Can you help me identify this antique coffee maker?
by Sam White
(Indianapolis)
QUESTION:
I am looking for a particular sort of antique type coffee maker. This way to brew is accomplished with a two piece maker. One glass pot on bottom for water with another pot with a stem fixed with a rubber stopper.
You boil the water up the stem into second pot with coffee and filter, you then take the combo off the stove set on the counter.
The bottom will cool quicker creating a thermal inversion which vacuums the coffee back into bottom pot. I need to know what this kind of brewing is called and where to find the brewer please.
ANSWER:
What you are describing is a vacuum coffee maker. Yes, they have been around for a long time. You can still buy them, either as a stove-top brewer or to plug into a wall socket.
To learn more about these brewers, and for a link to a store that sells them, visit our vacuum coffee maker page.