Coffee Fundamentals | Acquired Coffee

Getting Started With Siphon Coffee: 7 Tips To Help Beginners Thrive

getting started with siphon coffee - tips for beginners

Looking at your new syphon coffee maker and not really sure you’re ready to use it for the first time? You’re in luck. We’ve assembled a list of seven things every beginner should know as they tackle the adventure and challenge of making siphon coffee. If you’re still looking to buy your first siphon maker, have a look at our recommendations that won’t break the bank.

You should also look at our Easy Siphon Brewing Guide, of course, but this list below covers some of the other stuff you won’t often find in guide-based articles.

Your coffee’s not going to brew itself, so let’s make sure you can really thrive as you jump into the world of siphon coffee.

French Press VS Siphon: A Coffee Showdown

There are literally hundreds of coffee makers out there, but few have reached the love and prestige of the french press and siphon brewers. These two devices are known around the world and embraced by the world’s most fanatic coffee lovers.

But despite their similar level of fame, these brewers are very different.

If you’re in the market for a new coffee brewer and are looking at these two options, don’t make a hasty decision. You need to carefully consider how the brewers function, how the coffee tastes different, and which one will best suit your lifestyle and preferences.

Siphon coffee is delicate and nuanced in taste, with a more complex brew process. French Press is quick to brew and produces a more bold and robust flavor. It’s easy to get good, consistent results with a French press, whereas siphon brewing requires more skill and time.

Lucky for you, I’m going to make this as easy as it can be.

Let’s walk through the similarities and differences together. Soon, you’ll know exactly which brewer is right for you.

How to Brew Siphon Coffee – The Easy Guide

Siphon coffee brewing has earned a fair amount of prestige in the specialty coffee world. The process is visually fascinating, the mechanics bring out the scientist in all of us, and the results are delicious.

Rich with vibrant aromas, crisp with a mild acidity, smooth with coffee oils, and without any microscopic coffee grounds, siphon coffee is some of the most prized coffee in the world.

It’s not uncommon for coffee shops to charge upwards of $8 for a mug of siphon coffee, putting it out of reach financially for many – unless you learn to brew it yourself.

What Is Siphon Coffee?

Siphon coffee, also known as vacuum coffee, is a fairly recent idea, especially if you ask the younger generations. However, those who have been reading up on this method of preparing coffee will tell you that the idea has been around for two centuries, if not longer. A walk down the archives shows us that the very first vacuum coffee maker patent was put down by someone known only as Loeff, who appears to have been a resident of the city of Berlin in Germany. This took place in the 1830’s. Despite the efforts of this individual, the very first commercial siphon coffee maker was attributed to a French woman known as Marie
Fanny Amelne Massot.

What is siphon coffee?

How To Clean a Siphon Coffee Maker

A siphon coffee maker is a beautiful work of art that lets you make delicious coffee. Maintaining with correct cleaning it is a must in order to make sure that you continue to receive the same high quality taste.

Cleaning a siphon coffee maker is fairly easy. The methods vary a little bit depending on the kind of coffee maker you have, but they are all pretty simple.

First things first, remember to switch off and remove the plug of the brewer, dry your hands, and let the container cool down.

If yours has a glass container, just rinse it with water and give the upper chamber a sponge soap scrub and you’re good to go. Run water from the bottom to the top globe through the syphon, the water will flow through cleaning it nicely. Leave it with the syphon tube in the stand that most vacuum brewers come with, and it’s done. As for the bottom chamber, a dish soap and long brush with bristles at the end, such as one for washing a bottle work best. Some people put theirs in the dishwasher too, but I wouldn’t really recommend this.