NYTimes: The Technology Behind Good Coffee

6 years ago

Interesting read:

" The staff at The Wirecutter and Sweethome, The New York Times’s product evaluation sites, seem just a little obsessed with coffee. They have evaluated a lot of brewing and grinding equipment, so columnist Damon Darlin spoke with Michael Zhao, senior editor at The Wirecutter, about their findings. "

(The article discusses coffee grinders, and both budget and higher-end drip coffeemakers)

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/technology/personaltech/best-coffee-grinders-equipment.html?contentCollection=smarter-living&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=smarterLiving-promo-region&region=smarterLiving-promo-region&WT.nav=smarterLiving-promo-region

Featured Answer

Gooster

6 years ago

The burr grinder does make a world of difference on good coffee. I feel like it is a bigger contributor than the maker itself, sometimes. And I think an untalented roaster/company can turn great beans into mediocre coffee. (I don't know if vice-versa holds true). It is impressive that they examined the grain sizes.

It's interesting that their reviews put the OXO on top even though they said the Bonavita produced superior coffee. What was the point again? And they excluded Technivorm? (by setting an arbitrary price ceiling that enable a more expensive OSO to enter?).

I think review sites like SmartHome shoot themselves in the foot when they disclose that they use execs from manufacturers to set an editorial board for their reviews. I was really surprised when I saw that on some other reviews.

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Comments (7)

jrb451
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I'm guessing that most coffee drinkers will think that $230 is a little much to pay for a grinder. Grinding is important as I came to realize after switching from a hammer/blade bean "destroyer" to a burr grinder for my Espresso machine.

Interesting their assessment of the K-cup machines.
plllog
6 years ago
Matches my own assessment of K-cup. :)

Jakkom, I'm positive grind matters. I'm not so positive that ground today is as big a deal as people want to believe. Not that I drink coffee. I gave up caffeine a long time ago. My father taught me that the three ingredients for good coffee were good ground coffee, distilled water (so the water flavor doesn't distort the coffee flavor) and a scrupulously clean pot with no residues clinging to it.

Dcarch explained once that the difference between a cheap coffee pot and an expensive one is that the burner on the cheap one gets bad fairly quickly and then the coffee gets bad. (Ask him for the details.) My cheap coffee makers get three or four uses per year, and seem to be holding their own.

Coffeehound guests, who often comment on coffee quality (though I don't know with how much skill) say that my Yuban with distilled water and clean coffeepot is really good. No such praises for the freshly ground, hand carried from Colombia coffee I was given. I happily concede that my coffee grinder (which I use mostly for spices) is inferior. :)
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Lars
6 years ago
I use my inexpensive coffee grinder to grind spices, since I do not grind or make coffee. I pretty much only drink coffee when I'm on vacation (as it upsets my stomach), and I was not impressed with the coffee I had in Brazil or Costa Rica. The best coffee I had was on Maui, with Italy a close second. I could probably get great coffee at home, but I don't drink it here. Kevin bought coffee beans in Brazil that he liked and he said they were better than the ones he got in Costa Rica. We've ordered coffee beans from Maui, but they were not the same as what we had when we were there. I think they have to be ordered at a certain time of year.
jrb451
6 years ago
FWIW, the best coffee I had in Hawaii was Lion 10% Kona.
jakkom
Original Author
6 years ago
If you re-read the article you'll see that the OXO won over the Bonavita because of ease of use. The Bonavita was called "counter-intuitive" which is no small ding since (1) most of us stumble around in the morning before that first cup, LOL, and (2) these are writers experienced with coffeemachines, and they STILL didn't find it easy to use.

The Bonavita is available at sizable discount, as low as $110. Less discounting on OXO (which is a 9 cup, not a 10 cup) but still runs in the $210-$230 range.

The Technivorm is called their "Gold Standard" but it's in a different price range. Fewer discounts, and the lowest price is $270 but most sell it at list. In Feb 2016 the NYT and Oliver Strand said:

"....The entry-level models are the Bonavita BV1900TS ($189), which does everything right, and the Oxo Barista Brain ($199). Both are following the trail blazed by the Technivorm Moccamaster ($299.95), a Dutch machine introduced in 1968 that has been the gold standard.

Last year, Chemex unveiled the Ottomatic ($350), a bold move for a company built on manual brewing. Basically, it is a machine designed around a traditional Chemex dripper. At the high end, you have Ratio’s Eight ($570) designed by a Portland, Ore., company that is to coffee what vintage Marantz was to stereos. It’s by nerds, for nerds. Under all that brushed nickel and polished wood is a serious machine. "
Gooster
6 years ago
I did read it and went to the SweetHome site to read the full review. But, as it stated, the winner made worse coffee (taste, test low in brew temp, overextraction, dissolved solids), was more expensive, was harder to operate and took longer. I agree the Bonavita carafe insulation could be made better, but the whole learning curve issue seems pretty bogus. Putting a cone in a canister is no different than making filter coffee (and the flat bottomed basket is stable compared to others) and yes you have to put the lid on after it finishes brewing and set the filter down before you start pouring.

By the way, Technivorms are now going through flash sale sites for the low 200s.

I have no issues, btw, with either product. I just find the SH review oddly limited by a capped price and demerits based on paradigms of how something should work, even if the something is similar to the other way you would do something. I'm thinking they would have the same issues with the Technivorm, Ottomatic, or Ratio Eight

NYTimes: The Technology Behind Good Coffee

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NYTimes: The Technology Behind Good Coffee

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jrb451

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