Northwest Glass Yama Stovetop Coffee Siphon, 1-Unit

This has to be my favorite (non-espresso) method of producing good coffee. Vacuum brewing (often called siphon brewing) was very popular before convenience assumed more importance than the quality of coffee produced.

While lacking quite the grace and style (and "coffee-table theatre") of the Cona version, the Yama brewer carries a much smaller price tag. Though it is made of glass, the Yama feels quite sturdy and should be quite serviceable given suitable care. If it breaks, the cost of replacement is reasonable.

The Cona has a glass rod/filter which is very effective, zero cost, and low maintenance. I do not like the idea of brewing through re-used, laundered cotton filters as provided with the Yama, so I use an old Cory glass rod filter (check out eBay) which works perfectly with my 40 oz unit. A simple wire grid is provided and works well with my electric smooth-top. The whole process soon becomes very quick and easy with practice.

Maybe I'll buy a small butane burner to achieve the Cona's "coffee-table theatre".

The main complaint I have read about the vacuum/siphon coffee maker that it was a pain to clean. I received the 8 cup version as a Christmas gift. I have been experimenting with how many scoops of beans I need to grind for the perfect cup of coffee for the amount of cups I want and I now have that down good. And I might say this device makes a wonderful cup of bold flavored coffee! And it's kind of fun to watch to boot....

Now about the cleaning. I find that it takes roughly 5 minutes to clean this device. The vacuum action of the brewer basically sucks much of the moisture out of the grounds. After brewing my coffee I remove the top portion and set it on the provided stand. Later on in the day when I get around to it I take the top portion outside and use the provided plastic scoop/spoon to scoop/scrape out the dry grounds into my garden area out front. Coffee grounds make a good compost for lawn or garden. I could have scooped out the grounds over the trash bag inside the house but I like using the grounds in the garden. I then go back inside and put some Dawn dish soap into the bowl, add water and take my round nylon brisle brush and swish around the sudsy water and clean the sides and filter. I then dump the water, remove the filter and give the filter and bowl a good rinsing and set them off to dry. It's a piece of cake to clean in my opinion.

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Was in the market for a coffee maker as my Hamilton Beach drip was on it's last leg. I had decided I wanted to move away from drip and ended up settling on a stainless percolator after reading many reviews. My motivation was to get away from plastic and stainless seemed like a cleaner way to go.

I won't go into great detail about the percolator except to say it seemed cheaply made ((the way the lid fits seems downright dangerous)) and it made a very so so cup of coffee with little or no control to change that. Back to the drawing board and read further reviews.

The siphon coffee brewers came into the radar and the more I read about them the more interested I became. I'm not a coffee snob but do know a good cup of coffee when I taste it and usually grind my own beans........well always actually :)

The Northwest Glass Yama got good reviews and was readily available at Amazon so still on the quest for a better cup of coffee I place the order for the reasonably priced glass siphon coffee maker.

As I awaited it's arrival I did further research finding out what I could about it's use ,finding several videos on you-tube to watch. I was really looking forward to it's arrival!

The day it arrived I eagerly unpacked .giving it a good initial cleaning and setting it up for my first brew test. I decided to heat the water from a cold state and this takes quite awhile on medium heat atop an electric stove.as the water seemed to approach the proper temperature I ground my coffee adding it to the top section then onto the bottom section on the stove. As watched as the hot water from the bottom pot was pushed through the tube into the top when ample water flooded the grounds I gave a few gentle stirs. When the bubbling action started when all the water that will evacuate reaches the top chamber I began timing.my initial brew for 1 min and 30 seconds ...............adding 7 level tablespoons of dry grounds to my 8 cups marked on the pot ((these equate to 8 5 0z servings according to literature that came with the Yama)) Once the timing was over I simply moved off the burner onto a waiting wooden board and watched as the cooling commenced and the kickdown took place.

Now for the true test........I poured into a cup adding some sugar as is my custom and let cool slightly as it makes a very hot brew. Oh my it was good and my initial foray into this magnificent form of coffee brewing from our past has me hooked. The control you have is remarkable especially compared to most of the more modern brewing methods. If you don't mind a little extra effort with the brewing and cleanup and feel a better of cup of coffee is worth the effort you can't go wrong with this method.

