Low-tech, old wave, slow lane really good coffee
Written: May 26 '02 (Updated May 27 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Simple, non-electric, makes superlative coffee
Cons: None, unless you need your coffee waiting for you when you wake up
The Bottom Line: Carefully made drip coffee is always better than the stuff made in automatic coffee-makers, and this one is simple, inexpensive, and easy to use.
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| Penguinlady's Full Review: |
The first coffee-maker I ever bought myself was a Chemex. It was glass, with a beautiful hourglass shape and a wooden corset around the middle so you could hold it without burning your hands. You put a paper filter in the top, measured in your grounds, and carefully dripped hot water over the grounds as the fresh coffee dribbled into the bottom of the pot. It was lovely, functional, simple, and made great coffee.
Chemex had disappeared by the time my carafe broke, so I bought myself the next best thing: a single-cup plastic dripper, made by Melitta, that sat right on top of my coffee mug. I drink one cup of coffee a day, so that was all I needed.
Unless I had friends over.
That was a problem; I had no way of making more than one cup at a time. So when I saw the Melitta 6-Cup Coffee-Maker in the supermarket, I grabbed it. As far as I'm concerned, and despite the fact that my dearly beloved husband and I now use a small automatic coffee-maker, this is the only way to make really first-rate coffee.
WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT WORKS
It couldn't be simpler. There are four parts to this coffee-maker:
• a glass carafe with a plastic handle and cup-marking on the side;
• a brown plastic filter-holder with a flat bottom lined with holes;
• a brown plastic lid that fits into the top of the carafe when you remove the filter-holder; and
• a #6 filter cone.
That's all there is. Nothing to plug in, nothing to burn, no moving parts.
To make coffee, bring fresh cold water to a boil in a kettle.
While it's heating, grind yourself some good-quality beans, preferably in a burr grinder, although the most popular home models have blades. Get the best Arabica beans you can afford and don't grind them until you use them; every minute counts in freshness of taste. Use approximately one generous scoop per cup of coffee, if you like it strong, as I do.
Put a #6 paper filter into the filter-holder and tap the freshly ground coffee into it. The #6 is the size manufactured for this coffee-maker, but you can also use a #4; the only difference is that it's shorter than the filter-holder, so you have to be careful when you pour the water. But it works fine.)
When the coffee comes to a boil, turn off the heat and wait about ten seconds, or add a splash of cold water to it, to lower the temperature to 180*. (But don't cheat and turn off the heat before it comes to a boil; good coffee depends on the water having come to a full boil and then being lowered to 180*. Without the boil, the oxygen never "blooms" and you get flat coffee. And if you let it boil too long, the oxygen boils out and you get flat coffee. Most automatic coffee-makers take the shortcut and don't bring the water to a boil before dripping it, which is why most auto coffee is relatively tasteless.)
Carefully splash just enough water over the grounds to wet them all.
After that water has dripped out, carefully pour in some more. The reason I keep saying "carefully," is that if you pour in too much at once, the grounds will ride up and cling to the sides of the paper filter, and successive splashes of water won't reach them. So you'll be using only part of your grounds.
Once the pot is full, remove the filter holder and replace it with the plastic lid that comes with the coffee-maker. You're ready to pour and enjoy.
A FEW CAUTIONS
The oils in coffee start going rancid after about 15 - 20 minutes. So unless you know for sure that the coffee will be drunk immediately, don't make more than you need. It's easy to make more, and you won't have to worry about your coffee going "off."
I put my glass carafe on a heat diffuser on the lowest setting on my stove, 250 BTUs, to keep the coffee from getting cold while it's dripping. I used to keep it on the diffuser for late-rising guests until someone told me that cold coffee reheated in the microwave is tastier than coffee that's been sitting on a low flame for a long time.
The carafe is glass, so treat it with respect. It's not tempered glass or Pyrex, so it will break if you subject it to extremes of temperature. If it's got hot coffee in it, don't put it down in a puddle on the counter.
To clean mine, I slosh sudsy hot water through it after each use. About once a month, I pour some boiling water over a couple of tablespoons of baking soda and let it sit for 10 minutes to loosen any residual coffee scum. That's all the care it takes. (BTW, that same scum is on your teeth after each cup you drink, which is why I brush my teeth both before and after breakfast. And I can see the coffee residue on my toothbrush - ugh!)
We have a 4-cup auto for every-day use, a La Pavone espresso for post-dinner-party espressos and weekend lattes, and this Melitta 6-cup pot for camping and house-guest breakfasts. Melitta also makes an attractive white ceramic manual-drip model that I use when I have lots of houseguests and one pot isn't enough.
The only drawback to this coffee-maker is that it disappeared off the supermarket shelves a few years ago. It used to be for sale at my local Ralphs and Vons, as well as Cost Plus, but they all stopped carrying it a while ago. So if you break the carafe, you'll either have to find another brand that works with the filter-holder - not such a hard task - or find a new one on Ebay, as I did.
You should also know that the #6 filters sold by Melitta are considerably more expensive than any house brand you can find. I use unbleached ones that I get at Trader Joe's and pitch them, grounds and all, into the compost bin.
If you want to wake up to the aroma of fresh coffee, this pot isn't for you. But if you're willing to wait a few minutes for a wonderful cup of really fresh coffee, you can't get a better coffee-maker than this.
Recommended:
Yes
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Penguinlady
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