The Coffee Process

IMG_0706 Today is Monday.

Today is rainy, gray, and gloomy with a 100% chance of rain for the rest of the day.

Today is back to work after a weekend out of town with family and a night full of moving furniture before we could get into bed.

And today, I can’t wait for my coffee.

I said I’d do a photo tutorial of how we make our coffee in the syphon – here it is!

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The syphon is two pieces: the bottom carafe and the top, which has the vacuum piece you can see in the carafe here.

Fill the syphon and set it over medium/high heat while you get your beans ready.

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Whether you’re using whole beans that you grind yourself or preground coffee, Nick has found the perfect ratio for us: 7 grams of coffee for each “cup” of coffee. So for our 8-cup syphon, we use 52 grams of coffee.

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As the water heats, it will travel into the top of the syphon. Once all the water has moved to the top (and you’ll hear it start to bubble and boil), turn the heat to low and stir in your coffee.

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As soon as you stir in your coffee and make sure the heat is on low, start your timer.

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Again – Nick is the expert here – but 2 minutes and 32 seconds seems to be the best time to let it brew. No more, no less.

So set the timer and let the coffee work.

Once the timer goes off, turn off the heat and move the syphon off the heat.

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This is where the fun begins!

Once the heat is no longer under the syphon, the vacuum piece starts its work and pulls the brewed coffee back into the carafe, leaving the ground in the top of the syphon.

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And it’s just fun to watch – like a science experiment in your kitchen, every morning!

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The last part is the most fun to watch.

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It’s hard to see in this picture, but the vacuum action makes the coffee bubble up right at the end as it pulls the last of it from the top.

When all the coffee is back into the carafe piece, you just take the top of the syphon off, dump the grounds/wash it out, and enjoy!

After all that fun, you have a great cup of coffee.

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We’re not professionals and we don’t know everything there is to know about coffee, but this coffee syphon makes some of the best coffee we’ve ever had.

We also have a 12-cup regular coffee pot and 2 different French Presses, but we haven’t used anything else since we got this syphon last December.

Having freshly roasted and ground beans also makes a huge difference in your coffee. Our Honduran coffee is the one exception – those beans are already ground, but it seems to be better than other preground coffee we’ve had in the past.

We usually try to buy locally roasted coffee from a few coffeeshops around town or some of our favorites from Trader Joe’s when we go to my parent’s house (their Kona and Papua New Guinea Peaberry are both delicious).

But when we can’t have those or when we run out, the best coffee we’ve found in regular grocery stores is the Eight O’Clock, and specifically, their 100% Colombian and French Roast. We usually find this at Kroger and it’s $3-5 per bag.

 

Are you a coffee drinker? What’s your favorite coffee brand/bean/flavor?

If your hot drink of choice is tea, what’s in your mug this morning?

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15 comments

  1. It is rainy and gloomy here too. :(
    I’m not a coffee drinker, and I don’t really like hot drinks. But I do like the occasional Starbucks latter with all the fixings!

  2. Wow–this is such a fun method of making coffee. Hope your Monday turns out great!

  3. I adore coffee. I have a french press, so I enjoy making my morning cup of coffee in it.
    I also love all the milky sugary coffee spin-offs :))

  4. I like a dark roast decaf black every so often at night. It has to be really dark and bitter, so I usually go for a good brand like Starbucks. It takes me well more than a month to finish a bag, anyway, so at least it’s not an expensive habit.

  5. I ♥ coffee! My favorite mug to use is my reindeer mug – it has a picture of each of Santa’s reindeer, including Rudolph. I use it year round!

  6. Wow, this is awesome! It’s cold and rainy here in Boston, too, and I was JUST thinking about getting up for some more coffee. But now I want yours! My current favorite is pumpkin spice from Green Mountain :)

  7. Oh my gosh today is the perfect fall Monday! It is also totally gloomy, cold, and rainy! I am in heaven. :D I’ve lit some of my new fall candles and am enjoying being productive and getting my day started!

    We love coffee and grind our own beans as well. We try to make sure we get coffee that is labeled fair trade. We have a few local roasters around here that make amazing coffee.

  8. I have a french press but I have never used it! I hear its so much better though. Your press looks so fancy and chic! ;)

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  10. I’ve never made a coffee from anything other than a regular drip machine. This looks so fancy and fun!

  11. Thanks for sharing your method! I am really into coffee, and this brewing method is not one that I have tried. I think I might need to add a new contraption to my arsenal of coffee-brewing paraphernalia. . .

  12. loved this post as i am going to be buying one of these. haha, loved the EXACT time of 2:32!

    • The sad thing is, that’s not a joke :) That timer is ONLY used for making coffee and is always set for 2:32!

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