I have a Brunn stainless water kettle that I have used also to heat the water before hand this makes the process very fast, preheating water adding to pot then transferring to stove and beginning the siphon process.

This is the way coffee used to be made at home in our country, sometimes the old ways are just plain better!

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This coffee siphon works great, the coffee tastes great, and it's just really, really cool. But don't put it in the microwave, even though it says you can, because the handle really doesn't seem to withstand it -the plastic gets very hot and smells bad. Otherwise, we love it. The really great part is if the power goes out, we can still make coffee on the wood-burning stove using the included metal trivet!

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If you are using gas stove top, you must use hot water as instructed to prepare your coffee; otherwise you may risk your chance of melting the carafe's plastic handle. Here is my experience, in summer, room temperature is 82 F, with hot water it takes about 2 minute 45 seconds to complete the vacuum process, and takes about 5 minutes 50 seconds if uses tap water and you can see the lower portion of the plastic handle is melting and dripping like wax in 5 minutes.

Capresso 3011.01 4-Cup Glass Replacement Carafe with Lid for Mini Espresso Machine

About a year ago I wanted an espresso machine that was easy to use, however I was unwilling to pay 1k or more for a fully automatic machine. The Capresso turned out to be an excellent value, providing ease of use with semi-automatic ground disposal and a reasonably sized water container.

In fact, we have experienced only two problems with the Capresso since we bought it: a torn o-ring and clogging. The o-ring tore because I did not clean the rotation mechanism for several months. The accumulated grounds eventually tore into the o-ring, breaking the pressure seal. However, when I called the Capresso help line to discuss our broken o-ring, the help desk agent immediately sent us two replacements in the mail with no questions asked. Total down time for the machine was a mere two days. The clogging was fixed with a complete cleaning, and if truth be told, it did say in the instruction booklet not to use very finely ground coffee.

Our last espresso machine, besides breaking after two years, was so difficult to use and clean we only made espresso on special occasions. The Capresso is convenient enough that we use it all the time. In fact, we have used our Mr. Coffee only twice (note the broken o-ring comment above) since we bought the Capresso.

After a year of use, I can still strongly recommend this product.

I bought this machine after looking around for the perfect one for quite some time. This Espressomaker is unique because of a clever semiautomatic mechanism that doesn't require the usual, messy tampering and cleaning innate to traditional machines. This device comes at a fraction of the cost of the fully automated ones, but is almost as easy to use. The only little flaw I noted is that the frother will spill a relatively large amount of water (5cc or so) during the first couple of seconds before the full steam gets going. Usually no big deal, but if you froth a small amount of milk, you may want to "catch" these first cc's first. Otherwise, this machine is perfect. The pump is very strong 18bar, I think) and the crema is excellent. Baseline: If you want a traditional machine, go for a Gaggia or something similar; if you are a (lazy) millionaire, consider one of the fully automated machines ($1000-2000). Otherwise, there is currently no alternative to the "Ultima".

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If the technical aspects of a cappuccino before the crack of dawn have you actually contemplating drip coffee again, check out this machine. You'll have to re-learn how to make a cappuccino, but once you get the hang of it, you can break speed records. For double caps, two scoops of pre-ground espresso go in the coffee spout. Turn the bizarre looking top a quarter turn, push down the lever and turn the pump on. You'll instantly get a perfect espresso with more crema than I was able to get with any kind of consistently from our many previous machines. And it takes less than a minute for the water to heat in the unit for making coffee or arming the frother with steam in this sturdy machine. The best part comes in the clean-up. When you're ready to make the next cup, turn the lever on top a 3/4 turn and it will simultaneously dump your old grounds in a hidden bin and stage itself automatically for the next cup. That's zero coffee grounds on the sink and the ability to crank out a cappuccino every two minutes.

