Hourglass Coffee Maker Should Be Renamed 12-Hour Plastic Disappointment
We took one look at the electricity-free Hourglass Coffee Maker and thought it a simplistic, design-forward product. And then we examined the brewing process…
To be fair, the basic concept of the Hourglass is simple. You put beans to soak in the bottom, then you flip it to filter your coffee into the empty chamber. Kind of neat, right?
Except it’s not that simple.
The system uses cold brewing, meaning that you load system with beans and water before waiting 12+ hours to brew. Once it’s brewed and you do the fun flippy part, you still don’t have coffee. You have something called “coffee extract.” So you heat some water and add two shots of the extract. And then you finally have coffee.
On the plus side, the system does promise to brew coffee with far lower acid content than traditional methods and you can reuse beans if you regrind them between brews. In case you’re interested, the Hourglass Coffee Maker goes for $US70. [Hourglass]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Cold brewed coffee is great, but you don’t need a $30-$70 gadget to do it. Just let grounds soak in a pitcher of water overnight, then strain it. It’s really best used for iced coffee (lower acid, flavors blend better in cold drinks), not converted back into hot coffee, although you can do this too if you want. You can adjust the strength of your coffee by using more or less water to “extract”. It’s also great for cooking and making cocktails out of because it’s stronger than normal brewed coffee and doesn’t introduce as many sour/bitter flavors.