Full Immersion Coffee

 

 

As I mentioned in my post on how to make strong coffee, I use the full immersion coffee method.  This has been my favorite method for almost 3 years.   I was thinking back about how I can across this method and the story came back to me.

My daughter had just been born, and a good friend who already had kids told me that I was going to need some strong coffee.  His aunt also owns a coffee hardware store out in Seattle, so he gets the scoop on all the new coffee trends.   It was the second week of July and the temperature was already 100 degrees Fahrenheit which is 37.7 degrees Celsius for everyone else.  He suggested I get a cold brew coffee setup called the Hario water brew coffee pot

I tried it out, but I found it required too much coffee beans to create a small amount of cold coffee.  I admit, it made some of the best cold brew coffee I have every tasted.  But still, the amount of coffee beans needed was going to be too costly for it to be practical.  My local coffee shop already had an excellent cold brew coffee, so I decided I was going to stick with buying my cold brew coffee from them.

Being curious as I am, my mind got to thinking, what other coffee methods are out there.   I decided to do some searching online, and I came across a review of the Clever dripper.  The person reviewing it said it was very consistent at making a really great cup of coffee.   I was not convinced as I thought how could a BPA free plastic looking contraption make a great cup of coffee.   I decided to take a trip down to one of the local stores that sells all sorts of coffee gear.   I walked down the aisle and I saw a pour over system called the V60 made by Hario ( “The King of Glass” ), the same brand I had bought for cold brew coffee.

 

There were a few other brands such as Bonavita and a glass coffee maker called Chemex.  I went online and searched all around and sure enough, brands like the Hario V60 were trumpeted up as the best there is to make full immersion coffee.  The Hario V60 was made of ceramic, and it had a solid design.  There was just one problem I had with what I found about these products.

Many of them require experimentation and trial and error to get a good cup of coffee.  You have to play with the water temperature, the pouring, and the flow valves.    I did not want to experiment with my daily cup of coffee.   I wanted a great cup of coffee the first time and every time.   So I ended up buying the Clever dripper online.  I went down to my local coffee shop and picked up a bag of fresh roasted beans and the rest is history.  I ended up buying a few more Clever drippers as Christmas gifts for my family and they loved them.

Thinking back now, I wish I had know about the full immersion coffee method when I was in the university.  Making a good cup of coffee in the dorm rooms was a challenge, and it would have helped a lot when you are cramming for exams at 3 am.

You could even use the full immersion coffee method while camping as you can boil the water over a camp fire.  I have not tried it yet, but I plan to.  I did bring it with me on a trip to southeast Asia, and it was very easy to pack in my carry on luggage.