An Apparently Stupid Way to Make Coffee

[Dockhead]

Or perhaps I just don't understand it yet.


I bought a Chinese vacuum pot from Amazon.


It looks like a piece of lab equipment -- very cool. A bit fragile-looking for the boat, but let's see -- I'm testing it out at home so far.


So this contraption has an upper and lower pot connected by a siphon tube. You boil the water in the lower pot, and it is pushed out by the expanding air and steam into the upper pot. You mix the coffee into the upper pot, and then it's sucked back into the lower pot, through the filter, as this one cools.


That's the principle of it.


In practice, however --


As soon as you take the heat off (an alcohol burner), the water flows right back into the lower pot, giving you scant time to mix the coffee, or for the coffee to brew. You can't leave the heat on, or it will boil the lower pot dry.


The supplied alcohol burner can't be regulated at all, except by adjusting how much wick is out, which can only be done when it's off and cool.


Even with a regulateable burner, I can scarcely see how you can control how long the water stays in the upper pot.


I'm drinking my first cup -- brewed twice since I had to put the heat back on and push the water/coffee back up to brew. Despite the botched procedure, it tastes surprisingly good. So maybe there is something to this.


Anyone have any tips?