Hario "Technica" Coffee Syphon, 600ml

This is a very nice looking coffee maker, it looks quality. It reeks coffee fanatic if anyone sees it in your house lol. The box, was about 16" long, by 6" wide x5", which I thought was a little small, I thought this thing was going to be huge for a 5 cup, but it's not that huge. It's a perfect size. It comes with everything you see in the picture. It is Japanese made, so it has Japanese writing on the box, but one thing good is it has English as well. I think I seen Chinese, Korean, and Spanish on the instructions as well. It comes with a small denatured alcohol burner, but you'd need to buy some denatured alcohol, I bought some here, green denatured alcohol http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001FOSX9U?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 it's about 7.98, not bad. It has a plastic measuring, stirring spoon inside too. Guess I didn't need the hario wood stirrer but it was only 5.98. The whole setup looks quality and feels sturdy. That top lid becomes the stand for the top part once the coffee is done and you pull off the top. The strainer comes with one of the cloth filters already attached. They are 7.30 for 5 filters, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IGOTW6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00 but I read you can keep washing them and re-use them, so it'll be interesting to see how many servings each filter lasts. I seen this siphon type coffee maker at a shop in Japan, and always wanted one, and now they're here at a decent price, so it's pretty nice to have. Don't know why someone doesn't just make an electronic version of this with a built in electric heater of some sort and a gold filter, I should just design one with a computer ic that controls the timing and light that tells you when to add the coffee. Seems pretty simple. Ahh, that would take the fun away, this is way cool with the alcohol burner. Anyways, can't wait to try it. Will leave comments after I make a cup tomorrow, I think my order of denatured alcohol is coming, but for now, the quality and completeness of the kit are 5 star, and the one day prime shipping was awesome.Update:Ok, so amazon sent me laquer thinner instead of denatured alcohol, please do not use lacquer thinner, it has all kinds of toxic things like acetone, so be careful, it had an amazon bar code of denatured alcohol, but the product was lacquer thinner. Anyways, i ended up getting this burner. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VLADUQ4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00 it was only 35 dollars and shipped in one day, awesome. I just tried it now, the burner clicks on, had a full tank of butane as well. I had the flame low, so it took longer to boil, but i made coffee with about the same amount i normally do. I used three of the hario scoop spoon it says 9gm per scoop, but i put 3 full scoops for the 5 cups and the coffee was nice and rich. I let the water come up as much as it could, then stirred it just till it incorporated, waited the 70 seconds with burner under, then removed the burner, held a slightly warm wet towel under the bottom glass, i was scared to use a cold wet towel even though it's pyrex, but it was cool enough to start drawing the liquid back down. This is a great cup of coffee, and yeah, it's a little more work, now i have to wash the cloth filter and rinse the two bowls carefully as one person stated, it's easy to drop these things, so be careful. But it's great, i love it. I don't mind the extra time, it's actually fun to watch and make, and the coffee is delicous. Oh and last thing, i just straightened the top, i didn't push down on it, it pretty much seals itself once it's straight, and after the coffee was done, i just pushed it a little to one side and turned it at the same time, the top glass was cool aready so easy to handle and it just popped off. Didn't take a whole lot of strength, so just put the top on gently, no need to push it on there.

As a Chemical engineer, i was very intrigued with this style of making coffee since the first time I saw it in a local coffee shop. It was not long until I went online and purchased this kit. I'm very impressed with the quality of this coffee maker. Not only is the look nice, but everything is of great quality. The stand is sturdy and as best as I can tell, the glass is great and near enough to pyrex that it makes no difference. I chose to purchase a butane burner, and suggest that it is well worth the cost in order to fully enjoy this coffee maker. With preheated water, the butane burner gets it to boiling in well under a minute. Despite what some reviewers have said, disassembly and cleaning is a cinch so long as you mind the following:1) Even when the coffee appears done being filtered, there may remain a bit of a vacuum, which can make it difficult to diconnect the uppoer from the lower. If difficult to remove, either wait an extra minute for it to equalize, or cock the upper part to the side so that it may equalize around the seal.2) Handle the lower by the handle as the thing is friggin hot.3) when you disconnect the filter from the upper use it to help dump the grounds directly into the trash then rinse both. It's really not hard.I chose to get a metal filter, and so far it works great. The pot does come with one fabric filter. Only other thing i will note is the included measuring spoon is huge and misled me into making an extremely strong cup on my first attempt.

Compared to the fairly laborious process by which I was using my French Press before, this is a fairly simple way to make coffee. So I totally understand if readers of the review disagree with me. However, I've found the Hario Syphon Coffee maker to be a lot easier to clean and the coffee to be smooth, stout and delicious (with no grounds).Before you buy this product, I suggest you consider making a few additional purchases to make things faster and easier. The first thing I would recommend is to replace the included alcohol burner with a butane burner instead. It burns clean and fast by comparison. Regardless of which burner you use, boiling the water from cold or even room temperature will take quite a while, so I would also recommend that you boil the water in a kettle first. If you don't already have an electric kettle, well, those are good to have around regardless. If you are switching from French Press to syphon, you probably already have one. Thirdly, I would recommend replacing the included filter with a permanent coffee filter (Diguo sells one specifically for the Hario). Cleaning and then soaking the included fabric filters gets to be a pain. The permanent filter is far easier to clean and does a terrific job.So, now that you have your electric kettle, your butane burner (I got the Yama Glass Mini Butane Tabletop burner) and your permanent filter, you'll need to tweak the recipe a bit. The included recipe was far too weak for me. I basically doubled the recipe and then added just a pinch more coffee. On my burr grinder, I set it for 8 cups at a medium grind. I stir the moment water starts flooding the top chamber, about 40 seconds after the top container is full and again after I remove the heat source. From kettle to syphon to cup, I've got it down to about 8 minutes to prepare.Now that I read what I've just read, I understand just how obsessed with coffee I am and how willing I am to tweak a brewing method until it's perfect. The Hario syphon coffee maker probably isn't for everyone, but I think I can say confidently that it's for everyone who loves coffee a bit too much. I could probably use some counseling and rehab. If you don't care how your coffee tastes as long as it contains caffeine, stick with a coffee machine. This method is about 5 stops down the rabbit hole. Perhaps start with a pour-over.