Siphon Pot Taste Explanation?

[Brewer]

I've scoured the web to find sites comparing coffee brewed in a french press vs coffee in a vac pot. I'm very familiy with how the two are different, no opinions needed there.

My question is... WHY are the two different?

Both attempt to separate grounds using a filter.
Both are full immersion.
Both coerce the brew to move through the filter using a pressure differential across the filter.

So what's the rub?

Thanks in advance!


P.S. Answers like "Well the brew time on xyz is shorter/longer" are not meaningful since you can easily adjust that. I'm trying to find out why the BEST coffee produced by a vac pot is different from the BEST coffee produced by a press, so an answer like "Well the french press' brew time is too long" doesn't apply, since you already using the best brew time possible for that device.

 

[peterjschmidt]

I don't think they're all that different. The vacpot is cleaner tasting, and the press pot has more particulates in it, but the flavors to me are fairly similar. I use a glass rod as a filter in my Yama vacpot.

Where the difference lies, apart from sludge/no sludge in my opinion, is that the vacpot has much more temp stability in the upper globe while the coffee is extracting; once the water goes north it'll hold it pretty much right where it should be. The press pot on the other hand, is like a heat sink, and the temp of the slurry can drop as much as 20* during the steep time.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

There are huge difference in flavor.
But it also depends on what type of filter you use and also brewing time and method like Peter explains above.

If you are using paper or steel mash filter, I just don't see huge differences in flavor. But if you are using cloth filter, you will find much more cleaner flavor.
Most of the oil from the coffee will be collected on your cloth filter that other filter will miss. That is the one of the reason why siphon coffee won't have any sludge.

It is more steps and takes more effort brew your coffee on Siphon but it will beat out other method over and over again.

 

[John P]

4 reasons.

1. Particle agitation from the vacuum pressure.

2. Temperature stability throughout the entire brew cycle.

3. Secondary extraction on draw down. (water is pulled through grounds).

4. No grounds in cup, therefore no coffee dust burning and over-extracting in your cup.

The better you understand the harmonious interaction of all these elements, the better your cup will be.