Seattle Coffee Gear Blog » coffee maker

Crew Review: Bonavita Coffee Maker

Kat — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:35:34 +0000

When folks contact us about picking up a new drip coffee maker, one of their primary concerns tends to be, ‘Is it hot?’ Bonavita’s new coffee maker definitely is, with technology that ensures an even extraction in the ideal temperature range of 195F – 205F.

Watch Gail take us through the features and functionality of this petite coffee maker, then brew up a batch to see how it tastes.

Experimenting with Cold Brew Coffee

Kat — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:16:48 +0000

Do you really need a fancy, specially-designed gadget to brew up a batch of cold coffee? Or can you just use your trusty ol’ press pot? While we carry a couple of different cold brew options (from Hario and Sowden), we wanted to see if using one of them (namely, the Sowden) produced a better, worse or similar cup to making a cold brew with a La Cafetiere french press.

So we put Allison to the test! Watch as we brew up a batch in each, using the same grind and coffee-to-water ratios, allowing them to sit over night and then giving them a taste test. We also compare how much sediment appears in the cup. So exciting!

Crew Review: Bodum Santos/Pebo Vacuum Pot

Kat — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:48:48 +0000

Rade breaks it down for us again! Fresh from his success with the stovetop, he shows us another brew method that is nothing if not simple. And it doubles as a science project!

Watch as he talks to us about how Bodum’s vacuum coffee pot works and demonstrates brewing a cup of smooth java.

Crew Reviews: Capresso Perfect Tea, H20Pro & CM200

Kat — Mon, 16 May 2011 17:18:10 +0000

We went on a Capresso testing spree last week as we tried out some new products we’re bringing in to the store.

First up, the Perfect Tea, which enables you to boil water to a specific temperature:

Next is the H20Pro Kettle, which also enables you to boil water to a specific temperature, but also provides a holding temp option and a rapid boil duration option (if you want to dissipate chlorine in your water):

Finally, the simple, straight forward CM200 drip coffee maker:

Gear Testing: Krups Coffee Makers

Kat — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:00:20 +0000

We hear a lot about Krups coffee makers from customers who love them, so we decided to bring in three popular models for a test drive. Watch as Gail does a first pass on the features and we compare their brewed coffee. This is our initial assessment to determine whether or not we’ll be adding them to our line up — jury’s still out!

Playing with Aeropress Brew Preps

Kat — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:00:30 +0000

Look, summer is approaching. It may not feel like it in your neck of the woods (it certainly doesn’t in ours), but the calendar does not lie. And now is a great time for you to pick up your travel-friendly coffee gear and get to know it up close and personal before you’re stuck with each other in the backwoods of the Appalachia, dusty peaks of the Sierra Madre and / or the semi-rough and tender South Seas.

One of the crew’s favorite on-the-go prep methods is the ever popular Aeropress and we asked Gail to show us how she preps her java when she’s on the road. We also experimented a bit with an espresso-infused extraction we had seen last year at the US Barista Championships to see if it was good / bad / ugly. Watch and learn!

Testing a la Francaise

Kat — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:00:02 +0000

In response to a few customer requests, we performed the following tests related to french press / press pot coffee. First: Which of the insulated stainless steel press pots retain their heat the longest? Second: How does the coffee taste at different steeping intervals?

#1: Insulated Stainless Steel Temperature Testing
We took the 8 cup versions (roughly 35 oz.) of the Bodum, La Cafetiere and Frieling double-walled stainless steel presses and filled them with hot water. We then measured their start temp and checked in on them at regular intervals — 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours and 24 hours. Watch the excitement unfold:

Since you don’t actually want to keep your coffee in your press pot for hours on end (the ideal way to prepare and serve coffee this way is to pour it out right after the desired steep time has completed, either into serving cups or an insulated pitcher), arguably the most important interval in the test was the first one, right after 30 minutes. In that round, the winner was the La Cafetiere, which lost only 19.1F degrees, as opposed to the Frieling’s 21.4F and the Bodum’s 21.6F. But still, these were all pretty close so selecting any of the three models will still be a good choice.

#2: French Press Steep Test
Next, we wanted to find out how press pot coffee tasted when steeped at different durations — 4 minutes, 6 minutes or 8 minutes. We loaded up three 8 cup Bodum presses and then tasted them. Possibly a bit more scintillating than the video above — and this time with 100% more Allison!

Crew Review: The Best Little Coffee Maker

Kat — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:12:06 +0000

Our committed crew of product researchers have found a new coffee maker for us to try out. Rob & Allison introduce Gail & Kat to The Best Little Coffee Maker(tm).

Crew Review: Espro Coffee Press

Kat — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:30:00 +0000

One of our favorite coffee prep methods is press pot / French press and so we were very excited to try out Espro’s unique version of this. In addition to the usual filter screen, it has a microfilter that takes out the ‘silt’ often found in press pot coffee, leaving you with a delicious cuppa sans sludge.

Watch Gail take it for a test drive.

Crew Review: Aeropress + Coava Coffee/Able Brewing Equipment DISK

Kat — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 17:00:50 +0000

In addition to roasting some of the best coffee in the Northwest, Coava Coffee is also producing some innovative gear to enhance how you brew your coffee at home. We recently picked up their metal filter disk that they designed for use with the Aeropress and we tested it out. Watch Gail compare cups using the standard paper filters and the Coava metal filter.