So I was watching bizarre foods with Andrew Zimmern and they did a spot on coffee in Seattle, Wa. They had a way of making coffee that uses a vacuum. Water is boiled in the lower container and forced into the upper container, which are separated by a cotton filter. Coffee grounds are then added and the flame is removed from the bottom container creating a vacuum to pull the mixture back down filtering out the grounds.

Thought it was pretty cool.
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I've seen the vacuum pots, but don't know much about them. I wonder how good the coffee is?
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They had one working at a couple of the Shack Herfs a few years back. It was very cool, and the coffee was good....but we used good coffee to start with.
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I have a vintage Cory Vac pot that I use on occasion. It makes a really good cup of coffee, and the show is pretty nice too. The one that I have doesn't have a cloth or paper filter, it has a glass rod with a bulb covered with tiny bumps in the middle, this is what filters the water from the grounds, when the positive pressure pushes it down.
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Did you happen to catch the $20K espresso machine later in the episode? Apparently they were using the same coffee and adjusting the pressure and water temp at different points in the extraction process. AZ said it was crazy how different each cup tasted.
For $20K, it better be the best damn machine ever!
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For 20K, it better give me a reach-around. :-)
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There has to be a point of diminishing returns where you're now paying an extra $19,500 for subtle differences based on the variables this machine can control. It's like that clover machine they have at my local coffee shop. It's a $13,000 french press. About $12,970 more than I'm willing to pay for french press :-)
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Vacuum pots were popular in the 1960's. I played around with one, but it's delicate process with style used back then. Should not taste any different than a french press since it's just steeped coffee.

If you scoop out the coffee that floats to the top on the French Press (before pressing), it will be even closer to vacuum pot coffee; which I do when I remember to.
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