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Thursday, August 02, 2007
The Syphon Bar
Seems everyone is doing vac pot these days or at least giving it lip service. Getting a first read on a signed edition of a fantastic and thoughtfully written new coffee book (to be shortly reviewed) brought one thought though.
We don't know vac pot in North America. In fact, we largely have forgotten or overlooked most of the manual brew methods with the exception of the largely inferior french press method. Someone offered this thought to us recently and I dare say it has some truth, 'If you don't know your manual methods, what understanding do your really have of your automated ones?'
Scary thought that knowing a better hand pour method translates to a better drip brew.
Our own jump into vac pot (syphon) and our exploration of hand pour methods came thanks to a Taiwanese contact who helped us along with inputs and pointers on how to brew his coffees.
It led to a thought, 'let's do vac pot in the shop.'
Oh yeah, many other people have had the same thought. That thought began to morph and fade as we realized it wasn't quite as simple as throwing a bar together and offering it up. How do you keep it constant and consistent? how do you charge people given the amount of coffee and prep needed? How do you keep your staff well trained enough to prepare it correctly for each and every different coffee?
The roast. You would have to roast for vac pot and make sure the brew parameters were largely fixed so your barista would only make slight adjustments. Fix your brew parameters and alter your roast profile to fit. Strange concept but darned if we hadn't heard the same thought before from our Taiwanese friend.
So here's a bit of advice before anyone goes out and buys a case of vac pots and a halogen setup, learn more about it. The Japanese are having true culinary competitions while we still noodle around with it not quite understanding the physics. It may be the hip thing to do vac pot but a little research and thought may be in order before burning yourself and your customers with a bad brew.
Vac pot has a lot of potential to bring out amazing origin flavors but it's much more technical than many of us realize. The old light it up and steam the coffee to death method just won't cut it compared to a precisely technical approach, so get to learning about your manual methods and your more automated ones will improve also.
Seems everyone is doing vac pot these days or at least giving it lip service. Getting a first read on a signed edition of a fantastic and thoughtfully written new coffee book (to be shortly reviewed) brought one thought though.
We don't know vac pot in North America. In fact, we largely have forgotten or overlooked most of the manual brew methods with the exception of the largely inferior french press method. Someone offered this thought to us recently and I dare say it has some truth, 'If you don't know your manual methods, what understanding do your really have of your automated ones?'
Scary thought that knowing a better hand pour method translates to a better drip brew.
Our own jump into vac pot (syphon) and our exploration of hand pour methods came thanks to a Taiwanese contact who helped us along with inputs and pointers on how to brew his coffees.It led to a thought, 'let's do vac pot in the shop.'
Oh yeah, many other people have had the same thought. That thought began to morph and fade as we realized it wasn't quite as simple as throwing a bar together and offering it up. How do you keep it constant and consistent? how do you charge people given the amount of coffee and prep needed? How do you keep your staff well trained enough to prepare it correctly for each and every different coffee?
The roast. You would have to roast for vac pot and make sure the brew parameters were largely fixed so your barista would only make slight adjustments. Fix your brew parameters and alter your roast profile to fit. Strange concept but darned if we hadn't heard the same thought before from our Taiwanese friend.
So here's a bit of advice before anyone goes out and buys a case of vac pots and a halogen setup, learn more about it. The Japanese are having true culinary competitions while we still noodle around with it not quite understanding the physics. It may be the hip thing to do vac pot but a little research and thought may be in order before burning yourself and your customers with a bad brew.Vac pot has a lot of potential to bring out amazing origin flavors but it's much more technical than many of us realize. The old light it up and steam the coffee to death method just won't cut it compared to a precisely technical approach, so get to learning about your manual methods and your more automated ones will improve also.
Labels: hario, syphon, vac pot, vac pot bar
¶ Jaime van Schyndel 2:32 PM
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Hi Barismoids,
Great timing for this post. I might have mentioned before that the dudes at work brought a TCA-2 back for me from Japan. I'm amusing myself by trying to actually get decent coffee out of the thing. Props to Ben C for the "how-to" video.
I have to say that I'm in full agreement about the nuances of Vac Pot brewing. Over the past few days, I have had everything from water with a hint of caramel to sour dreck. I'm quite happy with the cup that I'm drinking right now this very second. Espresso grind, although a lower dose ... perhaps 12 to 14g. Blowtorch (I don't have a butane burner) on maximum, steep 60 seconds, 10 seconds to suck through. The blend is two parts Nicaraguan Aurora Maragogype, one part Daterra Peaberry and one part Grade 2 Yirg. Slight nuttiness, a fair bit of sugar and nice, cleansing acidity. Heaps of body, but a bit of bitterness coming through. Next time, I'll cut the brew temperature 15 seconds.
