rFaFi: the *electric* santos

for this first edition of reader's funky appliance fiesta, i wanted to really go all out and showcase some of my seriously funky funky but um, it's my first sunday after realising caffeine makes me crazy, so i've really cut back and now i can't think.

what were we talking about?

oh yeah, rFaFi. cute name. i hope it continues. anyway, due to the caffeine crisis and a seriously narcissistic streak that i have GOT to control, i could only think of my coffee maker, which is the bodum electric santos.


i'm a little coffeepot, short and stout....

based on a traditional vacuum brewer (also called santos), you put the water on the bottom, the grinds on the top, when the water heats up, a vacuum is created, it gets sucked up, and as the heat is removed, so is the vacuum, and the coffee drips through the filter back down. you then remove the top part (there is an ever so inconvenient holder on the hot plate base), and serve the coffee from the pot below.

anyway, it makes a lovely, full-bodied cuppa. i'm told the 'vac-pot' method, as is it known, is the best way to brew expensive beans like kona or blue mountain. i use chef sakai blend kona coffee mostly, but sometimes i use whatever's on sale and i get magnificent results either way.

besides the fact that it makes nice, i like that it is a modern updating on rather obsolete technology, mostly plastic, mostly inconvenient, quirky, a little difficult to master, and a lot like a science experiment gone awry. like me. whee.