I love coffee. For the past year, I've been immersed in the technical and chemical artistry (and it truly is) of home roasting my own coffee and perfecting the brewing process to take advantage of total control and total freshness. Up to now, I've made my single cups using a thermostatically controlled water kettle and a cone drip device which allows me to control the "steep" time of the water at the proper temperature. But what to do when guests come over?
The overwhelming consensus is that the TechniVorm (TV) is the Rolls Royce of batch coffee makers. I got one as a gift and I agree.
We all know that cheap coffee makers cannot supply brewing temperature water at the desired 203F. My Mr. Coffee, for example, was 169F at the brewhead. More on this in a minute.
The coffee maker comes assembled and requires only that the brewhead wand, filter basket and covers be installed. The water chamber is clear plastic with cup level markings on the side. I have not measured the "cup" volumes yet but I suspect they are consistent with a 6 oz. cup size. The coffee measure with the TV is said to make two cups per scoop, which is fairly accurate as a starting point. The filter basket, basket cover and water chamber cover are black plastic. The brewhead wand is stainless steel.
The TV is simple enough to use. Placing the filter basket on a plastic support is a no-brainer except that it helps to notice that the handle should go in front facing you, not to either side. This is because the basket is wedge shaped at the bottom to accommodate the #4 cone filters used, and the brewhead wand is designed to distribute water along the length of the bottom wedge. There are nine holes in the brewhead which distribute water effectively onto the coffee.
Taking a closer look at the TV, it is obvious that one of the reasons it achieves the proper high brewing temperature is that the siphon from the heating chamber passes through an outer plastic tube which effectively insulates the heated water from the cold unheated water in the water chamber. This is the main design flaw with cheaper coffee makers. The TV also has two heating coils rather than one to help maintain a high enough water temperature.
Additional control is provided with a three-position switch on the side of the filter basket. The positions are full flow (although the hole is quite small), partial flow and closed. My brewing so far has been to leave the switch open, as I'm brewing 10-cup batches and use a rather fine grind which extends the drip time. I have not yet made 2-cup batches, but I will plan to close the switch completely to enable a 4-minute steep time before releasing the coffee into the carafe. Note that the grind is a major variable here since fine grind will slow the water considerably over a coarser grind. I use a burr grinder which can be controlled easily. If you use a blade grinder, plan on a very fine grind and longer brew times.
Since I use home roasted coffee, my coffee is extremely fresh after a customary 4-day rest period. Very fresh coffee will give off CO2 which causes some foaming on the surface. This could be a problem if you are brewing 10-cup batches with a full filter and you restrict the flow with the second position on the filter basket switch, so beware. Commercial coffee, especially pre-ground, will not usually foam as it has already begun to stale. I would recommend brewing with the filter basket cover removed until you get a feel for how the water flows through your coffee. Overflow is certainly possible but not likely with the switch fully open, and my 10-cup batches with very fresh coffee came only to 1/2" of the top of the filter basket. If you get an overflow, then, you either have ground the coffee too finely and/or you are using filters that are too restrictive. I use Filtropia and Melitta, preferring the former.
The power is controlled by a single switch. The light on the switch stays on following brewing, but the coils shut off automatically at the end of a brewing cycle and the brew light goes out. There is no timer, which is often a complaint if you're too lazy to grind and brew when you wake up. I always grind fresh and brew with fresh water and it takes only 60 seconds to fill the chamber, grind a couple of scoops of coffee and press the button. I prefer this to having a chamber full of stale water overnight.
The stainless steel carafe is a vacuum carafe and is perhaps the weakest link. I cannot imagine using a glass carafe with this machine, as coffee temperature is the whole purpose of the design, and an uninsulated glass carafe is good only to keep the coffee from spilling on the counter! This carafe keeps coffee hot for hours. Pouring is the only issue I might have here. The pour lip has no dimple and if you pour with the screw-in lid, it can spread a bit along the lip and cause some spilling. On the other hand, if you loosen the lid, turn it to the proper 1/4 positions and pour slowly, the coffee comes out leaving a nice ring of fresh-coffee bubbles inside the rim of the cup. This may well have been intended, as everything else on this device is well engineered. Just don't get in a real hurry to pour with the lid on. You can, of course remove the lid to pour.
Overall, the best of the best with the vacuum carafe.