Cheers,
Luca
Great timing for this post. I might have mentioned before that the dudes at work brought a TCA-2 back for me from Japan. I'm amusing myself by trying to actually get decent coffee out of the thing. Props to Ben C for the "how-to" video.
I have to say that I'm in full agreement about the nuances of Vac Pot brewing. Over the past few days, I have had everything from water with a hint of caramel to sour dreck. I'm quite happy with the cup that I'm drinking right now this very second. Espresso grind, although a lower dose ... perhaps 12 to 14g. Blowtorch (I don't have a butane burner) on maximum, steep 60 seconds, 10 seconds to suck through. The blend is two parts Nicaraguan Aurora Maragogype, one part Daterra Peaberry and one part Grade 2 Yirg. Slight nuttiness, a fair bit of sugar and nice, cleansing acidity. Heaps of body, but a bit of bitterness coming through. Next time, I'll cut the brew temperature 15 seconds.
Cheers,
Luca
Luca,
Great to see someone technical like you getting into this.
You might notice we left out dose on our suggestions because you have to experiment with it a lot... Try doubling the dose and grind at 25 past the espresso grind on a mazzer major (I think) once or twice and see what it pulls out. (closer to a somewhat fine cupping grind)
I start the draw down around 45-55sec based on aroma. Keep your nose around the top and start marking where aroma opens up. Your roast is likely different than how we roast so dose will be subject to the whims of your roast style.
What stir method are you using?
Ah, but if you only lived stateside, I'd send you a bag so we could compare notes over the phone, Ha!
Good luck and keep learning(aka suffering).
Great to see someone technical like you getting into this.
You might notice we left out dose on our suggestions because you have to experiment with it a lot... Try doubling the dose and grind at 25 past the espresso grind on a mazzer major (I think) once or twice and see what it pulls out. (closer to a somewhat fine cupping grind)
I start the draw down around 45-55sec based on aroma. Keep your nose around the top and start marking where aroma opens up. Your roast is likely different than how we roast so dose will be subject to the whims of your roast style.
What stir method are you using?
Ah, but if you only lived stateside, I'd send you a bag so we could compare notes over the phone, Ha!
Good luck and keep learning(aka suffering).
I'm so glad that you mentioned the aroma. I did notice that it changed whilst brewing and it's nice to know that I'm not a complete fruitcake for wondering if that had any relevance to anything. Maybe it's not an accident that the top chamber of the TCA-2 is shaped oh-so-vaguely like a wine glass?
It seemed to me that there were two distinct stages in aroma build-up; I got a particularly sweet aroma half-way through.
I basically did Ben's stirring thing; add, stir quickly, stir again ten seconds before taking the blowtorch away.
I think that I started about 30 notches coarser on my mini, but maybe I didn't use quite that much coffee. In any case, I get the impression that one notch on a mini is a bigger grind change than one notch on a major. It's certainly a massive grind change in comparison with one notch on a robur.
I agree that our roast profiles are probably a bit different. Do you know what Agtron your roasts tend to be? We have a Probat Colorette at work, so I could probably work it out using the Agtron tiles. Probably a relatively meaningless exercise, but it's a starting point.
Somewhere down the line, I'm sure that we'll have access to some of the same stuff. Daterra Sweet seems to be pretty ubiquitous. I'm looking forward to getting some harrar blue horse and some mountain top bin 35 at some stage down the track; if you can get any of that stuff it might be worthwhile comparing notes.
Cheers,
Luca
It seemed to me that there were two distinct stages in aroma build-up; I got a particularly sweet aroma half-way through.
I basically did Ben's stirring thing; add, stir quickly, stir again ten seconds before taking the blowtorch away.
I think that I started about 30 notches coarser on my mini, but maybe I didn't use quite that much coffee. In any case, I get the impression that one notch on a mini is a bigger grind change than one notch on a major. It's certainly a massive grind change in comparison with one notch on a robur.
I agree that our roast profiles are probably a bit different. Do you know what Agtron your roasts tend to be? We have a Probat Colorette at work, so I could probably work it out using the Agtron tiles. Probably a relatively meaningless exercise, but it's a starting point.
