Monday, February 19, 2007


$90? why?

obviously i was interested in this article on home auto-drip coffee brewing. and i snickered.

why spend US$80-140 on an auto-drip brewer -- esp. one that takes 13 minutes to make a pot! -- when you can spend far less and get better coffee more quickly?

i mean, you can make perfect coffee with a clean cotton tube sock, a jug, and a kettle. i believe most homes already have the last 2, and the first can be bought anywhere for a dollar.

melitta pour-overs are what? US$12? a big chemex US$40?

the melitta doesn't do anything for your kitchen, but if style's important to you, the chemex is famously exhibited as a design icon.

i have the big chemex, and you, gentle readers, know that i can make a perfect pot of coffee in 6-8 minutes just pouring the water over myself. also, since i'm doing the pouring, i can make sure the coffee is properly saturated and brews nicely every time.

i cannot understand a world in which it's somehow seen as a convenience to wait twice a long for the coffee to brew. auto-drip or manual drip, you're still standing there waiting for coffee.

only in the manual case, you wait half the time and get a better result. this is another a-ha! moment in american consumerism -- only in the u.s.a. would you drop a large amount of cash for something that does the simplest job (pouring water) in twice the time and think it's a good thing just because it has a brand name.

in 13 mins. i can boil water, grind fresh coffee, and brew it in a chemex. if i use my bodum stovetop santos vac pot, i can brew 8 cups about a minute faster (it brews in about 5 mins. total).

and of course the cafetiére brews coffee in 4 mins. all you have to do is stir once or twice.

for the life of me, i absolutely don't understand what you get for your US$90 here. . .i say, buy a bodum, press pot, or chemex and use the extra US$50 on a basic burr grinder.

you'll definitely get better coffee then for the same price point.

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posted by fortune | 9:51 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments