Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsReplaced Plastic With Porcelain
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2019
Porcelain is a big improvement over plastic as a material for the Melita Cone Brewer. Plastic instantly absorbs coffee odor and it cannot be removed. Over time the odor becomes rancid and the plastic cone must be replaced. Porcelain does not absorb any coffee odor (or stain) and is a breeze to clean. However, the porcelain brewer is heavier than the plastic, and we assume it can break.
We bought two of the porcelain cone brewers. Only one of us drinks coffee, but with frequent guests, two brewers makes for improved hospitality. For dinners we would like to have 2 more, but storage space is an issue.
The porcelain is more rugged than we imagined, and should last a long time. One of the cone brewers has a small crack on the outside, vertically oriented on the "web" between the cone and the cup cover. It looks to be a shrinkage crack manufacturing issue. It has become a bit more obvious as coffee has faintly stained the crack. The crack has not grown and appears to be completely superficial.
When I bought these I had in mind that I would expect to replace them much like I have to replace porcelain cups and dinnerware--every few years or so. If we washed them in the dishwasher that might be true, but these are so easy to clean by hand they never see the dishwasher and they look like they will last many years, even with the tiny crack.
For those who have no experience with the Melita Coffee Maker System, a paper cone filter (size #2 or #4) is placed in the brewer and the appropriate amount of coffee is placed in the filter. Hot water is poured over the coffee and brewed, filtered coffee descends through a small hole into a cup, mug, or small pitcher of your choice. The filter "size" idea it the number of "cups" expected to be brewed. I suppose when Melita invented it all of that made more sense. After all Coffee cups back then held about 5 oz (6 oz to the top). Now we have mugs that hold 16 oz. In addition there or so many "grinds" and "roasts" that anyone can be confused. Too fine a grind and the particles will clog the filter. Too course a grind means flavor is reduced and coffee is wasted. We find a grind between medium and fine works well and we always use #2 size filters made by Melita, folding the "seams" over. An 8 oz. cup requires 2 level tablespoons of coffee (one measure). Filling the cone once with hot water fills the cup, but note that slowly pouring the hot water in slowly can lead to over filling the cup. If the cup is 12 oz, use 3 level tablespoons and fill the cone 1 1/2 times.
We get consistently great coffee from the Melita system.
