Bonkers for Boneco?

Bonkers for Boneco you ask? Nope, more than likely you are asking yourself what is a Boneco that I should go bonkers for.  The Boneco is a unique compact self contained pout over coffee system. All you need is hot water and some ground coffee - the Boneco will do the rest.  The unit was new in the box sitting on the shelf at the local thrift shop asking that I part with only one dollar for the privilege of taking it home and making what must be considered coffee.  It most certainly will make coffee, but does it make good coffee, coffee so good you will want to toss out anything else that makes coffee?  We will see.

 

Before making coffee with this gem, a few words about the design and construction deserve mentioning.  The first thing I noticed is the quality cardstock packaging with color print on all visible surfaces - a sure sign of quality.  Next, the instructions are pictorial so anyone in the world can read them - a sign of international quality.  Now I consider myself to be a sharp tack so the instructions seem redundant considering the box photo shows how to assemble the three pieces needed to make coffee.

The cup is made from glass attached to a plastic base and handle. The handle does not attach at the top of the loop to the glass so a bit of wobble is felt when holding the cup. This is less a problem with apple juice but 190 degree F coffee demands more confidence from the container than the Boneco cup can deliver.  The upper brewing chamber is plastic mostly, as is the lid.  The filter, however, is a quality fine steel mesh.  Included is a small plastic spoon that stores in a loop built in to the side of the brewing chamber - how handy.

The one item missing from the instructions is a recipe so i had to wing it.  The glass (wobbly, remember?) can confidently hold only 5 fl oz of water.  For this amount of water about 8 grams of ground coffee should be about right. These amounts give us the gold cup ratio of  1.7 grams per ounce of hot water.  If this is good enough for the SCAA then it is good enough for me - question is, is it good enough for the Boneco?  Yep, it works out about right.  I could tighten up the grind a bit to slow the drain through since the silt layer in the bottom of my cup is minimal.  The coffee is not super strong so maybe going to 10 grams next time might work better too.  All in all it is not a bad product since it delivers portability and performance for brewing coffee on the go.  Am I bonkers for Boneco? I wouldn't go that far, but for a buck it is a good value.

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