Archive for April, 2005

Posted on April 11, 2005 - by deCadmus

Review: The Zojirushi Fresh Brew

I’ve spent the last week getting to know the Zojirushi Fresh Brew… and for the most part, I’m quite pleased. It has some foibles [which I'll get to in a moment] but on the whole it’s a very capable coffee brewer. More, it’s one of the very few home models I know that can brew 8 cups of just-roasted coffee at a proper 2 tablespoons per cup ratio without fuss, and — this is important! — maintain proper brewing temperatures throughout the entire brew cycle.

The details…

Zoji has been making vacuum pots and the like for nearly 100 years, and they’ve been making an assortment of rice-cookers, tea brewers and hot water dispensers for decades. While this is, I believe, their first home coffee brewer, they’ve got more than a little experience in kitchen electrics. They’ve put that experience to good use.

If you’ve ever brewed up a thermos full of coffee using a big Melitta filter cone then this setup will look pretty familiar. For all intents and purposes, the Fresh Brew simply adds an automated hot water delivery system to the mix… with a few improvements.

Improvement number one: not only does this system brew into an all-stainless thermal carafe [no hot plate here, thankyouverymuch] but it also insulates the brew basket. What good is it, after all, to heat up all that water if it’s just going to get cold while you’re brewing? This is huge! This is important! This is… well, I’m excited about it, okay?

Improvement number two: the Fresh Brew features an accurate gauge of water volume. When it reads that you’ve got 8 cups of water in the brewer’s reservoir, it means it. Mind you, we’re talking 6 oz. cups of water — that’s the way the coffee world measures a cup [unless you're Bodum and then it's 4 oz.].

Improvement number three: the Fresh Brew is patient. The biggest pain about the manual pour-over method is that you’ve got to wait to add more water, especially if the coffee is really fresh. Fresh coffee blooms with its charge of CO2! Faced with a full basket of coffee that was literally fresh from the roaster the Zoji didn’t overflow, nor did it heave grounds into the water dispensing shower-head. More, the grounds were thoroughly saturated; no dry spots.

So where’s the foibles?

Like a great many autodrip brewers the feeder tube that comes from the Zoji’s heating element to the shower-head takes a straight path right through the water reservoir. For most brewers this is a game-over situation… the heating element simply can’t overcome the heat exchange that occurs en route to the brew-head. On the Zoji, the heating element *does* get hot enough… provided that the water you’ve placed in the reservoir is not too cold.

Example A: In the office using the “unchilled” spigot on the water cooler, I draw off 48 ounces of water for the reservoir and brew a pot. Throughout the brew cycle water temperatures in the brew basket range between 195 and 200 degrees F. The result is a lovely pot of Ethiopian Yrgacheffe that is sweet, floral and lemony.

Example B: At home I draw off 48 ounces of water from the water filter in-line with the refridgerator. The temperature of the water in the reservoir is about 40 degrees F. and the resulting temperature in the brew basket never tops 185 degrees F. The result is an icky pot of the very same Yrgacheffe that is bitter, murky and flat.

The moral: mind your initial water temperature and you’ll do just fine.

All in all, the Zojirushi Fresh Brew is capable of making 8 cups of coffee that’s on a par with manual pourover methods. Better, really, as it insulates the brew-basket to better maintain water temperatures.

Recommended.

The Zoji Fresh Brew was recently spotted on sale at Amazon.com for $49.99.

Posted on April 11, 2005 - by deCadmus

Tasting: Organic Galapagos

• Rating: Rating:

The most intriguing coffee I’ve tasted this week is courtesy of Bernie Digman, roaster/owner of Milagro Coffee y Espresso in Las Cruces, NM. The coffee… an organic bean from the Galapagos Islands.

Yes, those Galapagos Islands… the archipelago in the middle of the Pacific, 600 miles from anywhere, made famous by Mr. Darwin and a curious collection of creatures found nowhere else on earth. Fittingly enough, the flavor profile of this coffee does much to kindle one’s thoughts on the origin of species… or at least the origins of this particular cup. (more…)

Posted on April 5, 2005 - by deCadmus

Starbucks Delocator

Just in time for all the SCAA-goers who’ll soon be thronging the many independent coffee houses of Seattle, the Starbucks Delocator! Enter a ZIP and the delocator will provide a list of nearby user-entered, independent [read, non-corporate] coffee houses. The idea:

Cafés are vital social outposts that have historically provided subjective, social, local, and at times, irrational interaction, inspiration, and nourishment to artists, hipsters, musicians, activists, intellectuals, radicals, and others alike. Currently, independently owned cafés around the world are under aggressive attack; and their numbers have been sharply decreasing for many years. delocator.net is a means to preserve these local businesses.

In my own experience, most every independently owned café worth its weight in beans is more than capable of fending off the aggressive attack of corporate coffee shops… but it’ll be handy to have a locator just the same.

I’ve just finished adding a few local shops, in case you’re wondering where to find a cappuccino in the green mountains of Vermont.

Posted on April 5, 2005 - by deCadmus

So Many Brewers, So Little Time

So you’ve found your way out of the labyrinth of canned coffee at the megamart. You’ve discovered a roaster in your home-town —or maybe one on the web— that roasts with the care of a craftsman and the inspiration of a Renaissance painter. You order whole bean coffee and grind just before brewing… in a 10 year-old auto-drip brewer?

Stop. Back away from that ancient coffee-maker…

Times have changed. Brewing tech has changed too, right? Well, not so much as you might hope. There are far, far too few brewers that brew hot enough, or offer brew baskets large enough for reasonable coffee ratios and turbulence during the brew cycle. And what’s with the hurry? It takes time —about four minutes— to extract all the goodness from those artisanally-prepared beans.

All is not lost! There are brewers on the market that can live up to your highest expectations, and deliver coffee-house aroma and taste and body and brightness… I know there are. There have to be. Somewhere.

Stay tuned.

Posted on April 1, 2005 - by deCadmus

Espresso Porn

For Friday, a selection of espresso porn.

• The case for single origin espresso, from malachi @ Stumptown
• Too many tampers, gallery @ Reg Barber’s
• The naked portafilter, discussion @ CoffeeGeek
• The naked portafilter II, photos @ coffeelinkcentral
• The naked portafilter III, get your own @ Home-Espresso.