 1993. Ahhh, to have a cup of Ray's coffee now ...
Huh, I've never heard them called "siphons" before. But, yeah, adding another voice to the chorus, vacuum pots have been around for a long time. I have a Cona which makes the best brewed coffee I've ever had, although the slowness of heating and impracticality of cleaning prevent it from being my standard daily method. S'great for pulling out for after-dinner coffee with company, though.
I don't know what all this talk upthread is about filters... the whole point of vacuum pot brewing is temperature control, as previously mentioned, and the ability to make a clear brew without a filter - your coffee only ever touches glass, but isn't silty like with a French press. That's like, the whole point. If you have to use a filter, too, then you haven't got a very good pot.
Piminnowcheez, spot on. . .Long live the Cona D, great coffee and great facial expressions from guests who think you've just brought out the worlds first communal crack-pipe to round off the evening.
http://www.coffeestorehouse.com/Sub_coffeemaker.htm
Erm... someone's confused.
As the Head Barista at a small chain of cafes, I've seen the clover machine in action, and that photo ain't it. It isn't remotely steampunkish in any way shape or fashion. It looks like this:
http://baristachampion.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/cec-clover1s-707590.jpg
That being said, it's a remarkable tool for roasters, as you can show off all your variatals and blends in a matter of minutes (rather than hours). And having one in the cafe is a nifty thing for that person who just absolutely needs a cup of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe on a day when it's not being brewed normally.
For your average person though, there's no reason why your average $20 Mr. Coffee (or $50 Vac-Pot if you're picky) isn't enough for your brewed coffee needs.
Chinois?
Oh Thank you Thank you. Now I know what to call my rusty old jelly strainer if the Queen ever comes to visit!
I have two vintage vacuum coffee rigs. One is pyrex, the other a plug-in stainless steel version.
Personally I hate coffee and have no appreciation for wine, but I always wonder when this kind of thing comes up - how much of the 'taste' is in the price and novelty?
I'd like to see a blind taste test between this, vacuum, and starbucks.
There have been many studies on wine tasting - one I read about yesterday on a neuroscience blog I can't find again found that the college students rated every wine better when they were told the price was higher. But in a blind taste test they all thought the $5/bottle one was best. The article on the study said something to the effect of "but they were unsophisticated college students", but what that tells me is that connoisseurs have simply learned what subtle flavors indicate price, not quality.
Since I don't drink coffee, I have no idea how different vacuum and regular coffee are, but I'd put money on anything more expensive than your $50 vacuum pot being almost entirely psychological as long as you're doing it right. Now, consistent repeatable quality is worth paying for, but that's not what this is about.
jimjambandit: hahaha, that's *exactly* the look.
notjackobrien: those things are CRAZY, and indeed steampunk. Just saw one in action for the first time at Grumpy Cafe in Manhattan.
gtmoogle: I have an answer: some, but not all. Coffee/wine lovers, like hobbyists of any sort, quickly wear out the obvious features of flavor and so, to keep our pursuit stimulating, have to make ever finer degrees of discrimination. Sooner or later, we get to a point where the sensorium alone can make no further discriminations, and so pass into abstraction. But that doesn't mean that finer discriminations are all abstract. For a great read on what we're really doing when we drink wine (applies to coffee, too), I can't recommend highly enough Adam Gopnik's New Yorker piece, "Through a glass darkly," which is googlebly available online.