Piao - Right in the Kisser!

Once again I went thrifting and struck another vein of fools gold.  The name on this little manual drip brewer reminds me of what Jackie Gleeson or Archie Bunker used to say - I can not recall which angry stereotype to credit so I will cover my bases here - used to say when mad about something. One thing they would not be mad about is the Piao I.

I found this glass infuser with the neatest trick built in - push the button on the top part and the tea drops through the mesh filter and out the bottom hole unblocked by a simple lever that raises a stopper ball when the top button is pushed.  It reminds me a little of the CCD for the control over steep/brew time and reminds me of a press with the thermal quality and shape of the glass.  

I should mention this is a "Symbol of Excellence Winner 2002" along with numerous other awards from the now legendary 1987-1998 (not my typo if these dates seem odd) International Invention Convention "attended by countries such as Japan, the US, Germany, etc" where it won 4 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal.

With all the popularity of manual pour over coffee that something as prestigious as this product would be better known, but it is not. From what I can tell while searching the world wide web this blog is an exclusive. Maybe Maxwell House bought the idea just to bury it like the auto manufacturers did to the 100 mile to the gallon automotive vapor ware that was mentioned too often back in the 1970's.

Whatever the case may be, the Piao I might be a victim of extreme marketing but it is not a bad idea.  It works very well for so compact a device - the controlled infusion eliminates the common problem of too weak of a cup of coffee that hamper the effectiveness of little drippers. If you see one in the wild buy it - you will not regret it.