The vacuum coffee pot seems like magic. I´ll have a closer look at it today and see how it functions.

This beauty is a Balanced siphon coffee maker. Also known as the royal coffee maker. It´s most commonly known as a Vacuum coffee maker. It´s got two chambers where vapor pressure and vacuum, is used to brew the coffee. Loeff of Berlin invented this machine in the 1830s. The design and composition of the machines varies. The chamber often consist of heat-resistant glass or metal. The filter can either be a glass rod or a screen made of metal, cloth paper or nylon.
The machines were generally too complex and time-consuming for everyday use, the machines were prized  for producing a clear brew and were popular until the twentieth century

A vacuum coffee maker functions the same as a siphon, where heating the water (lower) chamber first pushes the water up into the upper chamber. Then when the water is cooled it drops down to the lower chamber again.  So, again with coffee grounds added. I´ll try to explain it a bit more simply.

A modern vacuum pot

First off, you need to but grounds in the upper  chamber, then you fill the lower chamber with water. But it on heating, that will vaporize the water and it will rise to the upper chamber thru the coffee grounds. A small amount of water and vapour will remain in the lower chambers to keep the pressure up, when it´s cooled the vapor in the lower chamber will go away and gravity will start working on the topper chamber and smooth rich coffee will start to flow down into the lower chamber like magic. It´s a good practise to stir the grounds in the top chamber for one minute after you remove the heat source.

To see the balancing siphon ( a work of art in action) go have a look at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOg4gIFV_SA

The keep cup is a reusable cup designed to fit the barista standards and your taste. On their webpage choose the colours and size to fit your personality and style! When using the keep cup you will keep a perfect creama on your espresso and the ratio between espresso and milk will be correct, A reusable, self designed and environmental friendly coffee cup. Everyone should pick one up and have it in their bag at all times.

Five reasons to buy this cup today:
1.  500 billion disposable cups are manufactured globally every year, That is about 75 cups for each person on the earth annually.

2. KeepCup compared to a disposable paper cup (including coffee) reduces landfill by 92-99%.

3. It´s your colour scheme. It´s personal and it looks good.

4. KeepCups are warranted for one years. (so if you break one within a year, you get a new one)

5. Half of the plastic used in the world today is for single use items. But this cup have been tested to hold at least 1000 times.

Design and buy your keepcup today, there is also a possibility to buy a branded cup. With your personal logo or business logo.

While stumbling I found this little gem! Wish I could find it on the webpage but alas, my efforts failed.. But have a look over at www.threadless.com and look for this and other awesome t-shirts!

This must actually be one of the most well made latte art I´ve seen. It isn´t a free pour but still. It´s one impressive cup of latte. Look at more incredible designs at http://www.poshportage.com/home-espresso/coffee-recipes/27-beautiful-examples-of-latte-art

Vietnamese iced coffee, also known as Ca phe da or cafe da (Vietnamese: cà phê đá, literally “ice coffee”) is a traditional Vietnamese coffee recipe.

Vietnamese iced coffee is made with finely ground Vietnamese-grown dark roast coffee, it is brewed with a small metal french drip filter. into a cup containing sweetened condensed milk and ice.

History

Coffee came to Vietnam with the French colonists in the 19th century. Vietnam quickly became a big exporter of coffee with a lot of plantations in the central highlands. Fresh milk was originally used, but due to lack of fresh milk they started to use sweetened milk with a dark roast coffee. A lot of people belive that chicory is needed for an authentic Vietnamese iced coffee. This is incorrect, an authentic Vietnamese iced coffee is not served with chicory but will be made of brands such as Trung Nguyen or Indochine Coffee.

A french press used for brewing Vietnamese iced coffee.

What you need is:

• French press.
• Condensed milk.
• Ice.
• Glass
• Vietnamese coffee brand

1. Fill a tall glass with ice.

2. prepare 20g of ground Vietnamese coffee.

3. put 1 -3 table spoons of condensed milk into a cup.

4.Place the french press on top of the cup, fill the coffee into the french press.

5. Insert the metal press into the filter and add 20ml of boiling water. Add another 45ml once it has seeped thru.

6. Put the lid on top and wait until it is done seeping thru.

7.Remove and clean the filter.

8. stir the cup and add it to the glass with ice cubes.

