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Okay ... you don't need an expensive electric appliance to brew great drip coffee. Manual pour-over drip brewing with Chemex or a filter cone work well, as does a French Press for a fuller-bodied cup. But most people in our fair land brew their coffee in electric coffee makers, and ironically, most of them can barely brew a decent cup! (I am talking about the machines, not the people using them.) Cheap drip brewers invariably fail to brew coffee at the correct temperature; most home electric drip brewers reach only 185 degrees. When coffee is brewed at a low temperature the result is a dulling of the higher, more vivid cup tones, and incomplete extraction of the coffee flavors overall. The Technivorm brewers all make the same cup of coffee. The differences are primarily in size (8 cup vs. 10 cup) and style. The Technivorms brewers use a cone-shaped filter which improves the extraction of coffee flavors from the grounds. (A flat-bottom filter is fine if you have a sprinkler-type brew head, but home machines rarely do). Our tests result in more intense brewed coffee than comparable home machines when using the exact same amount of ground coffee in each. |
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 The filter cone holder is unlike other coffeemakers allowing for manually holding back the hot water - this has advantages (see below). Also note that the Moccamaster CD is of a different design ...(also see below!) |
 The finish in the machines is good, and if you have any doubts of their wallop, check out the diameter of the power cord. One weak point in the manufacture is the thin feel of some plastic lid parts, above. They are quality ABS material, they could just have a little more heft to them. |
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A note on the KBTS Thermal Carafe model:
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My
favorite Technivorm feature is so simple ... |
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| This is an image of the sensor on the base of the KBTS model (with the thermal carafe). It stops the brewing if the pot is removed (or won't let you start the brewing if the pot is not there). By the way, you also need to close the filterholder's drip-stop switch (next image) to remove the pot and pour coffee before the brewing is complete. However, this is something you should really not do ... you are changing the overall flavor of the whole brew batch if you, for example, stop brewing to pour the first 12 ounces from the carafe. | This
is the simple feature on most models* of the Technivorm that I really
appreciate. It's the filterholder's drip stop switch. It is supposed
to be set to "Full Drip" when you brew a full pot, "Slow
Drip" (half open) for brewing less than a full pot, and No Drip
(closed) to pull out the pot when coffee is still brewing. However,
it has a fantastic alternative function; I set it to No Drip for the
first 1-2 minutes of the brew cycle to allow for the hot water and
grinds to fully infuse, then I switch it to Slow Drip for the remainder
of the brew cycle (I see no need to use Full Drip at all). The intensity
of the coffee is excellent using this technique, and no longer is the
timing of the water passing through the coffee dependent on the grind;
too coarse and the brew tastes week and under-infused, too fine and
it is bitter and has sediment). This improves the performance of Swiss
Gold filters in the Technivorm too. I also stir my grinds in the filterholder
after 2 minutes, but this is purely optional. The danger of my
technique: if you forget to switch the brewer to Slow Drip after a
minute or two, it is going to overflow - though there is a new mechanism
so it does not create a huge mess - you might just get some grounds
in the pot. Our
tip sheet outlines this process, and it comes with the Technivorm |
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You
also might appreciate the attitude expressed in Technivorm's "company
profile" statement, as I did:
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