Siphon Coffee Brewing Process Parameters: Advantages and Disadvantages of Siphon Coffee

About 10 years ago, siphon coffee was extremely popular in East Asia. One could often see rows of exquisite siphon coffee makers displayed in small neighborhood cafes. Today, siphon coffee has been replaced by pour-over coffee, which has become the primary brewing method in the new generation of coffee shops. Coffee shops that still insist on using siphon brewers as their main method have become exceedingly rare.

Siphon Coffee Culture

The history of the siphon brewer is more than a hundred years longer than that of pour-over coffee. Setting aside the evolution of ancient prototypes, the first upright siphon brewer was improved and developed by Madame Vassieux of France in the 1840s. The famous Japanese siphon manufacturer (the KONO we're familiar with) also launched upright siphon brewers between 1924-25. Basically, this company is the originator of siphon brewers in East Asia, and nearly all subsequent siphon brewers were based on KONO's prototype.

The immense popularity of siphon brewers cannot be separated from the export of Japanese coffee culture. Last century's Japanese coffee culture emphasized aroma, richness, and mellowness. The siphon brewing method happens to perfectly express the aroma and richness of coffee. This trend spread from Japan to Hong Kong and Taiwan, then to mainland China, forming a generation of coffee culture.

The delicate and elegant movements of siphon brewing also won favor in coffee shops. Turning on the halogen lamp, watching the water slowly boil and be drawn up into the upper chamber, the barista gracefully stirs with a stirring rod, and then the coffee slowly siphons back down into the lower chamber. The process is incredibly therapeutic.

Thanks also to the simple operation of siphon brewers, some ordinary households would also equip themselves with siphon brewers to make coffee. Take my cousin's family as an example - about 7-8 years ago, when pour-over coffee wasn't as popular yet, my cousin who had just returned from studying abroad spent a "fortune" on a complete set of coffee equipment just to be able to drink coffee at home. Among them, the only device used for brewing coffee was a siphon brewer.

When watching some early Japanese and Taiwanese films and TV shows, I was shocked by many scenes where guests visiting homes were served coffee freshly brewed with a siphon (back then, for someone like me who often watched Hong Kong scene dramas, home coffee brewing meant American drip coffee makers or small fully automatic coffee machines).

FrontStreet Coffee's Siphon Coffee Sharing:

Use medium-dark roasted coffee beans, ground finer than pour-over (90% pass-through rate through #20 sieve). Use a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:12, meaning 20g of coffee for 2 servings uses 240ml of water. Control extraction time between 50-60 seconds. After water is drawn up into the upper chamber, add coffee grounds and use the rod to press the coffee grounds close to the water, fully wetting all the grounds. At 25 seconds, stir the coffee bed for 7 seconds, dividing it into 3 layers (oils, coffee grounds, water). At 55 seconds, turn off the heat source, finally stir for 5 seconds, then wait for the coffee liquid to flow back into the lower chamber to finish.

Is Siphon Coffee Outdated?

From the first Japan Siphon Championship held by Japan SCAJ in 2003 to the first World Siphon Championship (WSC) in 2009, it's clear that siphon coffee had already spread from Japan to influence East Asia, but its influence remained largely confined to East Asia. Compared to the World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup, siphon competitions received considerably less attention.

FrontStreet Coffee believes there are two reasons why pour-over coffee replaced siphon brewing. The first is the shift in coffee flavor preferences from heavy and rich to floral and fruity notes, just as Geisha replaced Blue Mountain and Kopi Luwak. The siphon brewing method, compared to pour-over, is somewhat inadequate at expressing the explosive floral and fruit aromas of lightly roasted coffee. "The new waves of the Yangtze River push the old ones forward."

The second reason is that pour-over coffee is more convenient than siphon brewing, especially in terms of subsequent cleaning. In a shop with high output volume, siphon brewing would only be more troublesome.

However, there are many creative ways to use a siphon brewer. For example, we can use it to cook instant noodles. While it might not taste better, it certainly looks much more sophisticated. When it comes to eating, the mood is what matters.

Alternatively, using it to cook Tom Yum soup is also quite an impressive move.

Important Notice :

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