Somewhere down the line, I'm sure that we'll have access to some of the same stuff. Daterra Sweet seems to be pretty ubiquitous. I'm looking forward to getting some harrar blue horse and some mountain top bin 35 at some stage down the track; if you can get any of that stuff it might be worthwhile comparing notes.
Cheers,
Luca
Hey Luca,
Here are some numbers taken from Simon's book/website:
Grind setting:
1. Super Jolly = 24~26 small notches coarser than espresso grind
2. Rocky = 27~30 from "0"
Reports from Brendan and Jaime led us to believe the SJ setting worked for both mini and the major.
Directions for TCA-2:
Method I:
Dark Roast (> Full City):
Temp = 89~90.5C
Dose = 20~30g
Light Roast (< Full City):
Temp = 90.5~92C
Dose = 24~32g
1st stir = right after drop
2nd stir = @ 30sec
3rd stir = @ 55sec
note 1: temp is measured at the bottom of the syphon top.
note 2: keep the stir under 5 seconds. Stir to fully saturate the grinds but not creating a vortex. A zig-zag/cross pattern works well.
note 3: kill the flame right before the 3rd/final stir. The top won't drop down on you for another couple seconds.
Method II (aroma enhancement):
Roast: City+
Dose: 32g
Temp: 91C
- Same as method 1 but SKIP the 2nd stir @ 30sec.
- Keep the stir under 3 sec if possible
Method II will have thinner extraction compared to method I but preserves aroma. Works wonders for a certain roast style/bean.
Definition for full city is right before 2nd crack to 10 sec into 2nd.
We are roasting mostly to City+ (30~60 sec after 1st ends).
I don't know how you are utilizing your blowtorch to heat the vacpot, but we found a small change in temp will cause a large difference in the final cup. Try to find a small butane torch to keep your life easier ;-)
Enjoy and report back!
Here are some numbers taken from Simon's book/website:
Grind setting:
1. Super Jolly = 24~26 small notches coarser than espresso grind
2. Rocky = 27~30 from "0"
Reports from Brendan and Jaime led us to believe the SJ setting worked for both mini and the major.
Directions for TCA-2:
Method I:
Dark Roast (> Full City):
Temp = 89~90.5C
Dose = 20~30g
Light Roast (< Full City):
Temp = 90.5~92C
Dose = 24~32g
1st stir = right after drop
2nd stir = @ 30sec
3rd stir = @ 55sec
note 1: temp is measured at the bottom of the syphon top.
note 2: keep the stir under 5 seconds. Stir to fully saturate the grinds but not creating a vortex. A zig-zag/cross pattern works well.
note 3: kill the flame right before the 3rd/final stir. The top won't drop down on you for another couple seconds.
Method II (aroma enhancement):
Roast: City+
Dose: 32g
Temp: 91C
- Same as method 1 but SKIP the 2nd stir @ 30sec.
- Keep the stir under 3 sec if possible
Method II will have thinner extraction compared to method I but preserves aroma. Works wonders for a certain roast style/bean.
Definition for full city is right before 2nd crack to 10 sec into 2nd.
We are roasting mostly to City+ (30~60 sec after 1st ends).
I don't know how you are utilizing your blowtorch to heat the vacpot, but we found a small change in temp will cause a large difference in the final cup. Try to find a small butane torch to keep your life easier ;-)
Enjoy and report back!
Hello Ben,
Thankyou very much for going to all that trouble for me. I haven't had much time to do heaps of experimentation so far, but I did get a chance to play around with some syphon coffee at work last week. My boss dropped by and pulled out his syphon, then grabbed some Sipi Falls Bugisu that he had roasted pretty lightly ... probably around what you call city+. We brewed it at 48gm in his 3 cup Hario Moca with a brown paper filter over a little butane stove. We didn't have much control; the little thing seriously put out the BTUs and the water in the bottom chamber bubbled madly! The grind was, I think, half a number above espresso on our Ditting KF1403 (three phase ... jumps to the left every time we turn it on ;P) Steep time was about 45 seconds. This was one of the most stunning cups of vac so far, tasting distinctly like the sort of cherry flavour that you get from a cherry ripe.
Pete is roasting up some JBM and we're going to have the "First Annual Inaugural Grand World Australian Syphon Barista Coffee Championship Of The Universe" between us two this Saturday for a bit of a laugh.
I have ordered a few more appropriate butane burners; here's hoping they arrive on time.
