Ian Bersten
2012-07-12 17:19:41 UTC
enjoy. This works for tea too
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A totally new approach to brewing coffee in
a filter using espresso grind for the first time.
At the end of the nineteenth century coffee was made in individual filters sitting on a cup or pot by allowing the water to percolate through the ground coffee and to steep in filters suspended in the pot
Bezzera’s espresso machine in 1902 was designed to make a cup of coffee instantaneously for the customer. He must have been aware that he needed to use finely ground coffee to get rapid extraction, but also that the water would not pass through the coffee if it was too fine, without some steam pressure. The fineness of the grind and consequent blocking prevented espresso grind being used in all other coffee filters. In 1947 the development of the Gaggia machine using much higher pressure from the spring lever allowed the use of much finer coffee – modern espresso grind – to make coffee in less than 30 seconds..
Now a totally new approach to steep the coffee first and then filter it, using a 60 micron stainless steel mesh filter or filter paper, allows espresso grind coffee to be used to brew coffee almost instantaneously – certainly less than thirty seconds. The process of filtering and then steeping is reversed to steeping and then filtering which more closely imitates the way that tasters brew.
The new Quicksteeps TM Turbofilter TM follows the contours of the mug or pot and is not suspended - it rests on the base. The espresso ground coffee or very fine tea is measured into the filter and boiling water poured over it. The water cannot pass through the coffee or tea and is reflected upwards, causing turbulence with a better extraction of the separated particles which saturate quickly, releasing their flavour immediately. When the brewing is complete, the filter is removed. This contrasts with all suspended filters where the water is poured over the coffee exerting downward pressure as the water tries to pass through and compresses it, allowing the fines to fill the interstices and block the flow. In badly designed filters the water flows out the sides of the filter reducing extraction even further. It is this characteristic of most filters which necessitates coarser ground coffee and slower and less complete extraction. Espresso ground coffee is 150 microns and plunger/French Press coffee is 750 microns.
The Quicksteeps TM Turbofilter TM will be offered with mugs to make one cup at a time and with larger glass or ceramic coffee pots. Consumer reaction has been very good with particular mention of the smoothness of the brew, the amazing speed of brewing and the convenience. Coffee and tea is brewed freshly every time which means that there is no deterioration on warmers.
The inventor, Ian Bersten from Sydney, Australia, has been roasting coffee since 1968 and is the author of ‘Coffee Floats Tea Sinks’ as well as ‘Tea In the 21st Century’. (available on Kindle books)
In a conventional filter the water
trying to pass through the coffee
or tea compresses it and is blocked
if the coffee is too fine.
In the Quicksteeps TM Turbofilter TM
the water is reflected from the bottom
causing turbulence. Espresso grind
coffee can be used giving an extremely
short brewing time around 15-30 seconds.
After steeping the filter is lifted out and
drains leaving a mug or pot of hot coffee
or tea. A total brewing time of one minute is recommended - 30 seconds for brewing and 30 seconds to sit at 45 degrees on the rim of the mug to drain.
A plunger which uses coarser coffee develops a floating bed of grounds when the boiling water is poured over them. If these are not stirred and agitated, the grounds on the top of the bed will hardly brew. The Turbofilter creates turbulence on account of its design and the espresso grind coffee creates a smaller floating bed which causes a much better extracted and better flavoured coffee
There has been a presumption that particles of coarse ground coffee saturate very slowly - within the 3-5 minute period and release their flavour components. I have seen no evidence of this in sources anywhere. I think in fact that what happens is more reminiscent of a plank of wood and sawdust from the same plank. Dip the plank in water and the water penetrates very slowly to the center and may be dry in the center for days, Sawdust from the same plank wets more or less immediately similar to espresso grind coffee.
I am 100% certain that this is what happens with large leaf tea. I have steeped large leaf tea leaves and drained them and placed them in a saucepan on low heat with a hair dryer from above and dried the leaves again. I ground the leaves to fine particles and much more colour and flavour came out the second time. Therefore I can be certain that the flavour from the cells below the surface do not dissolve. You can do this experiment yourself. You throw out more than half the flavour into the trash when you brew with large leaf tea.
Unfortunately the illustrations did not seem to come out. If you want teh whole sheet with illustations please email ***@helian.net.au