Hario Drip Scale & Drip Station - introduction

Between my law exams I couldn’t resist the opportunity of publishing a post regarding the newly introduced Hario Drip Scale and Drip Station, which quickly has become my everyday brewing tool for coffee. The attached video below, shows the controlled brewing process with the Scale and Drip Station.  

The Drip Scale and Drip Station are actually sold separately from each other, and it´s not necessary to use the Drip Scale along with the Drip Station, but when investing for the Drip Scale go all the way – it´s designed to fit and operate perfectly with each other, so don’t separate them. 

Drip Scale - Besides Harios focus on glass products for tea or coffee brewing, the Japanese company this time has mixed technology with the needs of a barista, which gives you the chance to improve and brew a great cup of coffee every single time. 

You might think by now; What´s with the enthusiasm for a scale, hasn’t this dude been around for the last couple of decades? Well he has, and the scale combined with a built-in timer isn’t extreme engineering, but simply logically thinking, due to its main purpose of being design directly for coffee brewing. If you think about it, which variables does aeropress, filter and presspot consists of? Water temperature, grinds size, brewing time, weight (Weight of coffee, weight/amount of water = Coffee versus water) and the roasting profile of the beans. This device lets you control the brewing time, the weight of coffee and the water distribution in a perfectionistic way, which earlier wasn’t so easy because you had your own precision scale and a separate timer – properly the timer on your mobile phone – therefore your focus was divided on multiple devices, which men in particular aren’t famous of handling.     

Objective and factual conclusion – The scale is designed in a very minimalistic style and is therefore very adaptable to most kitchen environments. It holds a small footprint (14 cm. * 19 cm.), which is large enough for a Chemex and therefore also aeropress and standard presspots. The scale has a 2kg maximum capacity with 0.1g increments from 0-200g, 0.5g increments from 200-500g and 1g increments from 500g to 2 kg, which is capable of fine measuring the coffee and water, when brewing. It´s powered by two AAA-batteries (included), and has a power safe feature, because it automatically turns off after 5 min. of inactivity. 

Drip Station – Hario has also designed and released a clear acrylic pourover stand with a drip tray that pars perfectly with the scale, no wonder why this was launched together. But I have heard about coffee shops that didn’t order any of the Drip Stations home for sale, because it´s made of acrylic and therefore holds a rumour of easily being exposed to scratch’s. I have had my set for about two months now and there isn’t a single scratch that can be located on my Drip Station, despite heavy usage – this rumour is therefore total rubbish. It´s a fact, that the transparent acrylic pourover stand is attractive to the eye and also combined with the Hario v60 (transparent acrylic also), which clearly is the purpose but also can be used with any other pourover, Melitta for an example. 

Combined – Hario has done it yet again and released a setup - without a match - in perfect design and quality. Comparing the set to other alternatives, it may seem like a good idea to save some money and buy a precision scale instead and keep timing with your mobile phone – for those people please read the following cursive text. 

(Hario has again released a product, which is exclusively made for the coffee market and therefore also should be supported instead of buying other kitchen scales. It´s a privilege that companies like Hario maintain focus on the market of the coffee enthusiast and it deserves to be honoured.)  

The Hario Drip Scale and Drip Station combined offers you the ability to massively improve your skills for brewing filter coffee, without even breaking a sweat. It allows you to control the smallest brewing details and keeping these simple, so you can focus 100% on the actual brewing. You might say that it quantifying your brewing process and therefore is very simple to adjust to your taste preferences.

In the nearest future, I will publish a post regarding the actual brewing process along with some pictures. So stay tuned!

// Hendrup

Learning Coffee Short Tutorial

I came across this guide on youtube. It’s a little superficial, but keeping in mind it’s a ten minute video it’s actually quite good.

The host of the documentary takes the viewer, thru the history of coffee from the early beginning, thru all the processes in working the beans. Not so much the brewing, but it’s a good ten minutes spend on learning about the origins of coffee.

Dont mind the titel... Wildly misleading ;)

Enjoy   

The Rancilio Silvia Screw Mod

How to change the ”frankenstein” brewhead screw on your Silvia

Every Rancilio Silvia owner knows about the problem, with the brew head screw. The gigantic screw leaves very limited space for dosing ground coffee to the basket. It is my experience that you can only dose up to 15 g. ground coffee with the original screw in the brew head. 

When looking around coffee forums all over the world, this issue is the most common in threads about Silvia. On the basis of that fact, I have made a how to guide to change the screw. 

This was my very first modification to my Silvia. I made it rather early on because of the constant headache of channeling, because of the overdose. It is quite easy, even with limited tools and knowledge/”handiness”.

The purpose of this mod is, to get the shower screen bolt aligned with the shower screen, to avoid channeling happening because of the bolt pressing a hole in the puck, when dosing just a little too much.

So here goes:

Parts to purchase

5x16 mm countersink bolt (stainless is preferred)

usually costs about 3-5$ 

Counter sinker, matching the angle of the 5 mm bolt  

Remove the original hex screw. Disassemble the water dispenser and shower screen from the brew head. At this point you should have these parts at your table:

Shower screen  

Water dispenser

Hex screw

At this point you are about to countersink the water dispenser. You need a proper counter sinker with the right angle matching your new bolt. If you can get to a drill press, that is much easier and accurate, but not at must! If you only have a vise and simple drill, like most people, this is what to do. 

Put the dispenser in the vise (put it between two pieces of wood, this way you won’t damage the dispenser), and start countersinking the dispenser. It is very important that you keep it in a straight angle. As you go on, stop to check the depth. When the bolt is about 1 mm below the surface you are done. 

Now you need to adapt the shower screen, to the new shape of the dispenser. This can be done in two ways. First and easiest way is simply to buckle all the parts back in the brew head. The other more need and gentle way (preferred), is to press the parts in a vise, adapting them to each other before assembly. Its easy.

Take a socket wrench top fitting inside the edges of your new bolt. Do the same Thing on the other side at the dispenser. This way the bolt Can move freely, the parts can be pressed together to adapt and shape, to fit each other. 

Tighten the vise slowly against the wrench tops, at this point; the natural shape of the bolt should create a conical shape in the shower screen. Stop tightening when the surface of the bolt and the screen are aligned. 

Assemble the parts to the brew head and start shooting. You should get more space between the puck and screen. Giving you larger oppurtunity to dose up and get better shots with the standart basket. 

Enjoy. 

Questions Can be asked in the commentfield or at xiburst@gmail.com