Cheers,
Luca
Thankyou very much for going to all that trouble for me. I haven't had much time to do heaps of experimentation so far, but I did get a chance to play around with some syphon coffee at work last week. My boss dropped by and pulled out his syphon, then grabbed some Sipi Falls Bugisu that he had roasted pretty lightly ... probably around what you call city+. We brewed it at 48gm in his 3 cup Hario Moca with a brown paper filter over a little butane stove. We didn't have much control; the little thing seriously put out the BTUs and the water in the bottom chamber bubbled madly! The grind was, I think, half a number above espresso on our Ditting KF1403 (three phase ... jumps to the left every time we turn it on ;P) Steep time was about 45 seconds. This was one of the most stunning cups of vac so far, tasting distinctly like the sort of cherry flavour that you get from a cherry ripe.
Pete is roasting up some JBM and we're going to have the "First Annual Inaugural Grand World Australian Syphon Barista Coffee Championship Of The Universe" between us two this Saturday for a bit of a laugh.
I have ordered a few more appropriate butane burners; here's hoping they arrive on time.
Cheers,
Luca
Oh yeah, am I the only one that finds the cloth filter slightly disturbing in how much cleaning it seems to need? I'm storing it in a jar of water and all that, plus running it through some espresso machine detergent every few brews, but the water in the top chamber still seems to turn slightly brown. Thoughts?
Cheers,
Luca
Cheers,
Luca
Luca,
Glad you are playing with the vacpot more. Once you nail it, it's one of the most consistent and powerful way of brewing coffee. It really bring A LOT out of the coffee and the flavor is unmistakenable.
Your grind sounds a little bit fine, which might cause the unpleasant stuff gets etxtracted more than desired. Try the grind setting I sent ya. You shold be able to find a mazzer I am sure ;-)
Re: cloth filter. Try using it over paper. Not only does it allow more oil to pass thru, but it also reduce the turbulance of the water to upper chamber. Once your temperature is stablized (before mixing the grinds), you should not see any big bubbles. Those carried pockets of ultra-heated steam which is not good for even extraction. It also distrubs the coffee mound and I found that causes fuziness/bitters in the cup.
As for cleaning, I rinse the cloth filter immediate after use with hot water at least 3 times (or till water is almost clear). Then immerse/store the filter in water to prevent order absoprtion (I use a small ramminkin). If you use it frequently enough, you can keep it outside at room temp. If you use less, then put the water contrainer in the frig. For longer term storage, keep it in a ziplock bag (without the water) in the freezer. Anything you do, do not allow the filter to go dry. The repeated wet/dry cycle will make the oil bond to the filter more and shorten the lifespan. Keep it in water all the time. When it gets filthy enough (or when I start to have un-even bubbles), I just toss it and replace with a new one - they are fairly cheap. I also rince once with hotwater right before use. This routine keeps the filter pretty clean and I replace them about once per month.
Oh, please try posting these comments/replys in "the forum". I am sure the guys will appreciate your findings. Heck, siphon master Simon might even chime in from time to time for some finer tips ;-)
Ben
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Glad you are playing with the vacpot more. Once you nail it, it's one of the most consistent and powerful way of brewing coffee. It really bring A LOT out of the coffee and the flavor is unmistakenable.
Your grind sounds a little bit fine, which might cause the unpleasant stuff gets etxtracted more than desired. Try the grind setting I sent ya. You shold be able to find a mazzer I am sure ;-)
Re: cloth filter. Try using it over paper. Not only does it allow more oil to pass thru, but it also reduce the turbulance of the water to upper chamber. Once your temperature is stablized (before mixing the grinds), you should not see any big bubbles. Those carried pockets of ultra-heated steam which is not good for even extraction. It also distrubs the coffee mound and I found that causes fuziness/bitters in the cup.
As for cleaning, I rinse the cloth filter immediate after use with hot water at least 3 times (or till water is almost clear). Then immerse/store the filter in water to prevent order absoprtion (I use a small ramminkin). If you use it frequently enough, you can keep it outside at room temp. If you use less, then put the water contrainer in the frig. For longer term storage, keep it in a ziplock bag (without the water) in the freezer. Anything you do, do not allow the filter to go dry. The repeated wet/dry cycle will make the oil bond to the filter more and shorten the lifespan. Keep it in water all the time. When it gets filthy enough (or when I start to have un-even bubbles), I just toss it and replace with a new one - they are fairly cheap. I also rince once with hotwater right before use. This routine keeps the filter pretty clean and I replace them about once per month.
Oh, please try posting these comments/replys in "the forum". I am sure the guys will appreciate your findings. Heck, siphon master Simon might even chime in from time to time for some finer tips ;-)
Ben
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