Let’s play a little game of Two Truths And A Lie: Siphon Edition. 1. The siphon is the most transfixing brewing method out there, 2. It produces a cup of coffee somewhere between a French press and a pour-over, and 3. It’s incredibly consistent. Did you spot the lie? If you’ve ever tried to use a siphon then you no doubt knew that #3 was the obvious falsehood. Siphon brewing, for all its beauty, is very much a shot in the dark on what the output will be, and frankly, I’ve never had a cup that was ever more than “good for a siphon.”
Enter Siphonysta, a brand-new automated countertop siphon system looking to take the guesswork out of a rather finicky brewing method, and it’s live on Kickstarter now.
There is no greater impress-your-dinner-guests brewer than a siphon, even if the results can be… frustrating. As Siphonysta rightfully notes, “the manual process is time consuming and hands-on, and mastery is near impossible. And after all that effort, cleanup and maintenance is among the most laborious of all coffee-making methods.” And while they less correctly state that “for generations, siphon coffee makers have been hailed as the source of peak coffee flavor,” there is nonetheless potential for a very good cup contained within coffee’s most mesmerizing lab experiment.
Created by Tiger, a 100-year-old Japanese home and kitchen appliances company whose vacuum-insulation thermal control technology has been used to transport samples from the International Space Station, Siphonysta uses customizable automation to create hands-off consistency and repeatability to siphon brewing. Looking like a mix between a siphon brewer and a home espresso machine, the Siphonista allows users to sit back and enjoy the show. All they need to do is add the ground coffee, water, and select the strength and flavor profile of their brew, acidity in particular.
From there, the brewer blooms the grounds using steam—that also stirs the grounds for uniform saturation—then heats the water in the lower chamber to bubble up into the grounds in the upper chamber. The Siphonysta also uses a “dual temperature” water system, whereby the water temp is dropped mid-brew to “bring out the full and true flavor of the coffee beans while also diminishing any unpleasant bitterness.” After the completed brew is dropped back down to the lower chamber, a pouring lever will then dispense the coffee into your mug.
With four weeks left in the campaign, the Siphonysta has already reached its $20,000 goal, but there are still steep discounts available for the siphon lovers out there. As part of the Early Bird deal, would-be backers can get their own Siphonysta for $399, $251 off the MSRP. Per the Kickstarter, rewards are expected to start shipping out in July 2022, five months before the December 2022.
It’s admittedly a steep price tag for a coffee brewer, but if you are a diehard siphon fan, what wouldn’t you pay for a consistently good cup of that particular brew method? Really, I’d just like to have one single good cup from a siphon before I shuffle all this steaming mortal coil. Is that so much to ask?
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
