Who says you have to spend money to make hand-poured coffee? A comparison of three cost-effective hand-poured coffee pots

With the arrival of the third wave of coffee, hand-brewed coffee has become more and more relevant to people's lives, and the term "specialty coffee" has gradually entered people's field of vision. However, this imported product has long been labeled as petty bourgeoisie and high-end, making it difficult for many people to accept it. Out of love for coffee, I started to get into it about two years ago, first with Italian coffee, then gradually discovered the fun of hand-brewed coffee, and then jumped into it. Although I haven't been playing for a long time, I have a partial understanding of coffee. (I obviously spent a lot of money on coffee)

Since I am a student and I had fallen into the Italian pit before, I did not have enough motivation to jump into the pit. I had to combine the recommendations of my predecessors and search for various cost-effective corresponding equipment on the Internet. Gradually, I found that I already had three hand-brewed kettles. Today I will talk about these three kettles. Of course, they are all kettles that cost less than 100 yuan, but in many cases they can still fully reflect their value.

This article will compare the three hand-brewed kettles from four aspects: basic appearance, water flow performance, heat preservation performance, and user experience . I will try my best to ensure fairness and impartiality, but technical and thinking defects and mistakes are inevitable, so please take a general look.

In order to distinguish the three kettles, I give them three names, A'ai, A'dian, and A'hei. All three were bought on Taobao. A'ai was the first one I bought, about 40 or 50 yuan. If you look at the links, there should be a lot of them, so I won't give them here. Below are the links to A'dian and A'hei, which can be easily found.

The following begins the main text:

(I) Appearance: Ah Ai is the shortest, Ah Hei is the best looking. Please read on for details. First, the face picture

Next is the butt picture. Here you can see that Ah Hei is wrapped in hemp rope, which reveals a casual and artistic atmosphere, which is very charming, but there is a reason for this, which will be mentioned later.

Next is the detailed picture of A'ai. As for A'ai, since he was born in a poor family, it does not have a lid and is just used like this. However, Taobao seems to also have a model with a lid, which is the same thing in a different name.

Next is Ah Hei. Because it is made of enamel, there are some flaws on the mouth of the pot. This is said to be a limitation of the process. There are also some small black spots on the inner wall, which is unavoidable. But who can see it with the lid closed? I still think Ah Hei looks the best.

Finally, it's Adian. Why is it called Adian? Because it can boil water. Many people say that it's not possible to boil water directly with a water dispenser? It's indeed not possible. The temperature of water taken out of many water dispensers will drop a lot after boiling, at most 85 degrees, while this one can boil water up to 98 or 99 degrees, so it's very convenient. There is an exhaust hole on the top of the lid. For convenience, I forced a thermometer into it, which made it bulge. Later, I found that it was very easy to use.

From the appearance, black scores the highest. This pot is less than 50 yuan. I think the store owner didn't think it could be used as a coffee pot. The original positioning should be an oil pot, but it seems that many coffee lovers bought it. The store owner decisively changed the name. Similar regular pots (positioned as coffee pots) include Daren Pot, Yuetu, etc. You can directly search the keywords on Taobao, or you can buy it directly from Rakuten.

(II) Water discharge performance

I think this aspect is the soul of a coffee pot, which will directly affect the steaming, extraction, and taste of hand-brewed coffee. Of course, the quality of the product is also closely related to the water control level of the maker (unicorn arm), which requires practice and will not be discussed here. Only the hardware will be discussed. The requirements for water flow in hand-brewed coffee can be divided into large water flow, small water flow, drip, etc. I rarely use the drip method (obviously I have never played it and I don’t know how to do it); the most important factor affecting the performance of large water flow is the caliber; therefore, the stability, easy control, and small size of the small water flow are the characteristics that best reflect the water output capacity of the hand-brewed pot, and small water flow is also the choice of most hand-brewed coffee.

Let’s first take a look at Ah Hei, who performed the best in the last round. It is not difficult to see from the face picture above that his caliber is the largest, and the large water flow must be the fastest. However, the enamel craftsmanship and the positioning of the "oil pot" make his performance in small water flow unsatisfactory, as shown in the picture below.

