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Aug. 2nd, 2015 08:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pearwaldorfFor eruthros , who was curious about the Duo coffee steeper. I backed this on Kickstarter, and after two years it is finally here.
I'm not going to get into the specs, because they're available on the site. (Here is the Kickstarter, with a little bit more info on the guts of the thing.) A little bit of background: normally I use a Bonavita drip machine with paper filters. It's a really decent machine, but I can't say it's leaps and bounds above the Mr. Coffee I used to have before the pump died. This is the first non-drip coffee gadget I've ever owned.
I made sure the brewing chamber was locked, because otherwise it would be sad times. I tossed some coarsely ground (with a blade grinder) Blue Bottle single origin Columbia Calca Caloto into the brewing chamber and poured some filtered tap water I heated in my electric kettle. The instructions recommend poking the grounds-water mixture a bit to make sure the water permeates, so I did. I don't think this is necessary, if you pour carefully. I put on the lid and set a timer for four minutes as recommended. After said time had elapsed, I unlocked the chamber. It makes this hilarious gurgly noise as the coffee goes into the holding chamber.
My biggest concern with the Duo is that everything is stainless steel and glass, with only a rubber handhold around the neck to insulate against hot liquid. I had to use a thin washcloth before I felt comfortable picking it up. I also had to use two hands, but that just might be because I'm a weenie with no muscles in my arms. You also have to be careful when pouring, or else coffee slops over the side onto the counter. (This happened with the first cup, but once I figured this out the second cup was fine.)
The coffee it makes is quite good. The Caloto is, as most South American coffees are, a lovely floral. That came through fine when I brewed it in the Bonavita, but with the Duo, that's emphasized even more, to the point where it's a little herbacious (but in a pleasant way). Because the Duo uses a metal mesh filter, all that lovely coffee oil stays in your cup instead of filtered out:
The intense flavor persists even after my usual dose of half and half and Splenda (as you can see I am not third wave, and thank god for that).
Cleanup is kind of irritatingly fussy. You have to take apart the entire thing, and the brewing machinery is so tightly packed you have to give it a bit of a tug. Everything is top-dishwasher rack safe, but it seems like a lot of bother for something you can rinse out in the sink. The secondary filter mechanism catches a lot of fine grit, which is good for your coffee but not so fun for cleaning. It is considerably more arduous than pulling out a filter and giving the basket a rinse on my Bonavita. This is a coffee gadget for weekends, when one has the leisure to disassemble.
The Duo makes excellent coffee, but I don't think it would be any better than a French press or an Aeropress with a metal filter. I bought it, so I'll use it, but I would not have backed it knowing what I know now. It's a beautiful thing, and it's obvious that a great deal of love has been put into it, but that's still not enough to overcome the issues I've enumerated.
eruthros , who was curious about the Duo coffee steeper. I backed this on Kickstarter, and after two years it is finally here.I'm not going to get into the specs, because they're available on the site. (Here is the Kickstarter, with a little bit more info on the guts of the thing.) A little bit of background: normally I use a Bonavita drip machine with paper filters. It's a really decent machine, but I can't say it's leaps and bounds above the Mr. Coffee I used to have before the pump died. This is the first non-drip coffee gadget I've ever owned.
I made sure the brewing chamber was locked, because otherwise it would be sad times. I tossed some coarsely ground (with a blade grinder) Blue Bottle single origin Columbia Calca Caloto into the brewing chamber and poured some filtered tap water I heated in my electric kettle. The instructions recommend poking the grounds-water mixture a bit to make sure the water permeates, so I did. I don't think this is necessary, if you pour carefully. I put on the lid and set a timer for four minutes as recommended. After said time had elapsed, I unlocked the chamber. It makes this hilarious gurgly noise as the coffee goes into the holding chamber.
My biggest concern with the Duo is that everything is stainless steel and glass, with only a rubber handhold around the neck to insulate against hot liquid. I had to use a thin washcloth before I felt comfortable picking it up. I also had to use two hands, but that just might be because I'm a weenie with no muscles in my arms. You also have to be careful when pouring, or else coffee slops over the side onto the counter. (This happened with the first cup, but once I figured this out the second cup was fine.)
The coffee it makes is quite good. The Caloto is, as most South American coffees are, a lovely floral. That came through fine when I brewed it in the Bonavita, but with the Duo, that's emphasized even more, to the point where it's a little herbacious (but in a pleasant way). Because the Duo uses a metal mesh filter, all that lovely coffee oil stays in your cup instead of filtered out:
The intense flavor persists even after my usual dose of half and half and Splenda (as you can see I am not third wave, and thank god for that).
Cleanup is kind of irritatingly fussy. You have to take apart the entire thing, and the brewing machinery is so tightly packed you have to give it a bit of a tug. Everything is top-dishwasher rack safe, but it seems like a lot of bother for something you can rinse out in the sink. The secondary filter mechanism catches a lot of fine grit, which is good for your coffee but not so fun for cleaning. It is considerably more arduous than pulling out a filter and giving the basket a rinse on my Bonavita. This is a coffee gadget for weekends, when one has the leisure to disassemble.
The Duo makes excellent coffee, but I don't think it would be any better than a French press or an Aeropress with a metal filter. I bought it, so I'll use it, but I would not have backed it knowing what I know now. It's a beautiful thing, and it's obvious that a great deal of love has been put into it, but that's still not enough to overcome the issues I've enumerated.
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Date: 2015-08-03 12:41 am (UTC)