Coffee Catch-All

I used to use a previous version of this, Michael. After about a year, the heating element broke. So I took it apart with a hammer.

To this day, I'm not sure if it was nerdy curiosity to see how it worked, or an angry fit of caffeine deprivation.

Boudreaux wrote:

We have a Zojirushi drip coffee maker with a digital clock/timer, it works great. We like this one particularly because it has no heating element, the carafe is designed like a Thermos to keep the coffee hot. It stays pretty hot in that thing all morning long.

That looks like a solid buy, thanks!

Consumer Reports likes the $40 Mr. Coffee you can get at Costco.

I like pouring into a thermos after brewing, because those built-in thermoses tend to be really hard to clean.

We have this similar Cuisinart and have been happy with it. Whichever you go with, do yourself a favor and get a reusable gold filter for it.

Malor wrote:

Consumer Reports likes the $40 Mr. Coffee you can get at Costco.

I like pouring into a thermos after brewing, because those built-in thermoses tend to be really hard to clean.

I've got one of them, and it works just fine

Tanglebones wrote:
Malor wrote:

Consumer Reports likes the $40 Mr. Coffee you can get at Costco.

I like pouring into a thermos after brewing, because those built-in thermoses tend to be really hard to clean.

I've got one of them, and it works just fine

Same here.

I put water and ground coffee in the thing at night before I go to bed, and in the morning there's hot coffee waiting.

trichy wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Made a vacuum pot this morning. So good!

The last two times that I've tried to make a vacuum pot, the coffee has risen to the top chamber, but just sat there instead of draining back down to the bottom. Extremely annoying. I haven't changed the grind that I've used, so I don't know why it's doing that.

I completely forgot to respond to this. Yeah, I had that problem, and it's extremely frustrating, but I figured out how to avoid it. Don't worry about using coarse grounds. I use a drip grind in between espresso and French press. I just go with what Bodum recommended and use 1 TB grounds per espresso cup which means 2 TB grounds per actual cup of water. This part is important: leave around 3/4" in between the bottom of the pot and the bottom of the tube when setting up the vacuum pot. Don't push the top piece all the way so it's close to the bottom. The reason for this is you want a bit of water to stay in that bottom chamber when it's boiling. Once you have the vacuum pot setup, put it on the heating element and turn to high heat. After the grounds are fully moistened (not all the water will have gone up at this point), set a timer for 4 minutes. When the top chamber is full of bubbling coffee, turn the heat down a couple notches to 3/4 of high. When one minute is left on the timer, remove from heat. It'll take about a minute for it to settle down and slurp down to the lower chamber. Remove the top section, and you're good to go!

Edit: I've never had that method fail, and it makes a good pot. The method described in Bodum's instructions always failed. I pushed the top piece fairly close to the bottom of the bottom piece, and immediately removed the pot from heat once all the water rose to the top chamber. I hope that's how you've been doing it because the method I described above should work perfectly for you.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
trichy wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Made a vacuum pot this morning. So good!

The last two times that I've tried to make a vacuum pot, the coffee has risen to the top chamber, but just sat there instead of draining back down to the bottom. Extremely annoying. I haven't changed the grind that I've used, so I don't know why it's doing that.

I completely forgot to respond to this. Yeah, I had that problem, and it's extremely frustrating, but I figured out how to avoid it. Don't worry about using coarse grounds. I use a drip grind in between espresso and French press. I just go with what Bodum recommended and use 1 TB grounds per espresso cup which means 2 TB grounds per actual cup of water. This part is important: leave around 3/4" in between the bottom of the pot and the bottom of the tube when setting up the vacuum pot. Don't push the top piece all the way so it's close to the bottom. The reason for this is you want a bit of water to stay in that bottom chamber when it's boiling. Once you have the vacuum pot setup, put it on the heating element and turn to high heat. After the grounds are fully moistened (not all the water will have gone up at this point), set a timer for 4 minutes. When the top chamber is full of bubbling coffee, turn the heat down a couple notches to 3/4 of high. When one minute is left on the timer, remove from heat. It'll take about a minute for it to settle down and slurp down to the lower chamber. Remove the top section, and you're good to go!

Edit: I've never had that method fail, and it makes a good pot. The method described in Bodum's instructions always failed. I pushed the top piece fairly close to the bottom of the bottom piece, and immediately removed the pot from heat once all the water rose to the top chamber. I hope that's how you've been doing it because the method I described above should work perfectly for you.

You, sir, are a scholar and a gentleman. I will be trying this tonight.

I just broke another French press. Can anyone recommend a replacement made of something less fragile than glass?

Holy crap you guys.

First, we bought an ice cream maker.

