Field Trip: Hario USA – Edwin Demos a Halogen Bar

As magical as it is tasty, commercial grade halogen bars are configurable to brew at a flatline temperature, which is fairly unique amongst coffee brewing methods. When we visited Hario USA, Edwin Martinez showed us how this awesome machine works — and while it would be rare to use these at home (or even to see them in cafes in the US, actually), we thought the mad science + brewing tips shed some great light on making great coffee in general.

Field Trip: Hario USA – Edwin Demonstrates Pour Over Technique

In the next installment of our field trip to the Hario USA HQ in Bellingham, WA, Edwin demonstrates how to use the Hario pour overs to make a truly delicious cup of coffee.

21st Century Coffee Klatch

We can just hear it now: ‘Coffee? Anyone need some coffee? I really want to make coffee. Hey, you — coffee? Want some coffee? I can make you some. Coffee. Coffee, anyone? SOMEONE DRINK MY COFFEE.’

While Primula’s Speak n’ Brew isn’t teetering on the verge of insanity like a self-actualized toaster stuck aboard a mining ship adrift in deep space, it will offer you a little bit o’ chitchat along with your morning java. The newest kid on the coffee maker block provides some call and response, allowing you to set the time and brewing schedule by voice command and talking back to confirm your orders.

It’s a cool idea…though we can’t help but wish it was a little more flexible with its command lines: Groggily shouting ‘Coffee, hot!’ would give us that giddy feeling inherent in realizing adolescent dreams of living aboard the Star Trek Enterprise. Mm-hmm, you know the one.

Technivorm Temperature Testing

Technivorms have been hailed as the drip coffee maker, primarily because they have excellent temperature regulation and are set to extract at just the right heat to get a rich, full flavored coffee without the bitterness (burnt/overextracted) or sourness (too cold/underextracted) that you sometimes find with other coffee makers that aren’t heating up to the ideal temp.

One thing that people have asked us is how hot the coffee is after it’s brewed, and then how long it stays hot when in the thermal carafe. So this week we brewed up a pot and then tracked its temperature throughout the day, with the following results:

Ask the Experts: What’s Scale Build-Up?

We talk regularly about descaling a machine, but to what are we exactly referring? In this video, Gail shows us the dirty truth about scale build up.

Attack of the Killer Scale

Look, we’re not joking. Yes, there are a lot of things we poke fun at and crack wise about, but scale build-up in your boiler is absolutely not one of them. And it will never be — oh no, we are deadly serious about this.

Okay, not really, but scale build-up is often underestimated by folks. They think that by using filtered or bottled water, they won’t need to descale their espresso machine, and this just isn’t the truth. While these waters may have other impurities removed from them, they often have the same mineral content (and, in the case of bottled water, it may even be significantly higher, depending on the source) as your tap water. Using distilled water, water put through a reverse osmosis or a commercial-grade water design system like Cirqua are the primary methods for keeping lime and calcium from building up in your espresso machine’s boiler and related water works, but it’s important to note that mineral content in water does play an important role: It contributes to the flavor.

So if you don’t like the way the water from these treatment sources taste, how do you think it’s going to make your coffee taste? We recommend using water you like to drink to make espresso, which will often involve a regular descale to keep everything working well. Scale build-up will symptomatically show up as failure or very slow to heat up, not enough steaming pressure and/or leaking out of the steam wand and the brew head. Here in the Seattle area, we have pretty soft water, but other areas of the country have very hard water — and if you’re pulling straight from a well instead of the municipal water supply, you likely have a high mineral content.

A few months ago, we received a Rancilio Silvia V2 that was a few years old on a trade-in. The owner lived in Southern California and had never descaled the machine, so the guys put it through a commercial level descale just to start it off — high intensity citric acid was pulled into the boiler and allowed to sit overnight. When they came in the next day and rinsed it through, the machine was still exhibiting signs of scale build up, so they decided to crack it open to see if it was something more than scale. What they found is in the pictures accompanying this post — yes, this is scale build-up that was not able to be dissolved by the citric acid over a 24 hour period. The guys cleaned it out thoroughly and now it’s working just fine — and, obviously, this is representative of scale build up using the municipal supply in Southern California and will differ by region — but if the original owner had continued to use it without descaling, eventually everything would have burned out. It was caught just in time, however, so now it has a happy home somewhere else.

Not sure how to descale? Watch Gail descale a Rancilio Silvia and give tips on how to do this on other types of espresso machines.

Crew Review: Technivorm Moccamaster Thermo Coffee Brewer (KBT741)

The only drip coffee brewer recognized by the Specialty Coffee Association of America for brewing at the optimal temperature, Technivorm’s Moccamaster features an innovative shower head which delivers water more evenly across the coffee to improve flavor extraction. In this video, Gail talks about the Moccamaster’s features and brews us a cup of coffee.

Keep MacGyver Outta the Kitchen

The Australian version of the popular blog site Gizmodo features the mad cooking skillz of one MacGyver Chef in all his ‘glory.’ Now, we’re not recommending the Poached Chicken & Couscous made in a coffeemaker recipe outlined in the blog post, but it did give us a laugh.

Maybe we shouldn’t be so precious, eh? Who knows what lengths we might reach for if we were forced to cook out of a Super 8 motel room? Something tells us we’d probably just skip the chicken prep, though, and settle in for the night with a six pack instead.

New! Hourglass Cold Brew Coffee Maker

We have been waiting for this for weeks! The new Hourglass cold brew coffee maker has finally hit the shelves and we are digging it. Simple to use and probably the greenest coffee preparation available, the coffee is smooth and rich — perfect for adding hot water for a straight up cup of coffee or blending up with some ice and milk for a delicious chilled coffee drink.

Watch as Gail brews up and tastes the delicious flavor the Hourglass has to offer!

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Ah, yeah….we dig curves. Especially if they come bearing low-acidity, cool brewed coffee. Okay, they usually don’t come with that — but now they can, thanks to the Hourglass Coffee Maker.

Debuting at the International Home Housewares show this weekend in Chicago, this voluptuous little number cold brews a coffee extraction, which results in 69.6% less acidity in the java. For hot coffee, you add hot water to the extraction, or you can take the cold extraction and mix it up for an iced coffee.

We’ll be at the show and can’t wait to try it out — cool, smooth coffee never looked so good!