Krups Vivo / Gusto

Equipment, technique, or just drinking the stuff

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Postby alans » Thu Nov 20, 2003 1:02 pm

What does vac pot coffee taste like, anyway?

I love vac pots, I find they get much more flavor out of the coffee, giving a much more rich full bodied cup than you can get by drip / french press. They're also fun to play with, fun to search for in junk shops, look great, are cheap and you get to do a mad scientist thing when the guests are over. And best still, all the coffee shops in Lisbon carry them, so you're just a quick (well four hours) train journey away!

And that's definatly a cool bean.

Alan
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Postby DrZeus » Thu Nov 20, 2003 1:13 pm

I'll have to buy one when I'm in Lisbon (can you believe I haven't been there yet?). And, just to give credit where it's due, the image of the bean comes from the Sweet Maria's Web site. :)
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Postby phil » Thu Nov 20, 2003 2:13 pm

Talking of vac pots, does no-one have any ideas about why my eSantos is now producing sour brews?
Last edited by phil on Thu Nov 20, 2003 2:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby DrZeus » Thu Nov 20, 2003 2:35 pm

Um...do you have a cold? ;)

Sorry, after the "salty taste" thread on SM, I couldn't resist.
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Postby alans » Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:38 pm

Never owned one but read a lot about them, I thought you were on the right track with tilt etc, I remember there was a lot on CG....

From Scott Boje's CG review:
You can fix the brew temperature problem by heating the water to about 190F before attaching the brew chamber to the top of the pot. I did this twice, and the coffee was significantly better. In fact, it was excellent.

Brew time is also a problem with this coffee maker. Regardless of whether you follow the manufacturer's recommendations, or use my 'heat first' method, the time the brew chamber is full (with hot water) is closer to two minutes than four. If you have a good grinder, you should be able to compensate with a finer grind and still get good results though.

Many people have adjusted brew time by tilting the unit and removing a seal.


Here's what I was after, Mark's "Getting the most out of your eSantos":
http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/2109
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Postby phil » Thu Nov 20, 2003 4:12 pm

Thanks Alan, I saw Mark's article but it was as you say concerned with adjusting the brew time, which is the least of my problems. I'll have a play with pre-heating the water. I think this works because when the water first starts to expand up the tube (starting from cold) it's not as hot as it needs to be - hence the cold extraction.

Funnily enough, my problems with the eSantos only started as the weather got cooler, but that seems a bit of a simplistic explanation.
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