No brew method matches.
Siphon
The showpiece. A vacuum brewer that looks like lab glassware and brews like theatre — water climbs, coffee steeps, and the finished cup is pulled back down as it cools. Clean, aromatic and a genuine spectacle.
Overview
Brew with us
Siphon
Notes
We stir as soon as the grounds go in — floating dry on top means uneven brewing. Cut the heat on time; coffee held on the burner past the draw keeps cooking and turns bitter.
Behind every step
-
1Heat water
0:20Temperature sets how fast coffee dissolves: hotter pulls more, cooler pulls less. Off-boil is the usual sweet spot — water straight off a rolling boil scorches the grounds and adds a hard, bitter edge.
-
2Weigh beans
0:05Weighing instead of scooping is the only way to repeat a brew — beans differ in density and roast, so a scoop of one is not a scoop of another. Fix the dose and every other variable finally means something.
-
3Grind
0:15Full immersion near boiling, then a vacuum pulls everything down through the filter — so the grind has to keep that drawdown moving. Medium, a touch coarser than V60; too fine and it stalls, holding coffee on the heat until it turns bitter. Cloth filters tolerate finer, metal wants coarser.
-
4Rise
1:00Vapour pressure in the lower chamber pushes water up to meet the coffee, so brewing starts hot and stays hot. Add the grounds once the water is fully up, and stir to sink them, or the top just floats unextracted.
-
5Add coffee & stir
1:30Once the water is up, the coffee goes in and a gentle stir sinks the floating grounds so everything brews at once. Around ninety seconds is plenty — the brew is sitting on a heat source, so every extra second counts double.
-
6Draw down
1:00Cutting the heat drops the pressure and the vacuum pulls the brew back down through the filter. Take it off in time — coffee left sitting on the burner keeps cooking and turns bitter before it ever draws down.
-
7Enjoy
0:10Coffee keeps changing as it cools: aromatics fade, acidity sharpens and sweetness comes forward. Drink it soon after brewing, and taste it as it drops in temperature — that's how you learn what to adjust next time.
Fix it by taste
Timing and heat are the levers. Add coffee once the water is fully in the top chamber, stir to saturate, steep around 90 seconds, then remove the heat and let the vacuum pull it down. Too bitter? Less time or less heat. Too thin? A little more of both, or a finer grind.
-
Bitter, over-extractedSteeped too long or too hotFix · Shorten the steep to ~1:30 and cut the heat sooner
-
Stalls, slow drawdownGrind too fineFix · Coarsen a step (metal filters want coarser than cloth)
-
Thin and sourUnder-extractedFix · Grind finer or steep a little longer
-
Uneven steepGrounds not saturatedFix · Give it a gentle stir once the water rises
What you need
A siphon (stovetop, or with a beam/butane burner), a cloth or metal filter, and a medium grinder. It's fiddly — and worth it for guests.
Beans & roast
Light-to-medium single origins show off the clean, aromatic character. Fresh beans make the aromatics sing.
Variations to try
-
Cloth vs metal filter
Cloth gives the cleanest cup; metal a bit more body and less fuss
-
Heat source
A butane beam burner gives finer control than the stovetop
Siphon FAQ
Why is my siphon coffee bitter?
It steeped too long or too hot. Cut the steep to around 90 seconds and pull the heat sooner so it doesn't keep cooking on the burner.
Is a siphon hard to use?
It's fiddly more than hard — a few brews to learn the timing and the stir. The reward is one of the cleanest, most aromatic cups you can make.
Cloth or metal filter?
Cloth gives the cleanest cup but needs care and storage; metal is lower-maintenance with a touch more body. Grind coarser for metal.
Grinders dialed for this method
Full grind chart →
