Thursday, January 22, 2009

A fine cup of coffee


Ever the romantics, Trillian told me specifically what she wanted for Christmas. When I ordered her gift, I picked out something for myself and told her what she got for me. But frankly, it would be hard for us to go wrong when we're ordering from Sweet Maria's.

Trillian had been eying vacuum coffee brewers for a while. She decided on the Yama 8-cup, stove-top model.

On first reading the process of vacuum brewing, it can be a bit intimidating. For me, anything made of glass that could shatter immediately sends a number of nightmare scenarios running through my brain. But now that I've been roasting our coffee for a while though, I'm a little braver and willing to jump into new things.

The process is sort of fun to watch. The basics:
  1. Put filter into top section. Add ground coffee on top.
  2. Add water to bottom. (If it's pre-heated, the rest goes faster.)
  3. Fit the top part into the bottom so that a seal is created.
  4. Place on low flame. Wait until nearly all the water goes into the upper chamber.
  5. Let brew for a minute or so.
  6. Remove from heat and wait until the coffee funnels back into the bottom.
Then enjoy an amazing cup of coffee.

The directions point out that this coffee is likely to be a bit different from what one is accustomed to. It is 'cleaner,' in that there truly are no grounds left in it. The mouth-feel is soft and smooth, very pure.

This is the way we like to end our evenings now, with a pot of delicious decaf. Excuse me while I go pour another cup.

3 comments:

karengreeners said...

How have I never heard of these things? Think I just figured out what to get the huz for our anniversary!

Aliki2006 said...

I've never heard of that! I switched to French press coffee-making a few months ago and love the taste, but now I'm suitably intrigued by that method.

Mouse said...

We'd seen them before, but didn't take a good look until we started roasting our own coffee and were poking around the Sweet Maria's site more.

Our 8-cup maker provides 2 generous cups a person. We could probably manage with a 5-cup, but wanted the bigger one for when we have people over, even as rare as that is.