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I purchased this pot recently as a bit of a "nostalgia trip." A college friend and I used to brew with a chemex pot back in the 70's proclaiming there was no coffee that tasted better. Be sure and use the chemex filters. I brew my coffee pretty strong and it is never bitter in this pot.The 1-3 cup brews just enough coffee for me, about 2 mugs.
After using every coffee pot/system imaginable through the years, including a Keurig, this is STILL the best cup of coffee I have ever had. I pour my first mug and then put the pot on the burner I used to boil the water in the tea kettle. Guess what.
The instructions say it is okay to leave the pot on a warm burner if your stove is a glass top like mine. I have now experimented with all kinds of expensive coffee and guess what tastes just divine in this pot. Yuban or Folger's 100% Columbian.
(with the burner turned off of course) I have found the burner retains just the right amount of heat to keep my second cup at perfect temperature. I really didn't think it would make that big a difference, but I found that other, even good quality cone filters tend to fall apart.
If you're not willing to pour hot water over coffee grounds, this probably isn't the system for you. It's a simple design that comes in different sizes. So I reserved the french press for my tea, and started looking at other coffee brewing systems. water to 1 T. Hot water --> plastic --> consumption is probably not good. That coffee maker now resides in the break room of an office building.I also have a french press, which makes pretty decent non-plastic coffee, but I don't like the grittiness of my frequent "cowboy" cups. This product does not plug into an outlet, has no buttons and doesn't beep when ready. Directions give a 5oz.
Chemex really highlights the blooming process in making coffee, and this is such an important step for flavor extraction.It really makes a smooth, rich cup of coffee (granted, the quality of coffee depends on the quality of beans you use--and grind immediately before brewing). You must use the Chemex filters, which are easy to fold into the required conical shape. I bought the glass lid, and please know that it DOES NOT FIT THIS SMALL MODEL. So that was out. But if you're willing to put in a little extra effort for a lot of extra flavor, read on.I had a traditional coffee maker, one that allows the grinds to sit in a cupcake filter inside a plastic container while near boiling water filters through. coffee ratio (I like my coffee a bit stronger, though).
The Aerobie Aeropress is hailed to make the perfect cup of coffee, but I ran into the heated plastic issue again. Chemex just makes sense. I have instant hot water (they recommend 200F), and find this temp works perfectly, so I don't have to heat my water in a kettle first. Cleanup is super easy--just rinse and invert to air dry.
I just received this product today and was very eager to play with it and make myself a nice cup of coffee, when lo and behold, there are no filters included in the package. It was a downer to get all excited for nothing about the new gadget. I didnt want to invest in a whole box of filters before knowing if I like this brewing method or not, and "assumed" there would be a trial pack of 3-4 filters included. My mistake for assuming that, so I am not blaming anyone. Let this serve as an alert to all of you: there are no filters included, so make sure you buy a pack when ordering. I'm now heading out for a search of mini-filters.
You can't press a button and walk away. If you prefer a more complex and richer brew as you'd get from a French press or espresso, you almost certainly won't like this coffee system since you don't get quite the full spectrum of flavor.
But the secret is the filter paper. When you first look at this coffee "machine" it's easy to dismiss it.
If you normally add sugar to your coffee to mask its bitterness, you may find you can now drink it straight. It creates coffee that's unusually smooth and non-acidic.
If you like American-style coffee, you may find this makes your perfect cup. About the only downside is that the Chemex system isn't fully automatic.
On the other hand, there is no complex mechanism to break so it's a fair tradeoff.Overall I'd give it 4.5 stars, only knocking off a half a star for having to manually pour water into the cone and wait for it to filter through.
The Chemex coffee maker achieves the same results in a more organized fashion with far superior paper filters that were specifically designed for drip brewed coffee. He took a plain piece of paper towel from a kitchen roll and laid it on the top of a regular coffee mug. Years ago a friend of mine showed me how to make the best tasting coffee. This is the easiest and best way to make coffe by far. He put a couple of spoonfuls of ordinary ground coffee in the towel and slowly poured hot water over the coffee until the mug was full. It was a delicate and somewhat messy operation, but it was the best coffee I ever tasted. The Costa Ricans use a similar method and that speaks for itself.
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