⚗️ Your first siphon brew

You need

• 20 g fresh coffee, ground medium (like coarse sand)
• A siphon brewer with its filter (cloth, paper or metal)
• A heat source: the brewer's burner or a halogen heater
• 300 g water (hot water from a kettle speeds things up)
• A kitchen scale and a timer
• A bamboo paddle or spoon, and a dry towel
• Optional: a thermometer

Step by step

1. 1

   Prepare the filter

   Soak a cloth filter in hot water, or rinse a paper filter. Fit it in the upper bowl and hook its chain onto the end of the glass tube, so the filter sits centered and snug.

   💡 Keep cloth filters wet in a container in the fridge between uses and rinse well. Dried-out cloth gets musty.

2. 2

   Fill the lower bowl and dry it

   Pour 300 g of hot water into the lower bowl. Then dry the outside completely with a towel. Water drops on hot glass can crack it.

   💡 Never heat the lower bowl empty.

3. 3

   Heat and insert the upper bowl

   Start the heat. Rest the upper bowl on top at an angle without sealing it. When small bubbles start rising from the chain, gently twist and press the upper bowl straight down to seal it.

4. 4

   Let the water rise

   Water climbs into the upper bowl. A little stays below, that's normal. Turn the heat down so it just keeps the water up there with gentle bubbling. If you have a thermometer, aim for 91–96 °C in the upper bowl.

5. 5

   Add coffee and stir

   Start the timer, add the 20 g of grounds and stir gently, pushing them down until they're all wet. A few slow circles are enough.

   Start timer60 s
6. 6

   Steep

   Let it brew for about a minute on low heat. You'll see three layers: foam on top, coffee in the middle, grounds hovering above it.

7. 7

   Kill the heat and stir once

   Turn off or remove the heat, then give one gentle stir. As the lower bowl cools, the coffee is pulled back down through the filter.

   Start timer45 s
8. 8

   Check the drawdown

   The drawdown should take about 30–60 seconds and leave a neat dome of grounds on the filter. The total since adding coffee should land around 1:30–2:30.

9. 9

   Serve carefully

   Rock the upper bowl gently to break the seal and lift it off into its stand. Pour from the lower bowl using its handle. Let the glass cool before washing.

10. 10

    Taste and adjust

    Sour or thin? Grind a little finer or steep a bit longer. Bitter or dry? Grind a little coarser or steep a bit less.

Common mistakes

• 🙈Heating the lower bowl while the outside is wet, which can crack the glass.
• 🙈Forgetting to hook the filter chain, so the filter sits crooked and grounds sneak through.
• 🙈Keeping the heat on high after the water rises, so it boils hard and over-extracts.
• 🙈Stirring too vigorously and stalling the drawdown.
• 🙈Pulling the upper bowl off before the drawdown is finished.

Tastes off? Fix it

Words you'll hear

Lower bowl

The round bottom glass chamber that holds the water and later receives the finished coffee.

Upper bowl

The top chamber with a glass tube. The water rises into it and the coffee brews here.

Filter

A cloth, paper or metal disc that sits at the bottom of the upper bowl and holds back the grounds.

Drawdown

When the heat is removed and the coffee is pulled back into the lower bowl. Should take about 30–60 seconds.

Vacuum

As the lower bowl cools, the vapor inside condenses and lowers the pressure, which sucks the coffee back down.

Ratio

Water weight divided by coffee weight. 1:15 means 20 g of coffee to 300 g of water.

Extraction

How much flavor the water pulls from the grounds. Under-extracted tastes sour and thin; over-extracted tastes bitter and dry.