Sowden Softbrew

dfk41

Does anyone use one of these? I bought one from a member on cfuk a couple of years ago that sadly arrived smashed and have often thought I would like a go, but the new prices are still a little crazy for just another one of my fads!

Rob1

I have one and like it. Not really sure how much it’ll differ from an insulated french press. Easier to clean. I’m fairly certain @MWJB has one.

MWJB

I have 3. 😀

1200, 800 & 400 (rarely used the smaller one but it’s here if anyone want a sanity check on brews).

I used to use the 800 & 1200 a lot at the office for 3, or 4 mug brews. Always, my best results were long steeps at 1:18-19. Preheat, water in first (you can just fill to the line on the filter) add coffee, dab & dunk until wetted, but don’t sink everything/stir vigorously.

Lid on and walk away for 40min with 800, 60-70min with 1200. Eventually I decided to kill brews by temp & preheat cups, decant & serve when the brew hit _60c. Serve immediately.

Cleaner cups than French press, easier clean up too, thump the rim of the filter against the side wall of the bin a couple of times gets the worst of the grounds out then rinse.

The only reason it fell out of favor was because my colleagues wanted hot coffee quickly, but I still look back on those long Sowden steeps as some of the sweetest coffees I have had. Aaaah, halcyon days….

dfk41

MWJB Here is a question Mark. In theory, should every bean have a sweet spot? I normally drink darker beans that as americano, can be tasty but quite often are not. If using one of these is there a sort of bean that they perform best with please?

MWJB

dfk41 I don’t think so, you’re just leaving them to steep as long as you can to get the most out of them, before too cool to enjoy.

I’d grind medium drip, 55-60 on a Niche as a guesstimate. I can give a brew a go over the weekend if you like.

More soluble beans (to me that means Colombia, Kenya, Rwanda, Peru, Ethiopia, Burundi) work best, if roasting them darker does that for other origins, then fine (I never buy dark roasts, but roasts I bought as being light and arrived darker than I’d ever drink didn’t exibit higher solubility).

For darker roasts I tended to back off the brew ratio a bit to 1:20, but if you like it more intense you might not bother.

Some lighter, less soluble beans (Guatemala, Cost Rica, Brazil) might struggle, but otherwise it’s pretty forgiving overall.

dfk41

MWJB I will try and source one over the coming weeks. Did I read your first post on this topic correctly that you might part with the smallest one? That size would be fine for my humble needs I suspect. I will then find one of the bean varietals that you mention and try my hand! If you do want to part with your 400, please tell me how much matey.

LMSC

MWJB I’d grind medium drip, 55-60 on a Niche

Coarser than you would for Clever and finer than V60, right ? Is this a reference for all roast types please? Thx

LMSC

@dfk41 and @MWJB Thx. Never heard of them. Looks very interesting indeed.

Are there any differences between models - standard, James, and Hay except colours and price? I would probably be tempted to try the 0.8L!

https://www.sowdenathome.com/shop?category=COFFEE

dfk41

LMSC I think they all work on the same principle matey. I may be corrected but it is just design, colour and size!

MWJB

dfk41 Sorry no, that’s not what I meant, it’s not for sale, I just meant that if you got one and were struggling with it, I could do brew here on my Niche to compare. I’d personally go with the 800 for better hear retention.

MWJB

LMSC It’s not reference, it’s guess, I have never ground for Sowden with the Niche, but I’d be aiming 11-12% at 400Kruve, or what I’d use for a finer 1 cup V60.

Roast type won’t make much difference,

LMSC

MWJB I’d personally go with the 800 for better hear retention.

The S(mall) is up to 0.5L, the M is between 0.85 and 1L and the large is 1.2L. I think M is ideal.

MWJB

60 on the Niche is too course, will try again at 50.
On the plus side, (if you discard the first 50-70g and don’t try to pour every last drop) the cup was extremely clean/free of silt (compared to French press).

LMSC

MWJB if you discard the first 50-70g and don’t try to pour every last drop

I can understand not pouring the last few grams. Why discard the first 50-70g please? Could you explain this?

I was thinking and may be mistaking if that would mean sinking almost a 23% - 32% of the cup, assuming we get about 215g liquid after brewing with 250g of water. 😊

MWJB

LMSC When you steep coffee the oils settle on they surface, they also hold a proportion of the silt, it’s not all at the bottom of the pot. The oils don’t taste particularly nice, they’re generic & pithy. If you are pouring cups for more than one person, one of you will get all the oil, the other none and you may have quite different cups.

I don’t think you could easily brew as little as 250g in a Sowden. So if you brewed say 600g in the 800/850, it’s about 10%. Generally, sure, I’d expect to lose about 25%-30% overall of the original water weight with Sowden/French press, I used to get 3× 200ml-ish clean cups from a 800ml brew.

If minimising the loss of liquid is important to you then siphon, or Aeropress pressed through to the hiss are better candidates. Then drip filtered coffee.

MWJB

Extraction is still a bit low at 50, so trying 40 on the Niche.

The one thing I would make clear with this brewer is that I have never found a way to make strong, filter strength coffee (1.3 to 1.6%TDS), with a normal extraction. My best results have always, so far, been on the weaker side of normal, like a SCAA cupping strength, say 1.05 to 1.20%TDS, so even when you get a balanced cup, it is delicate.

If this doesn’t sound like it is in line with your preference, this may not be the brewer for you.

That said, I could always have a bash at a low extraction brew method, but it would be an experiment & not something I can recommend in advance of a purchase.

MWJB

Niche setting 40, 42g coffee, 800g water (up to the line on mine), water in 1st, 50min steep. Preheated both brewer & cup at decanting. Extraction now in range, 1.14%TDS, a pleasant but delicate brew, a little powdery on the tongue, so gone 42 on grind.

Smaller Sowden, 42 on Niche, 33g coffee, 300g water in first, combine water & coffee at surface ensuring no dry clods, sink anything floating at 4:00-5:00 decant at 9;00-10;00. 1.59% TDS, so in the stronger end of filter range, but a lower than typical extraction, heavier mouth feel and a bit of sediment in the cup, but not as much a plunged FP (expect about 180-ish of finished coffee for these weights, so most will want to brew bigger & maybe 1:10 ratio?). I should probably have preheated to push extraction on a tad. I didn’t have a preference between the cups.

I did previously comment on the old forum, it should have been called the “Slowbrew” 😀