anyone have any idea what they are? no, well allow me to enlighten you dear reader.
they're a style of coffee brewer found predominantly in japan and asia. and they turn your local neighborhood coffee shop into a chemistry lab.
the idea behind it is super simple. water starts in the bottom. heat is added, in our case a pathetic little burner with denatured alcohol (what is denatured alcohol, anyway? surely the nature of alcohol is to be alcoholic. to denature it implies taking the alcohol out. but then its just water, and that doesn't burn? hmmmm....i'm confusing myself)....
the water boils and rises into another container filled with coffee grounds...
the grounds are allowed to steep for a set amount of time in the upper container. the liquid stays up there because the heat from the burner creates a vacuum....
then the burner is removed. this breaks the vacuum and allows gravity to pull the coffee through a cloth filter and back into the lower container.
coffee chemistry 1.01 simple.
now, how does it taste?
james freemon, owner of blue bottle cafe. who has a dedicated siphon bar in his store says: “Siphon coffee is very delicate,” he said. “It’s sweeter and juicier, and the flavors change as the temperature changes. Sometimes it has a texture so light it’s almost moussey.”
so did we achieve anything close to that? kinda, yeah!
FTO Ethiopian Natural Sidamo Suanta Golba, from Zephyr Green Coffee Importers.
the dry fragrance was super super sweet. loads of red fruit. ripe cherry and red grapes. the aroma was completely different. nothing but earl grey. seriously. it was like smelling a cup of tea. floral notes, bergamot and tannin.
on the first few sips there was lots of mucilage. the remnant of the coffee cherry that remains on the bean because of the way it was processed. it can taste fibrous, vegetative and kinda fermented.
after getting past the taste of the process the sidamo really came to life. clean, with a ton of red berries. under ripe sweet cherries. sweet but not super sickly sweet.
an awesome balanced body and acidity. sweet and orange citrus. the finish was smooth and clean, with the bergamot coming back and adding a nice floral end.
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