Second, we made coffee ice cream. I love coffee-flavored everything, but my usual complaint is that it's not coffee-ey enough. So the wife puts about 8 cups-worth of espresso powder into the ice cream.

Third, I ate a bunch of that AMAAAA-ZING ice-cream one night.

Forth, i was awake until about 3pm with the caffeine jitters.

I've never had the glass break but have replaced two presses with broken plungers.

Coffee ice cream that my wife's made is my second favorite, after the time she roasted an entire pumpkin, pureed it, and turned it into pumpkin pie ice cream

Tanglebones wrote:

Coffee ice cream that my wife's made is my second favorite, after the time she roasted an entire pumpkin, pureed it, and turned it into pumpkin pie ice cream

Adding to the list of flavors to try!

Don't forget to mix the two for pumpkin coffee ice cream!

MrAndrewJ wrote:

I've never had the glass break but have replaced two presses with broken plungers.

The last one, I dropped while washing. This one was innocently sitting on a counter when I tried to grab two cans at once out of the cabinet above it, and dropped one of them right onto the carafe.

Clearly I am dangerously clumsy. Worse, both instances were after I'd had coffee.

misplacedbravado wrote:
MrAndrewJ wrote:

I've never had the glass break but have replaced two presses with broken plungers.

The last one, I dropped while washing. This one was innocently sitting on a counter when I tried to grab two cans at once out of the cabinet above it, and dropped one of them right onto the carafe.

Clearly I am dangerously clumsy. Worse, both instances were after I'd had coffee.

The Bodum ones are pretty hard to break unless, of course, you have a catastrophic accident. I haven't broken one in a long time and currently have 2 working presses. They do make stainless steel press pots, but I highly recommend NOT going with one of those. The steel just retains oils and would be hard to keep clean unless you run it through the dishwasher every time. It's best to minimize the steel to the plunger and mesh with a press pot.

They DO make ceramic press pots, which would be great and fairly unbreakable. There is one here on Amazon.

I've had many coffee makers over the years, both brand and style. I currently have seven, but pretty much the only one I use is my 8 cup Chemex. I recommend the unbleached filters because I thought there was an off taste from the bleached ones. I use a Bonavita kettle for boiling and pouring the water.

I used to use a Bodum French press but I feel like the Chemex makes much richer coffee, but also less bitter. Also, I never got the grind right and I always had grounds in the bottom of my mug, so your mileage may vary.

I've broken a couple of Bodums over the years. I don't think their glass is very good.

Unfortunately, I don't really know any other brands.

Last time I broke the glass for a press, I shopped around for a stainless steel replacement. I thoroughly recommend steel as a material for a french press, as this one has lasted much longer than any other I've owned.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

They DO make ceramic press pots, which would be great and fairly unbreakable. There is one here on Amazon.

Oh, man. Ms. bravado and I aspire to a kitchen full of Le Creuset.

We picked up a cheap replacement from Target last night, but once the budget can accommodate an upgrade to stoneware...

I just got a nice burr grinder and aero press for my birthday. I've been geeking out about it for a while so my wife pulled the trigger.

Jeebus does it make a nice cup of coffee!

Anyone have any tips or recommendations for some good beans? I'm a relative noob.

PaladinTom wrote:

I just got a nice burr grinder and aero press for my birthday. I've been geeking out about it for a while so my wife pulled the trigger.

Jeebus does it make a nice cup of coffee!

Anyone have any tips or recommendations for some good beans? I'm a relative noob.

Nice! stumptowncoffee.com has great coffee making guides and you can order beans from there too. Definitely check their aero press guide. It's the gold standard in my opinion. At least try a $15-$20 bag one time so you will forever know what you're missing when you buy "meh" coffee.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

I just got a nice burr grinder and aero press for my birthday. I've been geeking out about it for a while so my wife pulled the trigger.

Jeebus does it make a nice cup of coffee!

Anyone have any tips or recommendations for some good beans? I'm a relative noob.

Nice! stumptowncoffee.com has great coffee making guides and you can order beans from there too. Definitely check their aero press guide. It's the gold standard in my opinion. At least try a $15-$20 bag one time so you will forever know what you're missing when you buy "meh" coffee. :)

I... didn't know there was more than one way to use an aeropress. I'm going to have to try that this weekend.

Most people seem to swear by the inverted method so that you can steep the coffee.

Inverted method is absolutely best. Also, while I absolutely love Stumptown coffee, Madcap coffee is my current favorite.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

There is one here on Amazon.

I'm moving soon and the prospect of going all yuppie with a slow Le Creuset full conversion is now far more tempting.

Le Creuset is awesome.

complexmath wrote:

Le Creuset is awesome.

But what color!?!?!?!?!

If you ask them they'll tell you the red, because it's their exclusive color or whatever. We have blue though.