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... the Capresso Ultima is just a wonderful espresso machine regardless of the price/performance ratio. It is very well engineered. You can tell the refinement of the design simply by looking at the layout of the compartments, the water tank with a clever fold-in handle that is very well balanced while you are adding water, the perfect tamping mechanism, the layout and feel of pressing the buttons and rotating the lever arm, and the matte surface finish. All accolades about this machine from previous reviewers are true so I won't be repeating them here.

Some reviewers have pointed out, however, that (1) the espresso and/or the milk is not hot enough to their liking; and (2) the frother spills large amount of water. These claims are just not true.

The espresso that comes out of my machine is just so hot that it burns my tongue, not to mention the perfect crema that comes out with it. I actually tried to stick my finger (like a naughty boy) inside the espresso glass and it burns my finger like boiling water. The "secret" is to push the pump button right after the thermostat light (yellow) goes off. It's really no secret because that's what the manual receommends.

Also, the steamer/frother is capable of heating up a cup of milk that is so hot that practically you can't drink it right away. Note that the steamer/frother has got an automatic 80sec cut-off. Everytime the milk is really hot after this 80sec of steaming/frothing (not to mention how nice and thick the froth becomes I usually froth half a cup of cold 2% milk and the froth is like 2/5 cup thick YES. CLOSE TO HALF A CUP OF FROTH within 80sec of frothing). For those who really want to burn their tongue, they could always repeat this steaming/frothing for another 80sec (again read the manual to see how). I tried this and it always ends up boiling the milk (implying that it has reached 100C or over). Frankly, I don't know who would like to drink practically boiling coffee. It just takes the taste away.

For the water spill problem from the frother, I actually experienced once. But quickly I found out that it's due to the fact that I didn't screw the frothing tip tight enough so the steam leaks into the metal slieve and as soon as it gets to the rubber holder on top, the steam condenses and becomes water spill. From then on, I screw it finger tight and it does not spill any more.

What more can I say? For those who are in the market to buy an excellent espresso machine at a good price, stop searching right now. This is THE ONE.

After you got the machine, Get excited, Read the manual, Practice a few times, Enjoy the coffee, and Stop complaining!

Cheers!

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Wow, so this machine makes GREAT cappuccinos! Just a few points from a non expert who loves to have her morning cappuccino:

1. The coffee/espresso is really good! There is a good crema layer and it comes out very strong (not too strong) in my opinion. I haven't alwys found it to be 100% consistent, but, nonetheless, over 95% of the time it has been great.

2. The unit is kinda.... ugly! I'm sorry, but this is the truth. It's not like soemthing you would display in a very nice kitchen it's a bit cheap looking. It doesn't even look like a traditional espresso machine. Also, what is up with the blue strip on the tray? That really makes it look cheap. Nonetheless, because I am so plesed with this product, I am willing to overlook this flaw.

3. When they said semi-automatic, I thought I would have to do a lot of work. Not true! This is the EASIEST espresso/cappuccino to make even over my sister's semi-automatic that she paid a lot more money for (not to mention the espresso/cappuccinos taste the same, except hers is much better looking!) All you have to do is rotate the handle on top, put in coffee, rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise, push the knob down and turn on the espresso switch. When done, you turn the knob 270 degrees and it dumps the coffee. VOILA! No coffee cleanup today or tomorrow... or for a while (this is my FAVORITE part).

4. A few annoying things Whoever it was that says when you froth milk, there is first a spurt of water is correct. However, when you have frothed an entire cup of milk, you can't tell the water was added. Also, when pushing the know down to make espresso, sometimes it has been a crap shoot and no espresso came out. I had to repress the knob down and try again.

All in all, I give this a B+ because it is ugly and a bit cheap looking. However, if I rated it on taste, it would be an A. If I rated it considering that I got a great price on it and relative to other units and prices, A+!

