Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. Many people devise new innovations or reapply old ways to brew and consume coffee from time to time.
Innovations in coffee brewing over time
There are a number of different ways to brew coffee without the use of machines or other electronic devices. One such method is Cowboy Coffee, which is made by simply boiling water with coffee grounds in a pot placed over a fire. You can learn more about how Cowboy Coffee is made and how it differs from Turkish Coffee here. This is one of the traditional or oldest ways of brewing coffee. What about other coffee brewing methods? Let’s see the explanation below!
Simple coffee pot
This is one of the oldest innovations in coffee brewing that is still used today. Although they are easy to make and require little equipment, the quality of the equipment largely determines the final result.
The coffee grinder required for this coffee is generally only a high-quality coffee grinder. Most local grinding equipment cannot grind to a fine coffee powder.
The hourglass-shaped coffee pot allows coffee to be poured easily, as it provides a funnel into the neck and out through the spout. The neck shape of the Coffee pot also allows coffee to be poured while retaining some of the coffee grounds remaining in the pot.
Most importantly, the narrow neck of the coffee pot is very important for making foam, essential for the brewing process. Turkish Coffee . Famously, this method of coffee is made with hot sand. The goal is to heat the coffee until it reaches the foaming stage but to keep it at that point by lifting the pot and then placing it back.
Syphon or vacuum
Syphon has again attracted renewed interest from coffee lovers, who are keen to put the focus back on coffee quality. The syphon coffee maker itself consists of two bulbs or chambers. The lower chamber is filled with water and heated to a certain temperature. While the upper chamber is filled with coffee grounds, its position right at the top makes it act as a kind of ‘seal‘ that covers the water inside the lower chamber. This then makes the water in the lower chamber evaporate and have pressure. The water vapor pressure trapped in the lower chamber then pushes the water up, namely to the upper chamber through the glass pipe and filter that has been installed.
At this stage, the water temperature is usually below the boiling point and is ideal for making coffee. However, the brewing process is still left to the desired time so that the water that has been mixed with the coffee can still be brewed properly. It is important to keep the burner lit at the bottom of the chamber so that the brewing process can be maintained.
To complete the brewing process with a syphon, all that is required is to remove the heater or furnace at the bottom of the chamber. As the water vapor cools, it condenses back into the water and creates avacuum that pushes the coffee from the upper chamber through the filter and back into the lower chamber. Meanwhile, the coffee grounds will remain in the upper chamber. The brewed coffee is in the lower chamber and ready to be poured.
Some vacuum coffee pots are specifically designed to be suitable for kitchen stoves. There are also some other syphons that use alcohol-burning candles. As for the filters used, many vacuum coffee pots or syphons use cloth filters, which wrap around a metal disc.
Steam power
Before the advent of Espresso, it took up to five minutes to brew a cup of coffee. To make the process faster, easier, and more effective, new techniques are often developed. Inventors and scientists across Europe saw a money-making opportunity in coffee’s enduring popularity.
While many people contributed to the creation of the Espresso machine, the first known patent was registered by Turin cafe owner Angelo Moriondo in the late 1800s. Unfortunately, he limited the use of the Espresso machine to his own cafe, so it was never mass-produced.
In 1901, another Italian, Luigi Bezzera, patented a steam power coffee machine design, although he was unable to manufacture and market it, but Desiderio Pavoni provided financial support to make his design commercially viable. Some steam-powered machines are still used to make black coffee at home today.
Piston power
While steam-powered coffee machines are capable of producing a cup of coffee, they cannot provide enough pressure to extract a satisfying Espresso Shot.
The challenge of finding ways to solve pressure problems with various means, such as pumps, hydraulics, and pistons, to finally an engine designed by Achille Gaggia in 1938 that used hand-powered pistons. Some European-style coffee bars continue to use hand-powered piston machines because they can make flavorful Espresso, but these machines also demand a high level of skill, as many elements need to be managed to ensure correct lever compression and extraction.
Gaggia revolutionized coffee making by making Espresso as we know it today. It still uses steam, but the steam never comes into direct contact with the coffee. Instead, the steam creates pressure in the boiler, forcing the water into the cylinder where it is further pressed by the piston.
Achille Gaggia not only changed the flavor and brewing method of what was already one of the world’s most popular food products, but he also discovered an aspect of coffee that is now considered very important: crema.
At the time, Gaggia was constantly promoting his new product, so he installed his coffee machine in bars around Milan along with a sign that read “caffè crema di caffè natural” (coffee cream from natural coffee). After this piston power was recognized for its superior quality and popularity, high-end bars and restaurants began to install these Gaggia engines.
Coffee percolator
The invention of the electric coffee percolator was one of the first encounters between electricity and coffee, offering a basic way to brew, the electric percolator was initially considered a high-value kitchen appliance.
It wasn’t long before the coffee percolator became a common kitchen appliance, with many coffee consumers now recommending drip or automatic coffee makers over percolators, but there are nevertheless a large number of people who continue to enjoy percolator-grown coffee.
Semi-automatic machine
These machines are like the monsters of coffee machines: big, fierce and tough. True to its title, the semi-automatic machine is also intended for more complex use and is intended for more technical use. In other words, experienced baristas who know how to operate Espresso machines, as well as (large) cafes that focus on coffee quality are the segmentation of this type of machine.
For this machine, the user still has to grind andstamp the Espresso before starting to extract the coffee. Semi-automatic Espresso machines are usually of two different types, namely: manual control – once the coffee is made, it stops itself if it feels that enough coffee has been poured as needed (usually the extraction process is about 20 – 30 seconds). And the other type is programmable doses – we specify how many milliliters of coffee we want and the machine will stop itself once the coffee has reached the desired amount.
Generally, this type of machine draws about 40 – 50 amps of electrical power in a capacity of 220 volts. In addition, commercial machines also consist of more than two groups, have a steam boiler (either a unit boiler or a separate boiler ). Variations of Rancilio, La Marzocco or Nuova Simonelli machines are generally the series that fall into this type.
Automatic machine
Basically, an automatic machine is a machine that does not require human assistance to brew a cup of coffee. With just the push of a button, hot coffee can be served. There are machines that can use coffee beans directly, while others use capsules or pod coffee machines. Pod coffee is now also gaining popularity in Indonesia, mainly because of its practicality.
Machines such as Dolce Gusto and Nespresso belong to this type. Some people think that using this type of machine is much more practical because we only make coffee as needed, just one coffee capsule that we will drink. Aside from its practical use, the advantage of this type of machine is that its design tends to be cool-some even have a futuristic style.
Automatic drip coffee
Meanwhile,drip coffee has long been a popular innovation in the way coffee is brewed manually. It declined in popularity in North America until the invention of the electric-powered, automatic drip coffee machine.
The machine itself largely determines the time and temperature, so it is important to buy a good quality machine.
Conclusion
From the brief explanation above, we can see how innovations in how to brew coffee develop from manual to automatic machines, all thanks to the innovations that occur in coffee drinks, whose practicality we can feel today.
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