INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
If you had a cup of delicious coffee this morning, there a good chance those beans came from Colombia, which has famously been growing and
selling them for centuries
But the country hasn&t produced any coffee makers — until now, anyway
The FrankOne is a clever device that puts a versatile vacuum-extraction technique in a compact, single-cup form factor.
Of course, it&ll
have to hit its Kickstarter goal first
Eduardo Umaña, the designer of the FrankOne, explained that he encountered the idea one day when chatting with a Colombian roaster.
&He was
making coffee then by using the ‘reverse french press& method and I thought I could improve on that,& Umaña told me in an email
&Some time after, I got very curious to test what high vacuum brewed coffee would taste like
I did some simple experiments and was very surprised by the rich and sweet flavor
One thing led to another and I ended up designing a new product.&
The FrankOne is closest in operation to the big glass vacuum drippers you
might have seen in fancy coffee shops
This interesting and quite old method uses the gas pressure created by the boiling action to force the water upwards through a tube into the
grounds, and then as it cools, the brewed coffee is pulled back down through a filter by the changes in air pressure
The siphons you&ve seen are elegant but not exactly convenient.
&They implement a similar principle in a very different way,& Umaña said
His device doesn&t require this dance of hot and cool; you put the cylindrical device, about the size of &a big burger,& on the included
carafe and add the ground coffee
Pour in the hot water, put the lid on and wait a bit for the oils and such to extract
Then hit the button on top and let it do its thing.
A pump extracts air from the carafe, drawing the coffee down through the metal filter
In a minute or so the process is done, leaving what Umaña says is the bitter crema up in the grounds
The result is a sweet and clear cup of coffee
Its taste (I haven&t tried) is likely closest to AeroPress, as opposed to drip, due to the active force pushing (pulling, actually) the
water through the grounds.
The device will accept various grinds and amounts of coffee, producing a different cup — not a possibility
with French press and not advised with pourover or espresso
And it definitely a lot smaller than an AeroPress.
It does run on a battery, but with 150 cups per charge, you probably won&t have to worry
And there no bait and switch with custom filters or something — you just wash the thing and it ready to go again.
Incidentally, I had to
double-check with Umaña that no one from Colombia had gone on to create a coffee maker
The industry is so old and so important there that it seemed impossible.
&Unbelievable, right& he wrote
&It was also very meaningful to me as Colombian to work on the first Colombian designed coffee brewer
Perhaps through this project we can bring some much needed economic development to the country by innovating in coffee; it grows right in
our backyard and we can do so much more than we are currently doing!&
Umaña and his company, Frank de Paula (after the second president of
Colombia, who started the coffee export business there in the 19th century), are looking for $120,000 to finance the device
At $50 for the early birds it likely a steal, at least if you&re a coffee brewing fiend like me — I collect stuff like this
Everyone needs a hobby, right It&ll cost a bill when it comes out in retail, so if you like the idea, save yourself a couple bucks and
support good design with a pledge.
