Ceilinging Water In Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory

Are you a coffee snob? In a world where coffee has as many choices, flavors, and variations as Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, how do you truly know that your “brew” is the best? There are hugely successful companies that have achieved blockbuster success and gained financial windfalls around what some would say is nothing more than a simple cup of stained water made from ground beans. At six dollars a cup, they must be doing something right which is why some companies, such as Keurig, have tried to profit by bringing the secret to great coffee into your home. Yet the success of companies, like Keurig, are not based in selling coffee, but rather in promoting the process by which it is made. So, if you used the same beans and same water, does …show more content…
What if I told you that the kettle was made from high quality plastic? Would you have concerns that the same heat used to bring water to a boiling point in a plastic kettle might also compromise the integrity of the plastic? Keurig’s are constructed of “high quality” plastic, but the subtle undertones of the plastic present in your coffee are inevitable. While the Keurig can produce boiling water, these machines are programmed to keep the water at a constant temperature of 192°F by heating the water with a heating element while it lays dormant in the shoddy rubber components of the coffee maker. Contrast that to the design of the components used in the French Press method, which are composed of glass and food grade stainless-steel, a much more minimal and fundamental design. There are only 2 components to a French Press; the glass carafe, and the plunger. Affixed to the base of the plunger is a stainless-steel filter. This type of filtration allows the brew to percolate the flavor of the oils and smaller sediments of the grind that would otherwise be filtered out in a Keurig. Additionally, the components used in this method are such that you do not have to worry about any residual taste from brewing in a glass carafe. Still not …show more content…
“Blooming’ is the process of suspending the ground coffee in just enough water to cover the coarsely ground coffee for 30 seconds before adding the remaining water to the brew. This important step allows for the oils in the coffee to secrete and form a bold and aromatic concentrate which is responsible for the flavor of the coffee. Compare that to the process used by a Keurig, which completely eliminates this fundamental step all together. In the Keurig, hot water that has been heated is forced over coffee grounds packaged in a cup that has sat on a shelf for… who knows how long? In contrast, coffee made in a French Press is typically freshly ground and does not have an internal heating source. It will require an external source to heat the water, which may sound like a drawback; however, it actually permits you to precisely pinpoint the temperature at which the coffee will brew, giving you the opportunity to perfectly bloom your coffee every single