Ok guys, heres the deal.
I did some googling, and a bit of searching here (I really don't get the search function on this site...)
and I feel like this is an issue that has recieved little attention!
Right now I have a plastic #2 melitta dripper that I conveniently found in my house exactly when I started getting in to coffee. Since then I've gotten a pourover kettle, a few cheap burr grinders (one hand crank and two electric) a vintage chemex and a few other miscellaneous coffee items in my thrifting/fleamarketing.
The only thing I haven't "upgraded" is the melitta dripper. I'll probably end up getting a variety of drippers in the future anyway, but while pricing drippers, and thinking which one I'd like to "upgrade" to first, I had a serious thought.
Besides the obvious pro's and con's of plastic vs ceramic, is there any real difference in your cup when using a plastic dripper vs. a ceramic one?
Obvious pros and cons (IMO)
Ceramic:
Better heat retention
More aesthetically pleasing
More fragile
-But provided you don't drop it, it shouldn't crack or warp from long time exposure to the heat of brewing
more costly
Plastic:
Way cheaper
less aesthetically pleasing/feels light and cheap in your hands
little to no heat retention
could crack or warp from extended use
Considering I don't have a ceramic dripper to compare to, these are what I consider the glaring differences between the two
But, as you can see, outside of cost and looks, the only factor that I can see that has any effect on your cup, is the heat retention, which, if your water is hot enough, shouldn't be that big of a deal in the brew, no? (might effect the temp of your cup though.)
So, if this is the case, whats to stop anyone, outside of aesthetics, from buying plastic drippers when they can to save money.
I was hoping someone could chime in, to make sense of why ceramic is really any better then plastic.
Thanks fellow coffee enthusiasts!
I did some googling, and a bit of searching here (I really don't get the search function on this site...)
and I feel like this is an issue that has recieved little attention!
Right now I have a plastic #2 melitta dripper that I conveniently found in my house exactly when I started getting in to coffee. Since then I've gotten a pourover kettle, a few cheap burr grinders (one hand crank and two electric) a vintage chemex and a few other miscellaneous coffee items in my thrifting/fleamarketing.
The only thing I haven't "upgraded" is the melitta dripper. I'll probably end up getting a variety of drippers in the future anyway, but while pricing drippers, and thinking which one I'd like to "upgrade" to first, I had a serious thought.
Besides the obvious pro's and con's of plastic vs ceramic, is there any real difference in your cup when using a plastic dripper vs. a ceramic one?
Obvious pros and cons (IMO)
Ceramic:
Better heat retention
More aesthetically pleasing
More fragile
-But provided you don't drop it, it shouldn't crack or warp from long time exposure to the heat of brewing
more costly
Plastic:
Way cheaper
less aesthetically pleasing/feels light and cheap in your hands
little to no heat retention
could crack or warp from extended use
Considering I don't have a ceramic dripper to compare to, these are what I consider the glaring differences between the two
But, as you can see, outside of cost and looks, the only factor that I can see that has any effect on your cup, is the heat retention, which, if your water is hot enough, shouldn't be that big of a deal in the brew, no? (might effect the temp of your cup though.)
So, if this is the case, whats to stop anyone, outside of aesthetics, from buying plastic drippers when they can to save money.
I was hoping someone could chime in, to make sense of why ceramic is really any better then plastic.
Thanks fellow coffee enthusiasts!