Cory DCU/DCL Coffee Brewer - Gasketless Vacuum Pot

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
Bak Ta Lo
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#1: Post by Bak Ta Lo »

Obtained a Cory DCU/DCL gasket-less vacuum pot coffee brewer to play with. It is a vintage pot, I cannot pin down the exact vintage, I would guess anywhere from the 1950's to 1960's?

It is a really cool device, especially love that this model is gasket-less, the upper and lower globes seal on a ground seam in the glass with some water. The filter is a Cory glass rod, so the only material that touches the water or coffee is glass. I love this simple design.

Here is the patent drawing. I got the drawing and my brew procedure from a great website for all things related to vacuum pots, Vacuum Coffee Pots. This website is a great resource for the history, science, and methodology of vacuum pot coffee brewing.


I brewed up my first pot in the Cory using 60 grams of light roasted Kenyan, with 900g of water. I ground the coffee to a coarse drip grind level in my OE Lido. It is a nice feature of the Lido that the hopper can hold 30grams, or even more, at one time so you can grind all the beans for a large brewed pot in one go. The brew that it makes is very smooth and clean, a really delicious pot of coffee. I am fascinated by the simplicity of the glass rod filter, it is really an ingenious design. My Cory will be my go to method when I need to make brewed coffee for 3-4 people. All my other brew methods are 1-2 cup designs, the Cory is also good looking enough to leave out as a display item in the kitchen. You can buy these off eBay for $40-$50USD, and they make a superior cup in my opinion to many of the much more expensive drip machines.

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Boldjava
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#2: Post by Boldjava »

Obtained a Cory DCU/DCL gasket-less vacuum pot coffee brewer to play with. It is a vintage pot, I cannot pin down the exact vintage, I would guess anywhere from the 1950's to 1960's?
You grabbed a rare one. Gasketless Kents are out there but Corys without gaskets. Few and far between.

Mid-'40s would be more like it. Percolators moved the vacpots aside in the '50s. Grandparents used a vacpot; we had a percolator throughout the '50s. Made a wonderful aroma and horrid coffee.
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Bak Ta Lo (original poster)
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#3: Post by Bak Ta Lo (original poster) »

Dave,

Wow, thanks for the info, I had hoped it was as old as a 1940's model, but could not verify. Imagine the path this 60 year old coffee maker took over the years to get to me in Macau, without getting broke, pretty cool.

Jeremy
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Boldjava
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#4: Post by Boldjava »

Dave,

Wow, thanks for the info, I had hoped it was as old as a 1940's model, but could not verify.
Manufacturers went gasketless during WWII - rubber shortage with materials going to war-effort. Hence, my conclusion you can safely say, early '40s. http://baharris.org has one of the best collections of older vacpots. He once explained to me that he collected them at antique shops in NEngland, pre-eBay. Now, prices are much higher for vintage coffee gear.

B|Java
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Bak Ta Lo (original poster)
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#5: Post by Bak Ta Lo (original poster) »

Very interesting, I like the pot even more now knowing that it has been making coffee longer than I have been around. The website I linked in my first post is the BA Harris website, it is an great resource, he knows a lot about vac pots. The old patent drawings are nice too, industrial artwork. Good to know I am still helping out with the war effort, maybe I should buy some bonds too.

I wonder how many of my common household appliances will still work as good, if not better than, a new product 70 years from now, with zero maintenance? Only ones I can think of that I have are all coffee kit!
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Ben Z.
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#6: Post by Ben Z. »

I've got one, too. Works about 80% of the time, but occasionally loses vacuum. If you search for just the lower or just the upper on ebay, you can get them for much cheaper (I have one set and one spare or each - they don't seem to be matched at all).