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Home Coffee Brewers


emhahn

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I use the Cuisinart Grind and Brew thermal carafe machine and I love it, but it is rather loud in the mornings. 

In the rig I alternate between using a Hamilton Beach drip and a bodum.  I love the bodum for all out flavour.

I have a Cuisinart Grind and Brew, but with a glass carafe. I like it better than the French press, which never quite works for me. The Cuisinart sends a coarse grind through a wind tunnel, and it is messy, and requires a slightly larger amount of beans. But it works well every morning, and the coffee is hot, though not MacDonald's hot! I do find that I have to interrupt the sequence, and pre-wet the grind before the brewing starts. If noise was a problem, I would pre-grind the night before. Realistically, I'm to tired to do that.

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For those that have used the Yama vacuum pots, how does the end product compare with coffee from a drip machine?

Is it fragile in terms of daily use/cleaning?

Vacuum pot coffee is somewhere in between drip coffee and press pot coffee. It has more of the crucial flavor components that are contained in the coffee oils which paper filters leach out but it has less sludge and is a bit less full bodied than press pot style. Some coffees are better than others for vac pot coffee and you'll definitely have to use more ground coffee per ounce of water than you do for drip. But the results can be incredibly smooth and very satisfying. It was truly a revelation for me as I've consumed drip coffee for many years but have never been enamored of press pot coffee.

I own and use a Bodum - not as elegant as a Yama but I think they're both made of tempered glass. I actually dropped my Bodum pot on the office floor accidentally when i first opened the box and it didn't break. We have concrete slab floors with thin pad and short nap industrial carpet - that's a pretty good testament to the durability of these pots.

The vacuum pot is filtered: there is a small glass stopper or a mesh filter of some kind. I think the result is similar to a mesh filter in a well designed drip machine, except that is probably hotter.

For Bodum owners: a replacement carafe from a lab supply company, such as Fisher Scientific, should work. Mine looks exactly like a 1 litre beaker.

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I decided that I really wanted the technivorm. I put it on my birthday list. Today is my birthday and two of my kids told me that my gift will be here by Wednesday. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

What about the machine with the pods that make a single cup? My daughter was at a B&B that had this. She said the coffee was really good.

Also, when I get my new coffee pot, I really need to upgrade my coffee. I have been downgrading over the years, and I using prepaks. That won't do with my new coffee maker.

Edited by ada (log)
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What about the machine with the pods that make a single cup? My daughter was at a B&B that had this. She said the coffee was really good.

I have yet to try coffee from the Senseo or its equivalent machines. People indicate that if space is an issue and you like a quick one cup at a time they're "okay". But it's not espresso and it's not really like drip or press pot .

And you have to buy pods - puts some real limits on how fresh the coffee can be.

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I remember posting my coffee quest for a set up for the best cup of coffee in a similar thread here. For thirty years I used Melitta cone drip until I tried coffee brewed in a vacuum pot. I then set out to acquire one that I can use on my range top because I did not like those set-ups with their own lamps, they are too slow and looked too dangerous. The new vacuum pots have small openings too so you need a special brush to clean them. I want a pot that I can reach into with a sponge to clean. I got what I was looking for in e-bay with those vintage ones, Cory, Silex, Nicro, etc. Thousands of them must have been given as wedding gifts in the fifties and directly went into storage. They are just coming out now as never-used vintage items in estate sales.

Gato ming gato miao busca la vida para comer

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I decided that I really wanted the technivorm. I put it on my birthday list. Today is my birthday and two of my kids told me that my gift will be here by Wednesday. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

What about the machine with the pods that make a single cup? My daughter was at a B&B that  had this. She said the coffee was really good.

Also, when I get my new coffee pot, I really need to upgrade my coffee. I have been downgrading over the years, and I using prepaks. That won't do with my new coffee maker.

We usually use a Melitta drip, but we also have a Senseo for when Ms. Alex wants just a quick cup or when she's too stupefied by awakening at 6 a.m. to do anything more than slap a pod in a machine and push a button. She's also less fussy about her coffee than I am; I've found that only the dark roast pods produce anything close to potable. Then, as Owen mentioned, there's the freshness issue.

Here's a separate Senseo thread.

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I got my vacuum pot in 1971 as an engagement gift. It looks just like the one in Phaelon's ID photo. It's a Bodum. Red handle. Now I have to look for it. I hope I still have it.

The coffee pot my daughter liked so much at the B&B with the pods is Kreuger (or something like that).

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  • 4 weeks later...
Hmmmm, I was all set to get a Yama since I want to try a vac pot and its price is right -- but, sigh -- our morning cups hold more than 10 ozs. each. Shall I go to smaller cups or ...

I have the smaller of the two sizes of Bodum vac pot and it makes 25 oz as the maximum batch size. It should be perfect for two 10 oz mugs unless you drink two mugs each - i nwhich case the larger size should work just fine.

I like the results of my manual Bodum better than the electric version but the Black & Decker VB100 is said to correct these issues. And it's a ten cupper - meaning 60 oz max batch size. Should be just right is you both drink two 10 oz mugs.

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I love Chemex for coffee so much I've been through half a dozen! :rolleyes::rolleyes::blink::rolleyes: They not only make very good coffee, they're a work of art.

When I make just 1 cup for myself, though, Bodum makes a pretty decent brew.

"Half of cooking is thinking about cooking." ---Michael Roberts

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