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Hamilton Beach HB Espresso Maker 40715

We have had this machine for approximately 2 years. However, we are away for approximately 6 mos of the year and only use this machine on occasion, so it has not had much use. It now will not pump water through to make the espresso. The steamer works well, but the frother does not, ie no hot water pumped through the nozzle either. It only malfunctioned intermittently at first, but soon I was not able to make a cup of espresso. I could hear the pump running, but it was muted and there was plenty of water in the reservoir. I also have cleaned regularly with white vinegar and only use distilled water. After some research, I discovered many other people were having the same problem with one reviewer saying he had to take the machine apart, not an easy feat, and fiddled with a valve and it began working correctly again. This is considered a "throw-away" machine, so service is not existent if you can't do it yourself. My husband is in the process of tinkering to see if he can find the problem, as it is not obvious, even though he has the machine apart. I can afford another machine, but I do not consider a $70 + item to be a throw-away after only a couple of years of light use. I am looking for another brand machine, or may even resort to my old stove top maker as it has no moving or electrical parts.

I had a HB espresso maker that lasted 2yrs and I loved it with no problems, prior HB that lasted not quite a yr under warranty an HB replaced it. I bought 2 others recently due to my HB wouldnt make Espresso anymore but the steam steam/frother still worked. Looked for a new one right away. I bought 2 espresso makers had problems right away and returned them both, went online to find another HB, for the price and quality, found another one almost the same but a newer version. I would definitely recommend, it works great. The espresso is wonderful and it steams and froths the milk wonderful and hot!!!! I found alot of reasonable priced espresso makers doesnt froth or steam the milk very well or get very hot at all. Make sure you follow the instructions prior to use, and it takes a little to get that perfect mocha, but after 3 yrs, I like mine better and its cheaper. An awesome buy for the quality.

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Breville BES250XL Cafe Venezia 15-Bar Stainless-Steel Espresso Machine

I'm not sure why this espresso machine has such a low rating (note: small sample size), but the Cafe Venezia espresso machine has been magical ever since I bought it in March 2010. Since this machine was a bit more complicated than my previous machine, it took a little while to get everything exactly the way I liked it, but now the machine is pretty much perfect.

My one and only complaint would be that it seems to use a lot of water for non-coffee making/milk frothing activities. I'm assuming it's doing some self cleaning or whatnot, and it's not all that big of a deal since this thing holds a good amount of water, but the trough (as I like to call it) seems to get filled with water pretty quickly. But really, I'm just nitpicking.

I grind my coffee using a burr grinder on the extra fine setting, and the machine has never blown up on me except for the first time I used it (All espresso machines do this to me for some reason). The frothing wand needs to be cleaned regularly, and if not it turns a weird color, but even if I'm now drinking poison, I welcome my delicious, aromatic death.

This machine requires a lot of maintenance to stay functional. Each of the filters needs all the little holes unclogged between almost every use or else it gets clogged a huge time suck. The coffee is luke-warm and although the crema is thick and beautiful, the flavor is mediocre. I wish I still had my simple Kitchen-Aid one that was half the price, reliable & low maintenance.

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We were given this espresso machine as a Christmas present and absolutely LOVED it. We were making our special lattes every morning, the coffee tastes great, everything was working just fine... untillll... water started shooting out of the electronic buttons as tears flowed from my face. It looked like the machine was crying with me. It was a tragic day. We are now debating whether or not we should get the same one and pray for the best or try a different model...

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I agree that I don't know why people don't like this machine. Mine has been going great for several years. Several things to keep in mind: 1) Take off that little black tip on the frothing wand and only use the naked one. Before frothing turn on the steam wand until it steams nicely (no water coming out), turn if off and on quickly and then insert into the milk. This will avoid water going into the milk before the steam comes out. 2) I learned that the coffee tastes a lot better if you use a burr grinder. 3) Regular maintenance is to run the steam wand and wipe with a damp sponge or cloth to prevent clogging after each use. I have never had my filters get clogged. I do agree that the coffee is not as hot as that which you get from Starbucks but from what I understand lattes are not supposed to be drunk really hot. Breville has excellent customer service.

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This machine looks good, thats it. Everytime you use it you have to unblock the tiny holes in the filter with this needle type tool, washing the filter isn't enough! This is a major pain! The espresso is not hot, but is does test nice.

So if you want a machine that looks good but aren't going to use it then this is the one, but if you make espresso everyday like me then buy something else.