The History of the Coffee Syphon
The coffee syphon was invented in Europe in the 1830s, with the earliest known design credited to the German manufacturer Loeff. In 1841 Madame Vassieux of Lyon patented the twin-globe shape people still picture today. Hario began making syphons in heatproof glass in the 1940s, and it was the first household product the company ever produced.
Nothing else on a brew bar gets watched the way a syphon does. Water climbs up a glass tube, sits there steeping, then drops back down through a cloth filter when you take the heat away. It looks like a chemistry demonstration, and it tastes like something in between a cafetière and a pour-over: proper body, none of the sediment.
A European invention
Vacuum brewing started in Europe in the 1830s. The earliest designs we know about came from a German company called Loeff, and over the next decade a string of patents refined the idea. The one that stuck was filed in 1841 by Madame Vassieux of Lyon: two balloon-shaped globes held in a frame. If you're picturing a syphon right now, that's almost certainly what you're picturing.
America takes it up
It found its biggest audience across the Atlantic. By 1915 syphons were being manufactured at scale for American hotels and coffee houses, and through the 1930s, 40s and 50s they turned up in ordinary kitchens too. For a good few decades, this was simply how you made a decent pot of coffee.
How Hario ended up making them
Japan took in a lot of American culture during that period, coffee included. Hario was already making heatproof glass for laboratories and industry, so building a coffee syphon was less of a leap than it sounds. It became the first household product the company ever sold.
In 1946 they developed a prototype of an all-glass vacuum pot modelled on the Cory, a ten-serving brewer that was the most popular coffee pot in America at the time. Hario has made syphons continuously ever since, which makes it the longest-running thing in the catalogue by quite a margin.
Then everyone stopped
Convenience finished it off. Electric drip machines arrived, and nobody wanted to manage a burner and a damp cloth filter before work. Syphon brewing retreated into specialist corners and mostly stayed there for thirty years.
And then it came back
The revival came from professionals rather than home kitchens. Syphons started reappearing on specialty brew bars, where the spectacle is part of what you're paying for and the clarity of the cup justifies the effort. Japan made it official with the Japan Siphonist Championship in 2003, which grew into the World Siphonist Championship in 2009. Hario sponsors it. Competitors get fifteen minutes to produce three blended syphon coffees and three signature drinks, which is a lot less time than it sounds.
Making one yourself
It's less daunting than it looks. Heat pushes water from the lower chamber up into the upper one, where it meets the grounds. Take the heat away and the vacuum pulls it back down through the filter. What you're controlling is the grind, the dose, and how long you leave it up top.
The Technica is the classic two-cup version at £123, frame and alcohol burner included, and it's the one most people have in mind. The Next does five cups for £105.
Both run on a cloth filter, which you'll want to boil before its first use and then keep submerged in water rather than letting it dry out. A dry cloth holds onto old oils and you'll taste them next time round. If that sounds like more upkeep than you fancy, paper filters do the job too.
Frequently asked questions
Who invented the coffee syphon?
The earliest known vacuum brewers came from the German company Loeff in the 1830s. Madame Vassieux of Lyon patented the familiar twin-globe design in 1841.
How does a coffee syphon work?
Heating the lower chamber creates vapour pressure that pushes water up into the upper chamber to steep with the grounds. Take the heat away, the lower chamber cools, and the vacuum pulls the brewed coffee back down through a filter.
Why did syphon coffee fall out of fashion?
Electric drip machines got you a similar result with far less effort, and household use dropped away through the later twentieth century.
Does syphon coffee taste different?
It combines full immersion with filtration, so you get more body than a paper pour-over while keeping the cup free of sediment.
How do I look after a syphon cloth filter?
Boil it before the first use, then store it submerged in water in the fridge. Letting it dry out traps old coffee oils.