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CT scans of coffee-making equipment

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131–140 of 178 posts

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#131

It drives me crazy how V60 and Chemex are regarded as “modern” when the Chemex is from the 40s and the V60 is a knock-off of the Melitta 102 conical filter system, which was invented in 1936!

The V60 isn't a knock-off of the Melitta, it's much more of rethinking and redesign of the basic concept Melitta introduced. They might look superficially similar, but if you actually use both products side by side they work quite differently.

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#132
A few days ago I accidentally put wife's beloved Bialetti Brikka pot in the dishwasher. The aluminium lost its anodized coating due to chemical reaction with the detergent (alkaline I think), and the pot turned dull/dark gray. Scrubbing the surface left some gray mark on fingers, which got me wonder if aluminium is actually safe for making coffee? Bialetti also sells stainless steel pots, and I wonder if they're safer to use.

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#133

A few days ago I accidentally put wife's beloved Bialetti Brikka pot in the dishwasher. The aluminium lost its anodized coating due to chemical reaction with the detergent (alkaline I think), and the pot turned dull/dark gray. Scrubbing the surface left some gray mark on fingers, which got me wonder if aluminium is actually safe for making coffee? Bialetti also sells stainless steel pots, and I wonder if they're safe…

Generally, acidic foods shouldn’t be used in conjunction with aluminum. I suspect the patina protects against this, but I wouldn’t drink the coffee until it has been re-established.

Stainless steel is always preferable from a safety POV.

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#134
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure about the details. IMHO a contributing factor is that they're a company historically centered around manufacturing nearly indestructible appliances (even the newer mokas, however flimsier, don't break easily); once the market was saturated with the flagship product, there's only so much profit they could squeeze out of selling accessories and the like.

But even if the market is saturated... is it really? I'm just an armchair expert in this case, but as far as I'm aware, there's not a coffee maker yet in every house; they will eventually break if overheated for example (I broke mine's rubber seal by putting it on the stove without water); and there's plenty of untapped markets out there yet. That said, one person may buy one coffee maker and never need another one f…

If the rubber seal is damaged, you can simply replace it, you don't need to buy a new coffee maker. When people mention that newer coffee makers are cheaper and lower-quality, that's probably Bialetti trying to reach a larger market. I guess lots of people bought one and rarely if ever used it (I think even I have one somewhere, but don't ask me where).

As for expanding into selling coffee: that's natural for systems like Senseo or Nespresso, where you have custom pads/pods which you insert into the machine (not sure if third-party pad/pod makers have to pay a license fee to the "system provider"?), but Bialetti coffee makers work with any ground coffee. Might be an idea nevertheless, but not sure about the odds of success - I imagine most Italians already have their favorite brand of coffee and wouldn't suddenly switch to "Bialetti Coffee" just because they say it works best with their machines.

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#135

A few days ago I accidentally put wife's beloved Bialetti Brikka pot in the dishwasher. The aluminium lost its anodized coating due to chemical reaction with the detergent (alkaline I think), and the pot turned dull/dark gray. Scrubbing the surface left some gray mark on fingers, which got me wonder if aluminium is actually safe for making coffee? Bialetti also sells stainless steel pots, and I wonder if they're safe…

Oh Lord, I hope you were forgiven..

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#136

Such a cool idea, and attractive images. However I’m kind of disappointed they mostly picked things that are fairly simple, transparent or openable, and look exactly the way you’d expect them to inside. I assume some combination of cost & size drove this. A vintage espresso machine with 1 group head would be more novel, for example.

Yea, can we get one of a CT scanner?

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#137
post #29
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK plug sockets are rated at 13 A, giving a maximum power rating of 2,990 W. Kettles are consequently amongst the highest-drawing household appliances in the UK. Back when there were only three television channels, the National Grid planners used to pore over the Radio Times, looking for popular programmes like the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special (21 to 28 million viewers in 1977), so they could prepare for the…

Related HN discussion about UK power demand surges due to millions of kettles being simultaneously turned on during TV breaks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5018560

TV Pickup (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup) also leads to the political issue where one of the drivers of Brexit was that the 'EU' wanted to 'take away' traditional kettles because there was a proposal to embed a warm up cycle of a few seconds into the heating element so it didn't have spiky power consumption which caused very large amounts of simultaneous draw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCAzalhldg8

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They still make high quality ones, you just have to specifically get the "handblown series" (at 2-3x the price of the regular). e.g. https://www.chemexcoffeemaker.com/eight-cup-handblown-series...

I am aware of those, but from what I understand the pre-80s ones are still better. I’m sure given a little time someone who is chemex expert will chime in and give a definitive comment.

Even if the manufacturing process is the same, pre-80s ones may be better on average due to survivorship bias: the weaker ones broke already.

Re: CT scans of coffee-making equipment

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just reminded me there's a video on youtube of a guy literally tearing a Juicero apart and it's hilarious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cp-BGQfpHQ

Probably one of AvE's best videos. I was just chatting about the peak Silicon Valley insanity that was Juicero yesterday. That thing was built like a Bugatti. And he's like "why not use a roller instead of a press??".

I love AvE and somehow understand exactly what he's saying whilst simultaneously having no idea what he's saying half the time.

Does anyone know if this is some regional slang? Or is AvE just very unique in how he speaks?

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