The non-electric version of the Santos has been around since the 1920's. It was the brewing method of choice for the poshest hotels and restaurants but soon lost market share to the easier to use drip-brewers that are so common today. The vacuum coffee brewer then became a tool that only the savviest of coffee aficionados used - until Bodum released the Electric Santos, that is.
There are a few reasons why I like machine. For one, it's not glass. I don't have to worry about chipping or breaking it as it's made of a taste free polycarbonate plastic - which Bodum touts as unbreakable. Next it's easy to clean. In the morning, I knock the grounds out of the upper chamber and into the trash - rinse the lower chamber out with soapy water (and wipe it down with a paper towel every few brews) and it's set. I also love the open topped and clear aspect of the machine. I can see everything as it happens. You don't have to brew with the lid on which means that you can get your nose right over the brewing pot of coffee as it works its magic. The aroma is almost overwhelming with some coffees. As far as flavor is concerned, the coffee comes in direct contact with the water, is allowed to steep and is removed without the use of a paper filter, more like a French Press than anything else. But the great thing is that you don't get the solids at the bottom of the cup that you get with a French Press. So, in essence, you get the sparkling crispness and full flavor that you would get with a French Press since it's not stripped out with a paper filter, but you don't have to get an overwhelmingly heavy cup of coffee at the same time. When it's done brewing, you pop the top chamber off, a little holder pops out of the unit base to hold it, and the bottom chamber becomes a portable kettle which you can lift right off the base. I love it!
And onto the more technical merits of the machine. Coffee needs to reach a critical range of temperatures (195F-205F) to properly extract. Too much or too little heat will leave you with sour or bitter brew as it will be over or under extracted. A lot of your commercial drip-brewers out there on the market don't get the water hot enough to properly extract the coffee. As you can see from the chart below, the Santos does indeed get hot enough.
As you can see, the entire brew takes about 4 minutes. A significant portion of that time (1) is the grounds heating up to the extraction temperature, and while they saturate they are being gently prepared for the extraction which will take place at the end of the cycle. Two minutes into this saturation process (2), the entire lower-chamber of water has entered the upper chamber. The temperature quickly rises to the proper extraction temperature of roughly 200F. From here, (3) the heat flips off in the lower chamber, the steam stops rising and the vacuum is allowed to suck the water back down to the lower chamber - leaving the grounds above. The temperature drops off relatively quickly from there (4) when all the water has left the grounds. This process takes approximately 75 seconds to complete - and you are left with brilliant, crisp and sparkling coffee.
A side note: You aren't getting a full 4 minute extraction on this coffee. The warm-up phase (while the steam is rising) compensates for this slightly, but you will need to grind your coffee slightly finer to facilitate a quicker extraction. You will notice a pretty big difference with this machine based on the grind. It's pretty easy to find one you like and stick with it, though.
