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- #21
One of the things that most delights me is when I find something so simple and inexpensive that is superior to its overpriced, overhyped competitors. This happens sometimes in shaving (Proraso, KMF, Col Conk, etc.) but also in coffee. The filter cone is one of these.
While I love my French Press, I don't use it for every day consumption. In the morning before work, I want a quick, simple, clean (and of course, great tasting) cup. For a while I thought the Aeropress was the solution, but that has fallen out of favor with me. You'll have to wait until the next installment of this thread to hear the details on that, however.
The filter cone is simplicity itself. You can take a look at some of them here, but you'll have to scroll down a bit to the filtercone holder pictures. It is simply a plastic or porcelain filter holder that sits over your mug or other receptacle. I paid less than 10 bucks for the filter cone and a box of quality paper filters, and this arrangement blows the doors off drip coffee makers costing 10X as much. Why is this?
There are two problems with automatic drip brewers that doom them to mediocrity. First, 99% of them cannot get the water to a high enough temperature (~200F) for correct extraction. There are a couple that will, but they tend to be very expensive. Second, the drip brewers generally do a lousy job of evenly saturating the coffee grounds. Both these issues are trivially eliminated by manually pouring over the filter. Here is how it works:
Stick the filter holder over your mug and put a paper filter in there. I use the Filtropa brand, which are much sturdier than the lousy Melitta ones you will find in the store. Give the paper filter in the holder a good rinse with hot water to get any papery taste out. Add in your ground coffee (I use one standard scoop of beans per 4 ounces of water, but you'll have to experiment). You want the whole extraction to take 3-4 minutes, so the fineness of the grind will be a variable. Once your water is the right temperature (I let it come to a bare boil, then remove from the heat while I grind the beans), evenly saturate the grounds with water, then stop while it filters through. Once that is done, continue to add the rest of the water such that the grounds stay submerged until the end. That's it - just discard the filter and grounds and enjoy the cup. You can play with stirring as well, but I don't think it makes much difference.
The result is a very clean cup (from the paper filter) that really lets the varietal character of the bean show through. It really does a wonderful job at producing an excellent cup, and I can highly recommend it. The only downside is you have to stand there over it for a few minutes, but this is a small price to pay. This arrangement would work very well for travel also.
While I love my French Press, I don't use it for every day consumption. In the morning before work, I want a quick, simple, clean (and of course, great tasting) cup. For a while I thought the Aeropress was the solution, but that has fallen out of favor with me. You'll have to wait until the next installment of this thread to hear the details on that, however.
The filter cone is simplicity itself. You can take a look at some of them here, but you'll have to scroll down a bit to the filtercone holder pictures. It is simply a plastic or porcelain filter holder that sits over your mug or other receptacle. I paid less than 10 bucks for the filter cone and a box of quality paper filters, and this arrangement blows the doors off drip coffee makers costing 10X as much. Why is this?
There are two problems with automatic drip brewers that doom them to mediocrity. First, 99% of them cannot get the water to a high enough temperature (~200F) for correct extraction. There are a couple that will, but they tend to be very expensive. Second, the drip brewers generally do a lousy job of evenly saturating the coffee grounds. Both these issues are trivially eliminated by manually pouring over the filter. Here is how it works:
Stick the filter holder over your mug and put a paper filter in there. I use the Filtropa brand, which are much sturdier than the lousy Melitta ones you will find in the store. Give the paper filter in the holder a good rinse with hot water to get any papery taste out. Add in your ground coffee (I use one standard scoop of beans per 4 ounces of water, but you'll have to experiment). You want the whole extraction to take 3-4 minutes, so the fineness of the grind will be a variable. Once your water is the right temperature (I let it come to a bare boil, then remove from the heat while I grind the beans), evenly saturate the grounds with water, then stop while it filters through. Once that is done, continue to add the rest of the water such that the grounds stay submerged until the end. That's it - just discard the filter and grounds and enjoy the cup. You can play with stirring as well, but I don't think it makes much difference.
The result is a very clean cup (from the paper filter) that really lets the varietal character of the bean show through. It really does a wonderful job at producing an excellent cup, and I can highly recommend it. The only downside is you have to stand there over it for a few minutes, but this is a small price to pay. This arrangement would work very well for travel also.
