How to Brew Coffee with Syphon Coffee Maker
Syphon brewer is probably the most exciting way to brew coffee. Syphon brewing involves fire or halogen beam heater, vacuum effect and fancy looking lab equipment which all make so exciting. Syphon brewer, invented in Germany in the early 19th century, is a full immersion brewer which leads to full-bodied and full-flavoured cups. Brewing coffee with syphon can be a little tricky so let’s see the steps how to brew coffee with syphon.
What is syphon brewer?
A syphon brewer has basically four parts; top and bottom chambers, a filter and a heat source. Brewing water is added to the bottom chamber and heated with the heat source (fire or halogen beam heater). Once the water is hot enough, gases start to escape from it and vacuum is created which will then move the brewing water to the top chamber. The top chamber is the used to brew the coffee. Once brewing is done, the heat source is put off which will cool the air in the bottom chamber. This creates another vacuum which will pull the coffee down to the bottom chamber and the coffee is ready to be served!
Though it might seem really complex and hard to brew coffee with, it’s not actually all that difficult. You just need to get familiar with it and it might be a good idea to play around with syphon empty few times before starting to brew coffee.
Steps to brew with syphon
1. Attach the filter
The filter has a chain that you need pull down and attach its clip at the bottom of the funnel.
2. Add water
If you want to things to happen a bit quicker, use pre-boiled water. In this recipe we are going to use 300 grams of water so measure that with a scale. Dry the outside of the bottom chamber after adding the water so that the globe doesn’t crack when if apply heat to it.
3. Heat the water
Put the bottom chamber on top the heat source (butane burner or halogen beam). Turn the heat source to maximum and place the funnel loosely into the bottom chamber so that it isn’t completely attached.
4. Measure and grind your coffee
Getting the water to boil might take some while so this is a good time to measure and grind your coffee. In this recipe we are using 20 grams of coffee. Grind it to quite coarse (similar to Chemex - 8-8,5 on EK43).
5. Attach the top
Once the water starts to boil, attach the funnel to the bottom chamber and make sure they are put together “tightly”.
6. Add your coffee to the water
It might take some seconds to the water to fill the top (there is always some water left in the bottom chamber ). Once the top is filled, add the coffee to the water. Give it a good stir with a spoon or bamboo stick and start your timer.
7. Brew
We are going to brewing for 1:30 minutes. After 45 seconds, give the coffee a 2nd good stir.
8. Turn off the heat
Just before 1:30, turn off the heat.
9. The drawdown
Once you have turned off the heat, the coffee will draw down back to the bottom. The drawdown should take close to 1:00. So the total brew time will be 2:30.
10. Enjoy!
You can place the funnel in the black base and remove the globe from top of the heat source. Just be careful as the parts might and will be hot. Serve the coffee from globe with a smile and enjoy!
To know more about hand brewing, check out our brew guides! There you can find brew guides for Hario v60, Chemex and many more.
