Guess What We Have Been Up To

I'll give you a little hint - a visual hint at that . . .
I would not be surprised if you think that we have been conducting some fascinating science experiment. For those of you who know Glenn it would be a logical guess. I think he qualifies as an amateur scientist. His specialty? All things plants related, the more obscure and wacky, the better. Exhibit A: The hundreds of carnivorous plants he propagates and grows.

But I digress. Actually, I was giving you a little more time to figure out what we are doing with that apparatus straight out of Chemistry 101 pictured above!

Bonus points for those of you who recognized the piece in the photo as the bottom half of a syphon coffee maker (SCM). Yes, that is right, a coffee maker. It caught my eye while browsing a local antique mall, Carriage Town Antique Center. I thought it looked cool and Glenn loves making and drinking coffee - a perfect example of form meeting function. Adding to the allure of the item was the attached note reading that a veteran of Vietnam purchased this while serving in Japan. Being that the SCM was manufactured and purchased in Japan all the included instructions were in Japanese. After some research on line we were ready to give this baby a go.

The SCM kind of looks like an hour glass. Water is poured in the bottom chamber and after it is heated (in our case with an alcohol-fueled burner) to boiling it is sucked/syphoned to the upper chamber that contains the ground coffee. After a minute or so of active brewing in the upper chamber, the heat source is removed and all water, that is now brewed coffee, flows back to the lower chamber and is ready to be enjoyed. There is a scientific explanation for the phenomenon. Glenn told me it is Boyle's Law for all those who would like/need a more thorough explanation.

I am not a coffee drinker, but Glenn loves his "joe". He could not stop ranting and raving about how great the coffee made in the SCM tasted. "Clean" is how he described the coffee. I guess he means that it tasted strong without any of the oily after-taste!

While doing my research, I discovered that there is a whole sub-culture out there of devoted SCM fans. SCMs are still being manufactured. Some coffee houses use the SCMs as novel way of brewing coffee. There is even a place in San Fran that installed a whole bank of SCMs.

If you see one of these babies out there, purchase it - it is a lot of fun and apparently hip in certain circles!