Magnum's coffee maker

[MaximRecoil]

After Hurricane Sandy, we had no power for 2 weeks. We did have gas, but we had to light the stove with a match and make coffee with our camping percolator...which only made 2 cups at a time. About a year later, I bought a 6 cup Corning percolator like we had when I was a kid:

http://image0-rubylane.s3.amazonaws.com ... .1L.jpg?77

I bought it at an antique shop on sale for $18. I found out later that they're collectible because they were recalled due to a design flaw. Corning offered a free replacement if you mailed in the lid...thus making a complete, intact model rare.

I love Corning products, particularly their "Corelle" stuff which is made of "Vitrelle", which is 2 types of glass in a 3-layer laminate. It is incredibly strong, allowing it to be much thinner and lighter than ordinary glass or ceramic dishes and cups. I grew up with Corelle "Butterfly Gold" pattern dishes (which was one of the original 4 patterns) that Dad bought for Mom in the early '70s, shortly after they were married. They are what I use for dishes to this day. We also had the Corningware casserole dishes, which I like as well. I don't have any of those now, but I should get some. They are thinner and lighter than the typical Pyrex type casserole dishes, and just as strong, if not stronger.

About the sour/bad tasting coffee; a friend of mine who I consider a "coffee expert" told me once that if your coffee maker doesn't get the water to 200 degrees it just won't make a good tasting coffee.

Yeah, coffee should be brewed with 195 to 205 degree water. According to the manufacturer, the Jet-O-Matic brews at 202 degrees. Coffee is usually served/maintained at 175 to 185 degrees, and that's also about the temperature it will be immediately after pouring it in a cup (which inevitably cools it down) if it was brewed at the right temperature.

With a drip brew machine, the water should be boiling (212 degrees), because dripping down toward the grinds, and then hitting the grinds, inevitably cools it down. With a percolator, the water should be kept just below boiling, because unlike a drip brew machine, the water and the brewed coffee are effectively the same thing, i.e., it is a continuous cycle and it gets all intermixed, so if your water is boiling, so is your coffee.

Inexpensive drip brew machines don't usually get the water hot enough, or the heating element is too far away from the shower head, so by the time it makes it up that tube it has cooled down too much. More expensive drip brew machines tend to have higher wattage and/or improved designs to ensure the water is about 200 degrees upon contact with the coffee grinds. A cheap way to replicate, and potentially improve upon the performance of expensive/commercial drip brew machines is with a "Chemex", which is just a glass pot that accepts a cone-type basket/filter. They've been around for ages. You manually pour hot water from a tea kettle over the coffee grinds. This allows you to make the water as hot as you want it (just boil it; it will automatically be the right temperature when you take it off the stove and immediately pour it), rather than relying on a machine to get it right.

[MaximRecoil]

I decided to give the GE Coffeematic another try. It's been almost 20 years since I last used it, so I wanted to see if it was as bad as I remember. It's been stored in a plastic bag, so it was still clean, but for good measure, I "brewed" a full pot of plain water in it first. Then, using the same coffee grinds and water measurements I use in my Jet-O-Matic, I made some coffee in it. It tasted exactly like I remembered. I dumped it out after a few sips. I'm not sure "sour" is the right word to describe it, but it is the only word I can think of to describe the various "off" flavors in it, which linger for a while in the form of a bad aftertaste.

I think it might be from the rubber tubing and plastic shower head the hot water travels through before hitting the coffee grinds, as well as the plastic basket. The temperature is a bit low, 160 F in the cup, but I don't think that's the problem, because my tired old Jet-O-Matic was 160 in the cup too (my brand new one is 185 in the cup; much better), but the coffee still tasted fine; it just wasn't particularly hot. Of course, the coffee in a Jet-O-Matic never touches anything but stainless steel and tinned copper, both of which are essentially inert. With the Jet-O-Matic, there are zero "off" flavors and zero aftertaste; it just tastes like pure coffee.

I bet if you were to replace the rubber tubing in the GE Coffeematic with stainless steel tubing, and replace the plastic shower head and basket with stainless steel ones, the coffee would come out just fine. I'm starting to think that it's not so much the water temperature that makes the biggest difference between a typical home drip machine and e.g., a commercial Bunn drip machine at a diner, but rather, the commercial machines (and perhaps some of the more expensive home machines), don't use plastic tubing, shower heads, and baskets. I've read a lot of reviews of home drip machines on Amazon, and a plastic taste in the coffee is a common complaint. There are probably certain grades of plastic which are more inert than others, but I doubt that any plastic is as inert as 300-series stainless steel.

[Fat Jack]

After Hurricane Sandy, we had no power for 2 weeks. We did have gas, but we had to light the stove with a match and make coffee with our camping percolator...which only made 2 cups at a time. About a year later, I bought a 6 cup Corning percolator like we had when I was a kid:



I bought it at an antique shop on sale for $18. I found out later that they're collectible because they were recalled due to a design flaw. Corning offered a free replacement if you mailed in the lid...thus making a complete, intact model rare.

Looks like Eve liked her Corning Ware too (unless it's a prop but I doubt it)...screen shot from the original H50's "Forty Feet High and It Kills" in her kitchen:

[MaximRecoil]

Looks like Eve liked her Corning Ware too (unless it's a prop but I doubt it)...screen shot from the original H50's "Forty Feet High and It Kills" in her kitchen:

That's a Corningware stovetop tea kettle ("Teamaker" was their actual name for it), "Cornflower Blue" pattern:



I'd like to have one of those. It's designed similar to the type of carafe that comes with automatic drip coffee makers, but it's made from much tougher material than the very thin glass that those are made from. I like that you can reach inside for cleaning; can't do that with lot of tea kettles, including the cheap painted sheet metal one that I have.

