In many European countries tea was traditionally the drink of choice. However, the popularity of coffee has seen the drink increasingly become a way of life and replace some of the more traditional drinks.
Now I love a good cup of tea, but there is nothing that quite hits the mark like a fine, rich roasted coffee (black) from a filter coffee machine.
Attempts were often made to copy cosmopolitan European countries such as France and Italy, especially when coffee percolators were all the rage. These never really matched the quality of their continental counterparts and these soon faded.
It appeared however, that percolators did ‘wet the taste buds’ of the nation and there was a major shift to the use of instant coffee. Although invented in 1901 by Satori Kato, a Japanese scientist working in Chicago, the popularity of instant coffee didn’t really take off until after the 1970’s.
Percolator users wanted all of the flavour of good coffee but without all of the hassle of setting up the coffee percolator every time they wanted a fresh tasting cup of coffee
The popularity of the instant coffee saw a massive expansion in the brands available and a massive advertising war broke out. By the early 1970’s, the quality of regular coffee had deteriorated to the point that instant coffee, with its new “freeze dried” production process, could compete on taste.
In the absence of quality, convenience became the main driver of consumer choice. Surprisingly, it wasn’t price, as instant coffee is more expensive at retail.
Most coffee producing countries do not allow extremely low quality coffee to be exported, but these types of regulations do not apply to coffee that has been processed into instant, or “soluble” coffee. The result is that some of the world’s lowest quality coffee, and thus cheapest, becomes some of the most expensive and profitable coffee per cup on the grocery store shelf.
The attraction of a filter coffee machine was clear to see: place freshly ground coffee into a cone of filter paper at the top of the machine through which boiling water was slowly filtered, leaving the used grinds in the filter paper and the water / coffee to pour down into a collection jug that was kept warm on a hot plate.
Today a filter coffee machine comes in many different cup volumes and are very easy to use. Water simply drips slowly through a basket of ground coffee to infuse in a pot or carafe. There’s no need to boil the water first. European models of filter machines have deeper cones, letting the water go right through the coffee. More compact models will have flatter cones, which may mean not all the coffee is filtered through.Models have either permanent or paper holders. Permanent filters save you money but they can be messy to clean and can taint. Paper holders are more hygienic and can be simply thrown away after use. Some filter coffee makers use a ‘pod’ system. Essentially like a tea bag, these produce a cup of filter coffee without any mess.
Recently there has been a significant resurgence in the popularity of coffee, but this is in the massive growth of coffee shops. The completion generated by these specialist retailers has seen many fast food outlets extolling the virtues of their coffee. This renewed popularity has been coupled with a new wave of home filter coffee machines in shops that do produce really splendid coffee to suit all tastes.
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