I remember hearing a while back that it was quite a great brewer. Now that I've started to home roast a ton of single origins, I'm looking for an alternative to my french press.

IIRC, someone said it was the closest to actually cupping the coffee.

I remember Mark Prince posted a review once ... I think it was on coffeegeek

Kim

I want one myself. And they aren't getting any cheaper. The Cafe Solo used to go for about $70 and now they are $100. Abe Carmeli and Jim Schulman played with one at Terroir. Read about that one in Two Days at Terroir.

I love the eva solo.

I totally think it is the closest thing there is to cupping coffee. That said, cupping coffee is just a version of "open pot" brewing, the simplest kind of coffee brewing there is.

The beauty of the solo is in the details: it feels great in your hand, pours cleanly and smoothly, the screen is the perfect gauge to screen out sludge and foam, etc. Perhaps best of all, it's easy to clean: I just dump out the grounds, put a pinch of espresso cleaner in the screen "cup", and fill with hot water. After a soak it rinses out sparkly clean with no coffee residue.

I use my eva solo every single day to drink coffee. I highly recommend it.

Peter

Finally broke down, splurged and bought myself one. I had been introducing a few friends to LAMILL's cafe in Silverlake as a part excuse to indulge in samplings brewed in an Eva Solo. Now, I won't have to drive across town! My timer turns the espresso machine off by the time I leave the house for work in the morning and now that the weather is turning cooler a cup of decaf in the evening seems appealing. Rather than fire the Volante up for one cup I think this will do the job quite nicely. I already know how flavorful SO's are on it so it will be interesting to see what I can get out of a decaf. Last nights Lamill Decaf House Blend was not the freshest but still full bodied with a touch of chocolate. Should be interesting to try against my French Press.

The issue is the actual press down part of brewing with a French press; it releases some of the liquid trapped in the coffee grounds, which is extremely over-extracted and bitter. There are quite a few ways to avoid this degradation:

• Strain the brew through a fine sieve or Swiss Gold filter
• Break the crust and sink it gently with a spoon, as if cupping
• Lift the French Press screen from the bottom, removing the coffee upwards.
• Use an Eva Solo

I've used and use all these methods, and they are equivalent. The Eva Solo is the most elegant and expensive.

It's easy to confirm with a side by side test that there is a distinct drop in bitterness brewing with any of these methods compared to using an French Press. But an important note here. The instructions on the Eva Solo and most other steeping brewers are incredibly wrong: Never stir the coffee, do not move the pot, do nothing to disturb the crust until you remove it.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Abid Clever Dripper yet. At the moment I think the only consistent US source for them is Sweet Maria's but Tom has plenty in stock and at $12.95 I think the price is fair. I bought four: one for the office, one for home and the other two for friends friends. My results have been astoundingly good and could best be described as akin to Press pot coffee without the sludge or the occasional bitterness. Feedback from my small sampling of two other users and the folks I've been serving coffee to in the office has been consistently favorable.

I've been using unbleached Melitta #4 filters that I rinse briefly before brewing. Also acquired a #4 Swissgold filter cone for this purpose but am still trying to find the right grind level and consistency with to get optimal results with that. Thus far I am not getting the desired results with the Swissgold but I think it's because I've been grinding at home with a Mazzer major set to coarse and need the more consistent particle size I'll get from the Ditting that's in the roastery.

I have not tried Eva Solo and can't offer a valid A/B comparison but IMO and based on my tastes the Clever dripper offers a marked improvement over Melitta, Chemex and press pot.

http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.single_cup.php

Very cool indeed. If I brew into glass, where I want a clear brew, I'll start by steeping the coffee, then pouring it through a filter. This one does it in one step. A bit like a Technivorm at 1/12th of the price.

I love the Clever. I am thinking about getting 4 of them to take to Boy Scout camping. I am trying to get the other adults to drink better coffee.