Vacuum Pot Review and Directions

There are a lot of interesting ways to make coffee out there and some of them can tend to be pretty kitschy and not actually impact the coffee in a significant way.  I had heard good things about the coffee that a vacuum pot produces, but part of me was still skeptical.  The process seemed unnecessarily fragile (in terms of breaking equipment) and I was worried that the coffee wouldn't be strikingly different enough to warrant such a risk of breaking glass equipment.

Of course, this ends up being a pretty major deciding factor for a lot of coffee drinkers.  Why go through the terror of lightly knocking your French Press glass into oblivion when you could have a plexi glass or plastic Clever or Melitta for home use or camping?  The advantages are clear, but if you really enjoy the style of coffee you get from a French Press, the risk may be worth it.

That brings us to the Vacuum Pot.  Not only does it have more fragile glass to break than a French Press, but it requires a bit more careful operation to not break the glass during the actual brewing itself.  However, I have to say that there is a significant enough taste difference that the Vacuum Pot holds a valuable place in the lineage of coffee equipment.

Does this mean that you need to throw away all your previous coffee equipment and run out and purchase a Vacuum Pot?  No, not at all.  In fact I think that the coffee produced is interesting enough for someone who is really into coffee, but I would have trouble recommending it to the every day coffee drinker.  For most people, whatever method they have at home to brew coffee is good enough for them and I don't think that tasting a cup made from a Vacuum Pot will make you change your method.  But for those of us who must push coffee to its limits, the coffee made from a Vacuum Pot is noticeably different from anything else I've had.

After trying a coffee made from a Vacuum Pot, I was impressed by how easy it was to distinguish the subtle flavors of the coffee from each other.  Whereas drinking a cup made from a standard Fetco brewer or pour over can highlight certain aspects of a coffee, I found that each and every flavor was brought out individually through the Vacuum Pot.  The cup itself is very clean tasting while still having a nice heavy mouth-feel.  Some reading from Sweet Maria's recommends using a bit more coffee if you think it's "too weak" due to how clean the cup is however I really enjoyed the smooth, clean taste.  Again, I recommend the Vacuum Pot to those into coffee as more than just a morning beverage but have trouble recommending it to those who are simply looking for a new way of brewing your morning coffee.

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How to make a Vacuum Pot:
You will need:

• Your Vacuum Pot
• A heat source
• Fresh coffee
• Fresh water (filtered always recommended)
• A stir stick/spoon
• Scale (optional)

We are using a HARIO Syphon Vacuum Coffee Maker in the 3-Cup size.

1) We weigh out our water to be safe.  We use around 230 grams of water (around 8 ounces), which on our Vacuum Pot goes right up to the "2 Cup" mark.  Use hot water as to avoid a long heat up time.  A general rule of thumb is about 7-8 grams of coffee for 4 ounces of water.

2)  Grind your coffee.  For this we use around 14.5 grams of coffee.  It is always highly recommended to use a conical burr grinder to get the best results.  We decided that a medium to fine grind works well for us, however it is recommended you try different grinds to get the results you want.  You should grind as fine as you can without clogging the filter.  Place the coffee in the top piece of the Vacuum Pot, with your filter already in place.  Shake the coffee so that it falls evenly across the bottom.

3) Pour the water and place it over the heat source.  We start our Vacuum Pot at a pretty high heat while the water is heating up.  The reason for this is because once you start to get the water rising into the top chamber, it should happen relatively quickly.  

4)  Once the water starts to seep into the top chamber, lower the heat and start your timer.  Ideally steep time once the water is in the top chamber should be around one minute.  Don't worry about how many bubbles there are, this is simply vapor and not boiling water.  Also, there will always be a small amount of water left in the bottom, as it is part of the vacuum process.  It is also recommended to give your coffee a little stir at this point in order to make sure all the grounds are saturated.

5)  Once you have steeped your coffee for about a minute, remove the heat source.  After a few seconds, the temperatures will normalize and the coffee will recede back into the bottom chamber.  If this process is taking longer than 30 seconds to a minute, you should probably make your grind a little coarser.  

6) Pour and enjoy!  Most likely, the coffee will seem "weaker" than you are used to at first.  This is simply the clean tasting coffee which you get from the Vacuum Pot.  If you want a stronger taste, try experimenting with things like a finer grind or more coffee.