Filter, Espresso, French Press/Cafetiere

Here are my weapons of choice for my daily pick up, a filter machine, espresso and French press. I use the hand-pulled espresso machine (middle of the photo) the most as I adore espresso based drinks such as Cappuccino. the Flair however needs very finely ground coffee which meant me buying a far superior and therefore expensive grinder. I use this machine to test my roasts for espresso.

The filter machine (Balance Siphon Coffee Machine) on the left is a 1950's Swiss made copy of a 19th century automatic coffee machine. It uses bio-fuel to boil the water in the copper kettle. At the boiling stage the water is forced through the syphon and into the coffee in the glass, saturating the coffee. As the boiler empties it gets lighter and the counter-weight surrounding the glass lifts the boiler and so closing the cap on the bio-fuel. As the boiler cools, it draws the coffee back into itself. Mind boggling to watch and great for dinner parties. There is no paper filter to mask the taste of the coffee and it makes a great machine to test out my course ground roasts.

The French Press to the right is a little one person brewer. I used to use a 1L French Press but by the time I was ready for another cup it would be cold. Another great way to test out the course ground.

The best thing about all these machines is their potential longevity as there are no electronics to go wrong. They are also very easy to thoroughly clean, which is a must for me in testing my roasts. The little one is very cheap and the other two provide entertainment. The downside is that they are not plug & play. The Flair was such a pain to get right initially I almost switched to tea! The Siphon takes around 25 minutes but the end result is worth it.

I'll be putting up video's of the Flair and the Siphon soon, so watch this space.

All the best

Gary