Siphon brew

So my coffee siphon has been collecting dust for the last six months or so but last night I thought I'd bring it back out for swing at the Ethiopia Kochere from Madcap. I really enjoy using the siphon it's just that the cleanup is such a pain that I get tired of using it really quickly. I also really like it because with the three cup version that I have there's no waste. Design wise, I very much appreciate the concept of the coffee siphon. Water boils in the lower globe and the expanding air pushes it up into the upper vessel. The coffee is brewed in the upper vessel for a short amount of time and then the heat source is removed. The cooling of the lower chamber creates a vacuum which then pulls the coffee back down into the bottom leaving the grinds in the top and results in a nice clean cup of coffee.

 

With this coffee I went ahead and ground 13g at a setting of one and a half turns from zero on my Lido for 2 cups of coffee as designated in the lower vessel of the siphon. There are different ways to brew in a siphon but for this cup I let the water fully enter the upper chamber, adjusted the flame on my butane burner so that the water temp was right around 200F and then poured in the coffee. After a quick stir I allowed 45 second of brew time and then gave another quick stir right before I removed the flame. I don't actively cool the lower chamber so I just waited for the coffee to be fully pulled down and then tried the coffee. I must say it was fantastic. Surprisingly nice body, a very sweet after taste and only the slightest notes of acidity.

 

If you're keeping track at home I've now written about this coffee brewed four different ways and I've also tried it in the CCD. Here's my, surprising to me, personal opinion of my favorite brew method:

 

Siphon > Iced V60 > CCD > Solo > Espresso

 

In the future I hope to be able to run the gambit on every coffee I try.