An Excellent Coffee Maker


 
well, I understand cause I use one when camping, etc. but this perk. is electric and doesn't seem to give that taste. but i'll look into it closer next time i'm down there, and see how the heck it works..??? maybe im just crazy but it tastes like a "good" cup to me I thought. i'll check it out.
 
You should really try a vacuum brewer. It's a little more hassle, but makes much better coffee.

Cheers.
 
In this months copy of Wired Magazine, there is a write up about the Clover coffee maker. Its a $11,000 machine that was made by a coffee guru, who in turn sold his company to Starbucks. Starbucks it trying to return to their roots, with better coffee. The CEO of Starbucks had tried the coffee brewed by a Clover, while in Boston, and declared it was the best cup of coffee he ever had in his life.

There are only 250 units out there now, and Starbucks is going to control distribution to only there stores in certain large cities. I am hoping to find the store in San Francisco that has one.

Apparently it looks like one large cylinder and piston, that presses and mixes the grounds with the water. The precision controls allows the brewer to control the temp of the water, the extraction time etc,, to get the perfect cup.

One of the authors made a good point, that most people are willing to pay $6-$8 for an average glass of wine, it shouldn't be too big of a shock to be expected to pay $4 for the best cup of coffee you've ever had. Especially since no one in their right mind would pay for such a fancy contraption to have at home.
 
Sean wrote that the Moccamaster's carafe is hard to clean.

I have the 1.25 liter glass carafe as available in the Moccamaster Clubline series KB741 (available in black, white, & dark gray). As I mentioned in the earlier post, cleaning is VERY easy.

If you want a coffee maker for the road like a very poor man's Clover, check out the AeroPress.

Richard
 
I use an Aeropress in the truck. I think Ron Lewen (from here) turned me on to it a couple or three years ago--or maybe it was you. Works great.

I didn't get to the store in Portland (had great tapas though!). I'll measure my under-cabinet space when I get home in a few days. I'd like the SS carafe (around my house anything glass gets broken) but that model is listed as 15" tall...?
 
Thank you Kevin for the link. It was an interesting read.

I just now ordered the SS vac carafe one, it was at least $40 or so cheaper than the one on the first link that was posted.

I added several of their exotic coffees as well. I can't wait for it to show up. I'm actually on a brief vacation down in L.A. visiting family. So hopefully it will show up soon after I get home.
 
A few months ago a blew a consulting gig check on a Rancilio Silvia espresso machine....man this makes good coffee.....just add hot water for a cafe Americano...no more Starbuck$ (the lines are long, but it's expensive).
 
Cooks Illustrated just gave high marks to the Technivorm. To quote:

"Its sophisticated internal workings aside, the rest of the Technivorm is simple, with a cone to hold the coffee and a nine-hole sprayer to disperse water evenly. A switch lets you stop the flow of water to pour a cup. There’s just one problem with the Technivorm—its price. Could we really justify spending $240 when we know that great coffee can be had through far cheaper methods? To make sure, we compared coffee made in the Technivorm to coffee from a French press, the method favored by many coffee connoisseurs. (We used the Bodum Chambord, which sells for $39.95.) To our surprise, while our tasters enjoyed the French press coffee’s rich aroma and flavor, the Technivorm coffee won the day with even better flavor—and with no need to go through the French press’s multiple steps of separately heating the water to 200 degrees, then pouring, stirring, waiting four minutes (according to manufacturer instructions), and pressing.

The Technivorm’s price tag is high, but its consistently full-flavored, smooth brew—made with all the convenience of that old Mr. Coffee—will pay for itself when you start skipping a few trips to Starbucks."
 
CI is my food bible, so I'm glad to read that. I wish I would have come across that one myself. I get every issue at the newstand.

They email me about 5 times a week to join their online service. I did the free trial and ever since then, they just hound me with offers.

Good info though.

I'm impatiently waiting for mine to show up. One of the coffee sites in the links above were talking about running one cycle of plain ( heated) water thru the paper filter to clean off the paper taste, and that it dramatically changed the way the end product tasted. I think I will give this method a try first, then a normal batch, to compare for myself. I don't know if I'm that patient.

I guess having a timer on the coffeemaker would defeat the purpose of using fresh high quality beans, but it would be a nice feature.
 
I've been feeling the opposite about CI, increasingly over the past several years. I've been a subscriber since before its present incarnation, when it was called Cook's and was a regular ad-based mag. (It died in '89 when Condé Nast discontinued it. Christopher Kimball, the original owner had sold it to them. He bought it back and relaunched in '93 as Cook's Illustrated, without ads.) I just got a renewal notice but will not be renewing. Every issue makes me want to scream.

I haven't seen the Technivorn review but am shocked that CI picked it. Their choices of test products and their panels are so often ridiculously off-the-mark, imo, that I would have guessed that the Technivorm wouldn't have even been included in the test let alone chosen as the winner. (They do surprise me every once in a while, but disappoint far too often. Especially editorially.) [/rant]

Yes, grinding the night before and setting the timer isn't the best for coffee but sometimes it can be convenient.

I do have room under my cabinets so a Technivorm it will be.
 
do you guys know of any, or own, a model that (kevin) you can set a timer and it grinds and then flips the beans over and then brews? i've seen them, but the owners complained of dulling blades and not enough grind time, and hang ups, etc. sounding convenient to me if it worked, and if you cared about the freshness though.
 
The only one I know of that has a good brew temp is one from Capresso. I have not used it but have heard good things. The grinder is kept separated from the brewer so there isn't supposed to be a problem with moisture screwing up the grinder.
 
Originally posted by Richard Batey:

If you want a coffee maker for the road like a very poor man's Clover, check out the AeroPress.
Click to expand...

I love the Aeropress. I have a hot water dispenser that I set to deliver water at exactly 175 degrees (F). The amount of time it takes me to make coffee in the morning is about the amount of time it takes to grind the beans plus 30 seconds. Plus, you can camp with it so easily - I am still looking for the perfect portable burr grinder to accompany it on the trail.
 
I've seen the show where their review of grills were a bit askew, and their recommendations are based on factors that may or may not be important to the average comsumer.

But for me, what I love is the recipes. That's what keeps bringing me back.

But after seeing pretty much every issue since 01' it becomes obvious that they tend to recycle the same info.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top