Coffee Basics: The Vacuum Brewer

by Robert

I am old enough to remember the vacuum brewer, but I don't. My mother used an electric percolator during my childhood and then graduated to the Chemex, so I was never exposed to the vac pot. Remember high school chemistry, and how much fun the lab stuff was? That is what the vac pot reminds me of. It's a glass contraption that looks like a regular coffeepot on the bottom and a glass beaker/funnel on the top. There's a tube at the bottom of the top part that goes almost to the bottom of the bottom part.

When you watch it work you are reminded of stuff you learned in chemistry and physics that you thought you had forgotten, such as boiling water and changing it to gas, or water vapor. And how the gas takes up more space when heated and causes pressure that makes things move.

It's fun to watch and the coffee is the best. It makes coffee as good as a press pot but there is absolutely no sediment in the pot or in the cup. The coffee never touches anything but glass. There is no filter, either paper or metal, to trap flavorful oils. There is a glass filter but not what you would expect. The glass filter is a stopper with rough sides that allow the coffee, liquid only, to go down from the top to the bottom, leaving the grounds behind in the top part.

For a much better discussion of the vac pot, please go to the wonderful article by Mark Prince at INeedCoffee.com: A Vac Pot Primer

Mark is the Coffee Geek of the coffee world. His website is www.coffeekid.com. Mark is a real friend to coffee folks. I have asked his advice many times and he always is quick to answer, even my sometimes dumb questions. Visit his website and learn all about coffee and coffee equipment from an expert.