Coffee Maker Question

[mikeycook]

When my wife were in Washington, D.C. earlier this year, we ate at an upscale Chinese restaurant called Mr. K's (I know there is also one in New York, my hometown). When dessert came, the waiting brought a device that was essentially two glass balls that stack on top of each other (with a tube connecting them) and sit over an open flame. The water is put into the lower glass ball, the coffee in the top. When the flame is put under the lower ball, the water heats and rises into the top chamber, brewing the coffee. Once all the water is in the top ball, the open flame is taken away and the water drains back into the bottom ball as coffee (with the grounds remaining in the top ball).

Can anyone tell me what this device is called and where I might buy one? It made one of the best cups of coffee I have ever had (and it would be fun to use at home).

[theakston]

Sounds like a "vacpot" like the Bodum Santos:

pictured here

[carswell]

It's a vacuum brewer, aka a vacpot. See Coffeekid's vacpot page. They're widely available at coffee specialty stores and even from amazon.com. Bodum makes a pretty good one, the Santos. There's even an all-electric version, the eSantos, that Starbucks has rebranded as the Utopia.

edit: *$s doesn't have a apostrophe

Edited July 23, 2004 by carswell (log)

[Mayhaw Man]

I bought a Santos. They make great coffee and are really fun to make coffee in. Impress your friends and neighbors! Be the first on your block!

Somewhere around here Owen has a series of very cool photos of one of these things in action, but it must be buried in an unrelated thread (he is a notorious off topic poster ). Perhaps he will check in later and link to them.. They were great photos.

I love mine and highly reccomend it.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Similar method, but different lay-out, I always wanted a Cafetino model.

[mikeycook]

Thanks, everyone, for the quick response. That's it all right. In fact, I am pretty sure the one they used was this Santos. I am definitely going to look into buying one.

Thanks. :-)

[andiesenji]

Everyone seemed to have one of these back in the 40s and 50s. They even had them in restaurants.

Silex was the brand of choice but they were made by several other companies.

Then the electric percolator came along and they seemed to go out of fashion.

I still have the bottom part of a stainless steel one made by Nicro, Model 510. The top vanished a long time ago but the bottom part has been in constant use for at least 40 years. I still have the little hot plate base that is cupped to fit the bottom of the pot and won't fit anything else.

[phaelon56]

I bought a Santos....

Somewhere around here Owen has a series of very cool photos of one of these things in action, but it must be buried in an unrelated thread (he is a notorious off topic poster ).

I think Mayhaw Man might have been inspired to buy his pot (vacuum that is)based on this thread

Vacuum Pot Brewing, It's cool... is it better?

I think notorious is a bit extreme I was thinking "devlishly handsome and erudite off-topic poster" would be a better fit.