I remember reading about this thing over on the old CoffeeGeek website; the OXO Single Serve yada yada thing. (ed.note, it’s now on this new site too). A little $15 contraption that the review promised would do excellent pour over coffee, in a very automated format. You just add rinsed filter, freshly ground coffee, and hot water, then… just walk away. Walk away.
But what about swirling techniques? What about pause, pour, pause, pour, pause, pour? What about timing your pour to a flow rate of 2g of water per second? Whataboutdisms.
Anyway, I bought one. Saw it on the shelf at Target. Bought one. Brought it home, and forgot about it. Meanwhile, I’m plugging away, mainly using my Chemex for bigger batches, but occasionally using my partner’s V60 for single cup brews. Doing my pour over thing, getting it done, wondering if this patient swirling will really make a difference (hey, I studied the technique from the Stumptown website, and after all, they know their biz, right?). It was “fine” but I still liked the Chemex big batches better.
Then I saw the box sitting there on my bookshelf where I’d left it, so I decided it was time to open it it. Thankfully it came with some filters because I don’t have any Melitta #2 filters around this Hario loving house. Dutifully cleaned it out, got my pour over kettle boiling (with its breathtaking long slender goose neck spout which, I did not know would become obsolete!) got the grinder cranking away (21g for a 320ml brew!) and set it all up. I gave the cone filter a good rinse with off-boil water, added the coffee, and rapidly poured water into the top reservoir, filling it to the 325ml mark. Put the lid on top and…
Walked away. Just walked away from it. Let it do it’s thing.
Well, that’s a lie. I watched. I may have even lifted the reservoir to see how it was doing. It wasn’t fully saturating the bed of coffee at first, but right away I noticed the flow was restricted out of the bottom of the brewer, which meant a nice coffee soup was forming on top in the filter chamber. Soon, everything was saturated. The coffee was blooming nicely, and everything just looked… good.
Amazingly, it took 3 minutes and 45 seconds (give or take) to do the full brew. Right around the time the super geeknerdy pros claim you should be doing. But all kind of automatic like.
Tasted it. Damn, this is a good cup of coffee! Tasted some more. NICE! Wow, this is pretty good!
It was maybe too good. So I busted out my partner’s V60, secretly cheered my kettle’s gooseneck to do a good job, and got to work. Water to 204F. 21g of coffee, ground fresh. Rinsed the heck out of that V60 paper filter. Plopped it into the glass V60 holder. Added my coffee, got the 204F Kettle making sweet love as it poured over the bed of coffee, but only 40g worth of water. Just double the coffee weight to saturate it, and pause 30 seconds. Now start the main brewing pour. Lovingly swirl and pour that stream in interesting circular patterns, all at a very slow flow rate. Provide the love and care that coffee deserves!
And nearly 4 minutes later, a finished brew. Gave it a taste. Damn, this is a good cup of coffee! But is better than the OXO plastic toy?
Erm.
Uhoh.
Well, you know how it goes here. I may not have a Q-Grader’s palette or the experience of a world barista championship judge, but I do think I know my tastes and especially my smells, and hand to chest truth here, if there’s any improved quality from the V60 brew vs the automatic OXO brew, I cannot taste it most days. I dare say it is almost as good as my long practiced small volume Chemex brews (I should write about that some day!).
But I’m not giving up on the V60, or especially my Chemex. I like the ritual of it. I like the ceremony. I like being that coffee nerd in my pack that does that pour dance thing while my friends roll their eyes.
With that said, when I just want a good coffee fast, without any effort at all, I now reach for the OXO brewer.
The OXO Single Serve Brewer is available on Amazon, and is still in the $16 range.
