BREW GUIDES: Vacuum Pot Brew Guide
The vacuum pot, also called a syphon brewer, is an extremely cool way to brew coffee. It’s also quite old. Invented in the 1830s in Germany, vacuum pot brewing is an experience in itself. With its multi-chambers and steam-power, we think of the vacuum pot as the original steampunk coffee maker—fiddly, old-school technical but with a heap of style.
We know a lot of people that have given the vacuum pot a go, only to get frustrated and relegate it to a shelf gathering dust. That’s a shame. Because it’s a full immersion brewer it has the ability to give you a full-bodied, clean cup that you will definitely love. Plus, it’s just a lot of fun!
BREW GUIDES: Vacuum Pot Brewing
Vacuum pot brewing is a complicated but super interesting process. The brewer has two chambers. You fill the lower chamber with water, which is heated to boiling. The upper chamber contains the coffee grounds, and this is placed on top to create a seal. Steam begins to build in the lower chamber and pushes the water up through a tube and a filter into the upper chamber. Then the brew is left to steep.
Once the vacuum pot is removed from the heat, the steam cools and condenses back into water which creates a vacuum (and the name!). This vacuum sucks the coffee from the upper chamber back through the filter and into the bottom chamber leaving the grounds trapped in the upper section. The coffee can then be poured from the bottom.
Sound interesting? Let’s dive into the details of vacuum pot brewing.
The Basics
You’ll need:
Beautifully roasted beans with a medium grind
Hot filtered water
A scale
A timer
A cloth or metal filter
A burner
A vacuum pot
Your ratio of coffee to water:
40 grams of coffee to 500ml of filtered water.
As with all ratios, give it a try and then personalise it from there.
Steps to Vacuum Pot Brewing
Source beans and weigh out 40g of medium ground coffee for 500ml.
Then you’ll need to prep your filter. Pull the chain of the metal filter attachment down and sink it. Attach the clip to the bottom of the funnel.
Fill your bottom changer with the desired amount of water. Tip: Preheated water will help the brewing process move along more quickly.
Place the bottom chamber on the heat source. Some may be designed to go straight on your stovetop, but others will need a separate burner such as a butane burner, an alcohol burner or a halogen lamp. Tip: Vacuum pots often come with a candle burner, but these are not very effective. A butane burner would be a better choice in that case.
Loosely place the upper chamber or funnel inside the bottom chamber so it sits at an angle while you wait for the water to boil. If you seal it at this stage the brewing process will happen too quickly and the resulting coffee will be terrible (trust us).
Once the water starts to boil, attach the top funnel securely to the globe so a seal forms. If you can control your heat source, turn it to low now.
Once the top chamber fills (and there is just a little water remaining in the lower chamber), create a whirlpool with a spoon and add the coffee directly into the water.
Start your timer.
Give the mixture a stir, so the coffee grounds are completely immersed. After 30 seconds, give it another gentle stir to break any crust that’s formed and to ensure that all the coffee is completely saturated.
At 1:30, turn the heat off completely. Once the coffee begins to draw down into the lower chamber give it one more stir to prevent it sticking to the walls of the pot. The coffee should be drawn completely down the filter after about three minutes.
Decant your coffee into a carafe to prevent it from cooking in the residual heat of the vacuum pot.
Let the coffee cool for a couple of minutes, and then enjoy!
Caring for Your Vacuum Pot
Most traditional vacuum pots use cloth wrapped around a metal disc as a filter. After every use, run the cloth under very hot water to clean it. After every couple of uses, clean it with a soft detergent.
Remember, it’s your coffee!
Our Vacuum Pot Brewing Guide is just that… a guide. You may take a different approach entirely to brewing coffee with a vacuum pot. (We’d love to hear if you do!) And while vacuum pot brewing might be fussy, it’s also a beautiful, science-project-like method that’s fun and interesting to do. We love to use it when we’re having friends round for coffee in the arvo. It’s a talking point that also makes a delicious cup of coffee!
If you want to use steamed milk in your coffee you can find out how to do that on our video (you can skip directly to 3:45)!
Our Brew Guides
If you liked our Vacuum Pot Brew Guide check out our other Brew Guides. You can find out the specifics about other brewing methods, including all our tips and tricks.
We’ve got some excellent coffee beans, single origin and one-of-a-kind blends ready for your next vacuum pot brewing adventure. And we’ll grind them just the way you like. Grab a bag at our shop today!