Brief Review of Large 10 Cup Espro Press

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
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boar_d_laze
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#1: Post by boar_d_laze »

In a word and a punctuation mark:
Yes!

In a few more words:

All of the oils, all of the body, all of the presence, all of the subtleties. Taste, like appearance, is clear and without murkiness. Very little residue, it is not at all unpleasant to drink.

Other:
The vessel itself is "10 cup," but the actual brewing volume is 1L, the same as a Bodum 8 cup. Don't expect more.

Clean-up is a skosh fussier than with an ordinary FP.

The vessel itself is well made from double walled stainless. Because it's "insulated," preheating with hot water before brewing makes a large, positive difference. It's not a thermos, but brewed coffee will hold adequately hot for longer than it takes for its flavors to noticeably degrade. You get your 20 minutes. After that, you walk to the microwave like everybody else.

The filter is so fine, you'll want to grind very slightly coarser than you would for a normative Bodum. If you find that it then lacks a little presence compared to a "standard" French press, increase dose and time. You'll have it nailed by the third pot.

Bottom line:
What French press should be. If you can afford $120 for a frikkin' press, buy it.

Now.

Really.

BDL
Drop a nickel in the pot Joe. Takin' it slow. Waiter, waiter, percolator

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[creative nickname]
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#2: Post by [creative nickname] »

Thanks for this review! I've definitely had my eye on one of these. Do you find that flavor suffers if you don't decant it into another serving vessel, or does the double filter isolate the coffee sufficiently that the problem is avoided? If decanting is necessary, that does seem to detract from the benefits of an insulated brewing vessel somewhat.
LMWDP #435

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Boldjava
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#3: Post by Boldjava »

boar_d_laze wrote:In a word and a punctuation mark:
Yes!

In a few more words:

All of the oils, all of the body, all of the presence, all of the subtleties. Taste, like appearance, is clear and without murkiness. Very little residue...
BDL
Excellent, accurate review and summary. I second your observations.
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LMWDP #339

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boar_d_laze (original poster)
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#4: Post by boar_d_laze (original poster) »

[creative nickname] wrote:Do you find that flavor suffers if you don't decant it into another serving vessel?
Not at all.
Or, does the double filter isolate the coffee sufficiently that the problem is avoided?
Yes, it does.
If decanting is necessary, that does seem to detract from the benefits of an insulated brewing vessel somewhat.
Decanting isn't necessary but I wanted to address this because cooling is not the only enemy. The flavor of press coffee degrades pretty quickly as the volatile oils evaporate. Espro coffee will begin to stale before it gets too cold.

Of course that's true of coffee in general, if it's held in any way short of an air-tight vessel with little to no internal air-space. But some ways do better than others. If you absotively, posilutely must hold coffee, filter and vac brewed seem less affected than press. Press is not the most fragile though. Straight espresso's window of perfection is so narrow the shot compromises during the walk from machine to couch. At least you don't have to drink press standing up.

BDL
Drop a nickel in the pot Joe. Takin' it slow. Waiter, waiter, percolator

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[creative nickname]
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#5: Post by [creative nickname] »

That's helpful, thanks!
LMWDP #435