A good travel companion?

Kelsey

http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/accessories/ea98/?cpg=174NRP&link

Looks interesting, seems 'un fussy' and they certainly make claims on the lack of bitterness in the brew.... thoughts?

blanyon

Interesting design but hardly a step forward in brewing, not sure that the pressing in French press is the reason for bitterness. Try changing the coffee you use first me thinks. Brett

Koffee_Kosmo

This a video of one Can also be used as cold brew [embed=425,349] KK

beanflying

So they have reinvented the swiss gold mesh/ CCD mesh coffee maker then tried to call it NEW :-\ Not so sure about the ceramic body for travelling either? Plunger coffee done correctly is no more bitter than any other brew method. It does suffer from a loss of clarity and maybe a slight sludge in the bottom of the cup depending or the mesh and grind. Better body and bigger flavour depending on the drinkers palette can be a plus over other pourover methods. My scrub bashing/camping/4WD companion of many years was a twin walled Avanti S/Steel Plunger. These days replaced with a metal syphon or Aeropress/disc or Pourover/Kone or Atomic or .....  ;D

UNM

I bought something functionally identical at sth melb market. It was sold as a tea pot. Instructions did say it can make coffee though. Fine mesh filter bssket and everything. Filter is also easily  removable so you can stop brewing when desired.

hazbean

Interesting, especially the "soft brew" bit and claims of lack of bitterness. Slightly reminiscent of what seems to have become our standard brewing method at home, the Karlsbader. See https://picasaweb.google.com/haazbean/KarlsbaderCoffeeMaker This is basically coarse ground coffee (pretty much press level) in the filter unit which is entirely ceramic (the holes in the bottom are a slightly odd shape and seem to be very good at keeping fines low). Water comes in a the top through a distributor and seeps through the grinds into the pot below. There is no stirring at all. With grind level adjusted to give a six to eight minute pour through time, the coffee is mellow, rich and absolutely without bitterness. IMVHO the absence of agitation has something to do with this. Somewhat to my surprise though, in terms of "singing the notes", it gives away very little (if anything) to the syphon or Chemex. Would be interesting to compare to the Softbrew unit ....

Koffee_Kosmo

This fellow Sowden was a head designer at a few coffee places And he may have had a hand in designing a lot that preceded his latest Snip from Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sowden

George J. Sowden was born in Leeds, UK in 1942. He studied architecture at Gloucestershire College of Art in the 1960s. He moved to Milano in 1970 where he started working with Ettore Sottsass and Olivetti. In 1981, he was one of the co-founders[1] of the Memphis Group, the design movement that had a significant impact on design aesthetics in the eighties. The same year he founded his design studio, SowdenDesign, and has since collaborated with numerous world famous companies, such as Olivetti, Alessi, Bodum, Guzzini, Lorenz, Rancilio, Steelcase, Swatch, Segis, Memphis, IPM , Moulinex, Telecom Italia, Tefal and Pyrex. George Sowden has received numerous awards including, in 1991, the prestigious ADI Compasso d'Oro Award for design excellence Olivetti, Fax OFX420. In 2010, Sowden developed the SoftBrew coffee brewing device

KK