Many coffeemakers have the following parts, in this order: -Water reservoir -Water tube and pump -Heating coil -Output tube -Grounds basket -Carafe -Hot plate
The problem with this setup is that hot water passes over the grounds. Hot water passing over coffee beans results in an increase in acidity and bitterness, and occasionally a burnt flavor if the water is close enough to boiling temperature to scorch some of the beans.
This is what coffee lovers call "Starbucks."
I propose a re-imagining of the standard coffeemaker.
The water is pumped from the reservoir and then deposited in the beans, where it absorbs the coffee flavor (while still cold) and then passes through a series of tubes and a heating coil. This hot water is then deposited into the end-user's coffee cup, and tastes better.
The tube and heating coil assembly should be removable for easy cleaning with a pipe cleaner (which should be done in a standard coffeemaker anyway, natch), and in high-end versions, the reservoir can be heated a little to make coffee stronger if the user desires.-- shapu, Jun 06 2008 Cold Toddy http://www.ineedcoffee.com/06/coldbrew/You can also buy it in a bottle of fresh concentrate. [Amos Kito, Jun 06 2008] Clover, set your own variables for filtering http://cloverequipm.../whyclover/faq.aspxI know, not cold [4whom, Jun 06 2008] Decaffeination http://en.wikipedia...wiki/Decaffeination.. but why ... ? [8th of 7, Jun 06 2008] I wasn't aware of that: [+] ; you'd need a taller, thinner filter though, I imagine(?)-- FlyingToaster, Jun 06 2008 I'll call it the Wilt Chamberlain method, then.-- shapu, Jun 06 2008 Temperature dependent extraction efficiency? You gonna brew that coffee for 24 hrs?-- daseva, Jun 06 2008 Nope, it takes less than 13 hours (and a pound of ground coffee) to make a cup of coffee this way. See [Link].
Does this method actually produce delicious coffee? Or is this mainly used in a mixed coffee drink? I'm skeptical about the premise and the plan, and I usually fall for anything.-- Amos Kito, Jun 06 2008 Well, if you have the choice, you can brew the coffee with cold water and then heat it, but that's really a one- or two-cup job. The problem is when you're making 12 cups worth.
[Amos], I've seen those cold-brewers where you brew a cold concentrate and then add hot water - that's a fine idea, but requires an intermediate step. Seattle's Best Coffee is pushing that method, and some of the smaller regional chains are getting on the cold-brew bandwagon.
But cold water really is, IMO anyway, the best way to brew coffee. This construction of the coffeemaker wouldn't require any fundamentally new technology, it wouldn't require any intermediate steps, and it could be adjusted for the user's preferences - which cannot be said about any other existing methods.-- shapu, Jun 06 2008 How about you just heat it partly beforehand and partly after it's brewed?-- apocalyps956, Jun 06 2008 Maybe I'd start drinking coffee if it was made this way. I cold-brew my tea, or only steep it a few seconds if forced to use hot water. [+]-- baconbrain, Jun 06 2008 Coffee is decaffielnated using distilled water under very high pressure.-- 8th of 7, Jun 06 2008 I like coffee made in those little octagonal stove-top coffee makers - just the way the French and Italians have been making it for many decades. It blasts boiling hot water though the grounds to make a strong, small espresso.
I spit on your cold-filtered filth: it flies in the face of all coffee wisdom.-- wagster, Jun 06 2008 // I spit on your cold-filtered filth //
Eeeewwwwww, you make your coffee with warm spit ? Eeeeewwww......-- 8th of 7, Jun 06 2008 If you brew it cold and then heat it, wouldn't that still raise the acidity? I would think that whatever acidic chemicals that are in the first stage of cold coffee would just be released once it is heated.-- Jscotty, Jun 06 2008 No, the assumption is that the acids are leached out of the grounds only by hot water. The cold brew is heated after separation from the acid-bearing grounds. I think that's it, anyhow.-- baconbrain, Jun 07 2008 Evil coffee bigotry. Don't tell me how to make my coffee.-- WcW, Jun 08 2008 What [wagster] said.-- zeno, Jun 08 2008 what [baconbrain] said.-- shapu, Jun 09 2008 ... what Spartacus said ....-- 8th of 7, Jun 09 2008 "I'm Spartacus?"-- shapu, Jun 11 2008 Thanks to this idea i now make my coffee cold overnight, filter it and heat it, and it's bloody marvellous.-- nineteenthly, Jun 11 2008 //Coffee is decaffielnated using distilled water under very high pressure.//
Um, I honestly thought caffeine extraction was done via liquid C02 at high pressre... I read that caffeine is highly soluble in the CO2, and so they use this process to extract the caffeine. Unless of course this is only when the desired product is pure caffeine, not decaffeinated coffee grounds.
After reading your link, it appears we're both right, which is in any case toally irrelevant, because decaffeinated coffee is a crime against humanity. Personally, I'm a fan of the idea of supercaffeinated coffee-- Custardguts, Jun 11 2008 What worries me about that, though, is that i can't imagine caffeine is the only solute. Wouldn't it take other stuff away? Wouldn't the water method do the same too?
Incidentally, according to us herbalists, the volatile component is psychoactive as well, so decaffeination doesn't remove the action entirely. It would also still hugely raise LDLs.-- nineteenthly, Jun 11 2008 Other stuff does come out, but once the caffeine is removed from the precipitate, an attempt is made to soak the remaining precipitate back into the coffee.-- Texticle, Jun 12 2008 In truly lazy form, I sometimes make "iced tea" by simply dropping a tea bag into cold water. The caffeine leaches out immediately, the flavour takes awhile.-- FlyingToaster, Jun 12 2008 random, halfbakery