[ConchRepublican]

I have been using a Cuisinart Grind and Brew since we got one as a gift for our wedding. I believe we are on our 3rd or 4th now in 18 years, which isn't a great track record, but considering the moving parts and that we use it everyday, at least once a day, I make an exception.

Add to that it makes a great coffee from freshly ground beans (Baby's Breakfast Roast from Key West preferred) and well, I'm a sucker I guess.

My older brother is really into coffee. He has two really expensive coffee machines; one he bought new for about $600 and the other was a massive $5,000 commercial machine from Italy which he bought broken for several hundred dollars and had it repaired for a few hundred more dollars. Both machines grind the beans, compress the grinds into a "puck", and brew; all automatically. This method results in a "crema" on top of the coffee (i.e., foam). He uses the $600 machine at home, and he uses the big commercial machine at work, and lets his co-workers use it as well. He also frequents a lot of the coffee joints in his neck of the woods (Tucson, AZ).

In 2008/2009 I was out there for 9 months working with him, so I tried all of those high-end coffees and brewing methods, and went to a lot of different coffee shops, and I never could see what all the fuss was about. Some of it was good, but in my opinion, not better than what I make at home (ordinary Folgers or Maxwell House pre-ground, brewed in a Jet-O-Matic), and some of it I didn't much care for. Dad has been out to visit him a few times too, and he had the same reaction as me.

I was hoping to find something that would make me think, "Wow! So this is what I've been missing for all these years," but it never happened.

I recently bought a Jet-O-Matic that was still new in the box. I'd wanted a new one for a long time, but whenever they show up, they usually sell for more than I'm willing to pay. This one had been newly listed on eBay with a BIN of $35, so I bought it immediately. My old one, which was well-used when I got it 6 years ago, was getting tired. It still worked, but the coffee wasn't as hot as it used to be. It was about 160 degrees as measured in the cup immediately after pouring. This new one is ~185 degrees immediately after brewing and pouring in the cup, just as it should be.

I would never be able to justify spending $600.00 on a coffee maker. I like my morning coffee, but am not obsessed and don't do the foams and lattes and such which is where things get complicated.

I do notice a difference between freshly ground beans and the commercial vacuum sealed grounds however, I have even had a few of those Pulp Fiction "mmm, this is some good coffee" moments, where I'm sure to point out "of course it's good coffee, I buy the gourmet stuff, when Mrs. Conch goes shopping . .. "

I never thought to measure the temperature of my cup, I may have to give that a shot just out of curiosity.

[Mrs. Higgins]

Speaking of Magnum and coffee makers...

What the heck is he doing in The Treasure of Kalaniopu'u? Looks like he's making instant coffee in a single-cup coffee maker. Was that a production flub or did the humor go over my head?

[308GUY]

Don't recall "exactly" but maybe the coffee maker he's using just made hot water, and the instant was what was available?

I always enjoy that espisode, not sure exactly why, just a fun episode to me. Sooo, now I'm gonna "have" to go watch it again to get the skinny on the coffee!

[Mrs. Higgins]

Coffee, Tea, Magnum, & Five-0...Life is good!

[Fat Jack]

I'm finding it amusing that we can have 3 pages of conversation about Magnum's coffee maker! True fans!

[Fr. Paddy McGuinness]

Speaking of Magnum and coffee makers...

What the heck is he doing in The Treasure of Kalaniopu'u? Looks like he's making instant coffee in a single-cup coffee maker. Was that a production flub or did the humor go over my head?

Those are / were the standard coffee makers in mid-price hotel rooms.

[Mrs. Higgins]

Those are / were the standard coffee makers in mid-price hotel rooms.

Yes they were. I went on a lot of road trips with my folks in the 80's. I remember those coffee makers had 1-2 cup glass carafes with the slide out basket for the coffee filter. We occasionally got complimentary pouches of different flavors. When I saw this episode I thought it was odd because there's no carafe or basket. In the scene there's a mug placed upside down on the heating element when Magnum starts to make the coffee.

[Fr. Paddy McGuinness]

Those are / were the standard coffee makers in mid-price hotel rooms.

Yes they were. I went on a lot of road trips with my folks in the 80's. I remember those coffee makers had 1-2 cup glass carafes with the slide out basket for the coffee filter. We occasionally got complimentary pouches of different flavors. When I saw this episode I thought it was odd because there's no carafe or basket. In the scene there's a mug placed upside down on the heating element when Magnum starts to make the coffee.

I see your point. I guess anyone involved in the production of this show had moved into the high end room service only world.

[MaximRecoil]

Coffee, Tea, Magnum, & Five-0...Life is good!

http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt19 ... vvwaqp.jpg

That's awesome. Is your percolator a stovetop version? Corning made an electric one which looked pretty much the same.

With regard to the small coffee maker in The Treasure Of Kalaniopu'u, you can see what appears to be the name "Krups" on it:



According to Wikipedia, Krups has been making coffee machines since 1983, though I can't find a picture of that particular one online. I assume it is supposed to have a filter basket and carafe.

In that same episode we can see that Lieutenant Tanaka has a Mr. Coffee CB-600:

[Mrs. Higgins]

Yes, I have the stovetop version.
Good eyes finding the Krupps and Mr. Coffee...



This has the makings of an epic thread!

[MaximRecoil]

I found it:



It's a Krups Type 260C, 4-cup (20 oz.) automatic drip coffee maker, and it did indeed come with a carafe and filter basket.