It can be seen that there is obvious sticking to the wall (I don't know how to describe it, just let everyone understand). It is difficult to ensure stable circles or a single point of water when pouring water, and the water has no force to dive, it only crackles on the surface. To achieve a stable water column, the water flow rate must be relatively large, which makes it easy to produce too much water, insufficient coffee extraction, and too acidic coffee. However, regular hand-poured kettles such as Yuetu may be better at handling small water flows, but I haven't played with it, so it's hard to comment, just guessing.

Next is Adian, which ranks second in caliber. Its large water flow is OK and can meet the requirements. Its small water flow performance is average, better than Ahei. However, if you look closely at the third picture below, it is still somewhat sticking to the wall. It can be clearly felt during normal use, but not as serious as Ahei.

Finally, there is A'ai, the cheapest, with the smallest diameter. The water flow is not as good as the first two, but the water flow is outstandingly good, so good that I often use it now. Stability, power and controllability are its characteristics. Even a thin line can make the coffee in the filter cup roll, which is very good. See the picture

In this aspect, the comparison may not be very strong from the pictures due to the reference problem, but the difference is obvious in use. For beginners with poor water control ability, you can choose a narrow-mouthed pot like A'ai, which is very helpful for coffee production. Coffee shops now use pots with a caliber of Adian. Hario's grenade can be said to be a must-have pot for hand-brewed coffee. It can be of any size and thickness and has a wide adaptability. I won't comment on Ahei...

(Third!) Thermal insulation performance

Adian can heat itself, but the other two were poured in after Adian had heated them. Also, the amount of water in different pots has a greater impact on temperature changes, so the comparison of thermal insulation performance is not very rigorous, but some problems can still be seen.

Adian can heat water to over 98 degrees, and the thermometer is built-in (I had it built-in), so it is very convenient and you can read the value directly without opening the lid: 3 minutes, 3 degrees.

Next is Ahei, which has a maximum capacity of 1L, so after heating it to the highest temperature with Ahei, I immediately poured it in to measure the temperature. The temperature had dropped a lot, which is not suitable for some shallow-flooded beans. Since the thermometer is on the lid of Ahei, I can only use its lid to measure, but it is also completely covered, and the temperature change is not much different from the original lid, with a temperature change of 4 degrees.

Finally, there is A'ai, which has no lid. Similarly, Adian is heated to the highest temperature before pouring it in, and it also uses Adian's lid. Due to the different materials and less water, the temperature change is more obvious. 3 minutes and 6 degrees.

From the above, we can see that A'ai is the worst. This is measured without brewing (the amount of water does not change). If brewing is started, the amount of water becomes smaller, the temperature fluctuation will be greater, and it will directly affect the coffee production.

(IV) User experience

Why do I single this out? Actually, there are some things I want to say but I don’t know where to put them, so I’ll just talk about it in general.

First, let's talk about Ah Hei. Why is he wrapped with twine? Not just for the sake of style, but also because it's hot ... Yes, it's hot, so the store also discovered this problem and gave him twine. Not only that, because it has a large capacity, in order to ensure a stable water flow, the water must be filled to 70%-80% of the maximum capacity, which makes this kettle very, very, heavy! ! Several times, it was so hot and sore that I simply didn't want to play with it. Anyway, I use this kettle as a decoration now. I bought it because I thought it looked good, but now I can only look at it. Ah Ai handled this very well. Although the handle is made of the same material, it doesn't feel hot at all when you pick it up. In addition, the water flow is stable. Now if you want to make a cup of good coffee, you basically use it, but the temperature stability is still a fatal shortcoming. The last one is Adian. Bonavita's electric temperature-controlled hand-poured kettle has always been the official kettle for major competitions. Adian probably started from this aspect, combining boiling water and a narrow mouth. I have to say, it is a must-have for lazy people. Many times, people are just too lazy to pour from one kettle to another, even though that kettle works well.

The above are the three hand-brewed kettles I have used recently. There may be many errors and inaccuracies in the article. You are welcome to correct and discuss. You are also welcome to exchange your experience and let more people fall in love with this popular beverage around the world.