I'm not going to lie; I didn't have high hopes that the Snowden Softbrew (SS) was going to be anything special. After all it's just a ceramic pot with a mesh filter, right?
Boy was I wrong.
The SS looks very nice right out of the box. It's a sturdy vessel that's well designed and pleasing to look the eye. It's very classy looking; something I would probably use if I were serving guests. The construction is very nice. There were no blemishes or bumps in the finish and all the components fit together very well.
The metal filter is very cool. I almost looks solid, like part of it is brushed metal, until you turn it just right. Then you can see the very fine mesh, similar to Swiss Gold filter, but the holes looked smaller to me.
The instructions are somewhat vague, stating things like "Add your preferred amount of coffee." or "Find the roast that suits your taste." or even "Find the grind that suits you best." Leave for 4-8 minutes? In a round about way, I think they are trying to say that is that the SS is a very flexible coffee brewing system, and one should experiment to get the most out of it.
Here's how I made my first brew in the SS:
-I preheated the pot with boiling water.
-I arbitrarily chose a grind setting half way between drip and vac pot (where vac pot is a little less than halfway between drip and espresso on my Mazzer Mini). I added 6 heaping scoops, using the provided measuring scoop, of some Guatemala La Perla.
-I added probably ~34 oz of 200*F water. The stated capacity of the 4 cup size is 27 oz, but I tend to overfill and I had to accommodate for 2 x 16 oz cups for the wife's and I first morning drink. That amount made the perfect amount to fill those 2 cups.
-Stirred the slurry.
-I waited for 3:30 minutes and poured.
Wow. This think makes a hella good cup of coffee. As expected, it did not produce a perfectly clean cup. There was a slightly gritty, french press look to the brew but surprisingly the grittiness did not translate in to the mouthfeel of the cup. The body was thicker than a lot of other brewing methods, and oily like a french press, but I did not feel like I was chewing my coffee. There was also very little sediment in the bottom of my mug when I finished.
The coffee it made was syrupy and nuanced with lots and lots of flavor and oils. Chocolate flavor came through with weight and the citrus notes were bright and tangy. It was probably the best cup of the La Perla I've had to date. Makes me wish that I hadn't just roasted the last batch of this bean.
I was thoroughly impressed with the SS and I will be adding one to my arsenal. Highly recommended product. I'm almost sad that it will be moving on to the next person in the traveling road show.
