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Comment by pinko | Hacker News Reader

Why can't/hasn't this technique be automated into a "pourover-style" drip coffeemaker? If such a thing already exists, are cultural factors the only reason it hasn't displaced manual labor in frou-frou coffeehouses?

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I used a Chemex until I dropped and broke it one day and then replaced it with a Bona Vita automatic drip coffee maker that I'm rather pleased with. The Bona Vita is oft-cited on the various forums I researched as striking a good balance of value and quality for demanding coffee connoisseurs willing to venture into a non-pourover option. It is supposedly "engineered" for optimal brewing temperature, water/grounds contact time and uses a shower head for good, uniform coffee grounds saturation.

http://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV1800-8-Cup-Coffee-Carafe/dp...

I'll second that. It's really excellent if you don't have the patience for pour over brewing. I recently discovered the baby Chemex ($30), which works really well brewing for two people. It's smaller and stockier than the usual 6–8 cup Chemex pots, and probably won't break as easily.

Pod machines approximate it. They pump the water, which most drip makers don't (they usually just have a heating element and a one way valve).

I think drip machines are the way they are because they are cheap and reliable and people mostly don't care that much.

most drip machines' major failing is the water brews too cool (should be approx 195-205f). There are a slew of newer drip machines that pay attention to brew temps and apparently brew a pretty good cup of coffee. The Moccamaster Technivorm was the first popular machine to do so.

Pod machines make terrible coffee though.[1] I'm no coffee snob at all and even I can agree that the coffee that they produce sucks.

I've never had pour over coffee (or even heard of it until just now) but I gotta say I'm very curious now. Is it common at coffee shops or do you have to buy the stuff and do it at home if you want to try it?

[1] http://abcnews.go.com/Business/11-best-pod-coffeemakers-buck...

Yeah, I guess I've never had pod coffee, I was just pointing out that if you squint a little bit, they are a machine making a sort of pour over.

I don't frequent coffee shops, but I don't think I've ever seen pour over as a choice. You can often find plastic filter holders for ~$3, so you don't need a lot of equipment to give it a try.

Their are automated pour over machines out there, and they seem to be getting more popular recently. However, I doubt they will ever completely replace the manual pour over devices since everyone has their own technique when it comes to pour over, and everyone's technique yields a different taste. And that's ignoring the fact that different beans may require adjusting your pour over technique. It's the same with making espresso, sure some companies have made machines that automate most of the process and many people do use them, but in the craft coffee world, it's unlikely that they will ever become the standard.

They do. http://gizmodo.com/5773089/this-robot-hand-pours-coffee-bett.... You can even get cheaper ones for your house. I can't say why they haven't replaced people, but I suspect it is cultural. The air of expertise that people get from those who make pour over coffee in so called "frou-frou" coffee houses is part of the price.

As someone who makes pour-over coffee all the time, I wouldn't want a machine:

- There's a nice zen-like quality to the simplicity of the method

- As others have noted, you are very intimately connected to the brewing process, which lets you make subtle (yet important) changes.

I saw a 5 station pourover coffee robot at Maker faire: http://youtu.be/8X8gQ9gmfDI

The creators intend to sell it to coffee shops, but I can't remember what it was called.

In principle a quality machine like a MoccaMaster could control water temperature and rate better than pour-over. Pour-over seems like a pricing strategy for coffee that didn't come out of an espresso machine.

Ratio Eight automates the brewing process (sans grounds preparation). http://ratiocoffee.com/

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