Syphon Coffee

You’ve probably seen an eye-catching brew tool on our Instagram or on our website recently. This tool is called a syphon. It’s one of our favorite ways to brew coffee and offers an incredible cup to enjoy. However, our love and curiosity of this brew method has sparked us to dive deeper into understanding why a syphon brews an exceptional cup and the history that’s behind this brew method. Let’s learn more together about this crafty style of brewing and hopefully you’ll be inspired to syphon at home!

Syphon History

The syphon was invented by Loeff of Berlin in 1830, but in 1840 Mme. Vassieux of Lyons, France successfully commercialized the tabletop eye-pleaser that we know today. It’s aim was to create a new brewing coffee using vapor pressure and, well, to design a more appealing brewing tool.

After some popularity in Europe, the syphon made its way to the USA during the early 1900’s where it was patented as a silex vacuum brewer. The syphon has since developed and spread across the world with the Japanese company Hario leading the production of modern-day syphons. This brewing tool remains very popular in East Asia such as Japan and Taiwan.

How to Brew a Syphon

The syphon consists of two glass chambers in which the upper chamber holds the grounds while the lower chamber holds the water. The water is heated at the bottom which then creates vapour pressure to push the water into the upper chamber where the water submerges with the coffee grounds.

Our syphon recipe is fairly standard with a 1:16 coffee to water ratio. When brewing coffee with this method, it’s important to understand the right moment to put the coffee into the upper chamber as the water is rising. Once the coffee is in, it’s important to stir the coffee well to properly and evenly extract the coffee. If you’d like to see a time-lapse of our recipe, check out our Instagram!

The beauty of a Syphon is in the way it is able to produce a delicate, tea-like coffee, ridding it of any bitterness. Any of our Colombian medium roasts would be well-suited to this method of brewing your perfect cup of coffee.

While there are so many more brew methods at your disposal, the syphon holds a truly unique significance for coffee professionals and lovers worldwide. It holds universal value among the specialty coffee industry and is a method that should continue to be appreciated for the way coffee is brewed and enjoyed. For more about brew methods, check out our Coffee Brewing Methods at Home