How to Use Siphon Coffee Maker, What Coffee to Make with Siphon Pot, How to Brew Coffee with Siphon?

The Siphon Coffee Maker

The siphon, or syphon, demands real technique and a fiddly process, but it can pull the most flattering parts out of a coffee, above all the bright, crisp acidity of a good bean, acidity that still carries a rounded aroma inside it. That is the side of coffee a siphon shows off best.

The siphon originated in Germany and brews with the pressure created by boiling water. Its two chambers are joined by a central tube. Water in the lower chamber is heated with an alcohol lamp or gas burner, and because one gram of liquid water expands enormously as it turns to vapor, the growing volume of vapor pushes the liquid up through the tube into the upper chamber, where the filter cloth and coffee grounds sit. A steady flow of vapor keeps the water supported up there.

When the heat is cut, the air in the lower chamber cools and contracts. Losing the support of the vapor, the brew in the upper chamber flows back down, leaving the grounds trapped by the filter cloth. Lift off the upper chamber and the coffee is ready in the lower one.

FrontStreet Coffee's Siphon Method

Step 1

Pour hot water into the lower glass bulb and bring it to a rolling boil over high heat.

With one cup, add 200cc of water to the lower bulb; if you are not draining the remaining water, use 175cc. Two cups take 350cc. After pouring, wipe the outside of the bulb dry, or the glass may crack.

Step 2

Fit the filter into the upper bulb.

Take the filter out of its water, clean it and press it dry. Hook it onto the bottom of the upper bulb, then use the stirring rod to center it.

Step 3

Once the water boils, insert the upper bulb into the lower bulb.

Turn the heat to low and set the glass upper bulb in at an angle. When you are sure the water is not so hot that it will splash out, press the upper bulb straight down while rotating it.

Step 4

When the water has risen halfway, add the grounds and begin stirring. Start timing from the first stir.

Use 15 grams per cup. For the first stir, do not move in circles; push the grounds left and right and press them down through the water from top to bottom, so the two directions of force collide. Stir only long enough to disperse the grounds.

Step 5

Stir a second time at 25 seconds.

Step 6

Stir a third time at 55 seconds, then turn off the heat at 60 seconds.

For single-origin coffee, brew for just 50 seconds (second stir at 20 seconds, third stir at 45 seconds). With a single cup, lift off the upper bulb immediately after the heat is off, pour the remaining water out of the lower bulb, then set the upper bulb back in; this is called draining the remaining water. If you would rather skip that step, simply start with 175cc of water.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The siphon is at its best with coffees whose acidity is the point, which makes light-roasted African beans the obvious place to start. FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Gedidit Cooperative is a G1 washed Ethiopian that many drinkers meet first as an introduction to single-origin coffee, and it fits a siphon neatly: citrus, berry and floral notes with a green-tea sweetness in the finish, its acidity soft and bright rather than sharp. FrontStreet Ethiopia Huakui, a natural Guji lot, takes the same brewer in a fruitier direction, filling it with tropical aromas of strawberry, passionfruit, jackfruit and even lychee, sweet and almost juice-like with very little bitterness. If you want the classic high-end expression, FrontStreet Panama Esmeralda Red Label Geisha answers with jasmine, citrus and bergamot over a clean, transparent body, and FrontStreet Kenya Cherry Tomato adds a Kenya Thika lot grown at 1,550-1,750 meters from the SL28 and SL34 varieties, light-roasted to keep its sun-dried-tomato and dark-plum acidity intact.

Not every coffee wants bright acidity, and the siphon can serve fuller profiles too. FrontStreet PWN Golden Mandheling is deep-roasted with low acidity and a thick, lingering body, all herbs and dark chocolate with a faint earthy edge, while FrontStreet Brazil Queen's Estate is balanced and smooth, low in acid, with nut, cocoa and a clear caramel sweetness that survives almost any method, from pour-over and moka pot to espresso. FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 sits right in the middle, neither sharply acidic nor heavily bitter, and FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan Sun-dried Typica, from FrontStreet's own estate, keeps a clean cup of citrus and caramel with extra nut, chocolate and brown sugar from a medium-dark roast. FrontStreet PNG Bird of Paradise, a Typica from the Sagri region of Papua New Guinea grown at 1,600-1,800 meters on volcanic soil and triple-washed to an AA standard, reads much like a gentler Blue Mountain, which is why drinkers call it a little Blue Mountain.

Whatever you load into the siphon, the brewer's own advice stands: keep the first stir brief and non-circular, hold the total contact time near 60 seconds for blends and 50 seconds for a single origin, and cut the heat before the coffee turns bitter. Those light, aromatic lots reward the technique with a cleaner cup than most brewers manage, while the rounder Brazil, Java and Papua New Guinea lots come through mellow and sweet.