Before I actually went and bought a coffee grinder (I have almost decided on one already), I figured I could do some research on coffee grinders. ( I wanted to know what to think about when buying the perfect coffee grinder, on a budget) What I have found out is that there are several different mills. I will write about the pros and cons of each. Starting with Automatic vs Manual. And then go for burr vs bladed, and I will also mention the process of pounding coffee (using a mortar and pestle) and using a roller grinder. .

I will start with automatic vs manual.

Automatic:

The easy and faster way of grinding coffee is buying an automatic mill. Where you have easy settings for the degree of milling and just plug it in and grind. For a small household that wants new ground coffee to get better coffee I would recommend an automatic mill. The only cons is that some machine can burn out easily and heat up the beans wich will in turn alter the taste of the product. And they might be a bit expensive. A fair one goes for about 100$

A top range automatic mill.

Manual mills:

First of all I just wanna say. A good old manual mill looks stunning, the pure beauty of a manual grind followed shortly after by a good cup of coffee just feels like heaven to me. I think a coffee tastes a bit better after you have truly worked for it. And I love traditions, Hopefully I can at some point in my life experience a truly traditional coffee experience. The manual machines are cheaper, and they won´t burn the beans and you won´t burn them out. And they will also look good in your kitchen.

Pure art

Second I would like to write about the different methods the mills work with, mainly blade and burr.

Burr mills:

Burr mills use two revolving abrasive elements, such as wheels or conical grinding elements, The beans are crushed or “torn” wich produces little frictional heat. The process that squeezes and crushes the beans also release the oils from the beans so it gives a richer and smoother coffee brew. These mills grind the coffee to a uniform size determined by the distance between the two abrasive surfaces. These mills produce a range of grind settings making them suitable for most brewing types. (except turkish coffee, where you would need a turkish coffee mill. These mills keep most of the aroma are quieter and have less chance of clogging the disk grinders.

Blade mills:

Beans will be chopped by blades rotating at high-speed, this is mostly used in blade grinders specially made for coffee and spices, or if you’re in a pinch in a general use home blender. This grind will not be as uniform as a burr grinder, and will often have a risk of clogging up filters.  So it´s best suited for drip coffee makers. The coffee is also warmed by the friction wich in turn will alter the taste of the final brew.

Mortar and pestle:

Find a mortar and pestle and crush the beans. This can produce a very fine grind that can be used for turkish coffee. And is a cheap method, but you have little control over the grind size.

Roller grinding:

In a roller grinder, the beans are ground between pairs of corrugated rollers. This produces the most uniform grind and with the least heat. But this is a very expensive method and is mostly used by bigger companies.

Turkish coffee

Todays look at more traditional ways of brewing coffee is Turkish coffee.
This is a traditional way that dates back to the 16 century, the coffee is brewed in an ibrik / cezve with finely grounded beans. The ibrik is usually made of cobber with a long wooden handle. But you can also find it in nonstick coated aluminum. The size of the ibrik is matched to cup sizes / large espresso cups. And is often brewed with sugar.

To make a good turiskh coffee cup. Grind the beans as fine as you can, finer then espresso.

Add approx 2 heaping tablespoons of coffee pr 4oz. And if you want to add a tablespoon of sugar, fill up with water until the neck narrows in.

Heat it up slowly If done correctly the coffee will start to foam, when the foam rises to the top of the ibrik take it off the heating source. Stir in the ibrik, and repeat this step two times.

Now you can test several things. You can either heat it up a fourth time. Or serve it as it is now, with or without the foam.

(side notes)
The traditional way of grinding coffee is crushing it with a mortar. Will be worth a shot for purists. You also got several “schools” of making turkish coffee.
Some prefer to boil the water before adding it to the ibrik, some prefer to boil the water in the ibrik before adding coffee and sugar. You are supposed to drink it when it´s very hot and with a cold glass of water by the side. And the grounds in the cup is in some cultures used as fortune telling (tasseography)

I need to test a machine like that.. A cold drip coffee. It´s essentialy dripping temperate water thru the grounds for a prolonged period.. And then you have somewhat of a concentrate of sweeter coffee without all the acidity.. Have anyone tried a machine like this out? I need to get one. It´s about 200$, but from what I´ve read it´s a good investment. Anyone wanna come over for a coold cup of coffee once I get it?