coffee 101 »

Small, lightweight, and portable, the Skerton is the ideal hand grinder for the traveling coffee enthusiast, or the home enthusiast on a limited budget. The Skerton employs adjustable conical ceramic burrs for grinding any of the wide range of grinds employed in today’s coffee market. It can easily handle anything from fine espresso to a coarse French Press setting. The Skerton’s detachable 100 gr. glass jar is perfect for collecting the grounds, and in combination with the plastic screw-on lid (included in order) can even double as a storage unit for whole beans on those long trips. After grinding is finished, cleaning the Skerton is as easy as placing the unit in the dishwasher since the entire grinder is dishwasher safe. Whether you desire a quality, handy grinder for the road or enjoy the fine art of manual coffee preparation, the Hario Skerton is the ideal candidate. For an even more portable hand grinder from Hario, check out the Mini Mill (for a more detailed comparison of the two grinders, check out this blog post: Hario Skerton vs. Mini Mill).

Siphon (or Syphon) brewers made their way to the U.S. at the end of the 19th century and became popular for their elegance, showmanship, and ability to produce a clean and flavorful cup of coffee. The combination of coffee as commodity and the convenience of electricity caused the Siphon brewer to fall off the map in the middle to late 20th century. Recently the Siphon has rode the wave of specialty (or culinary) coffee back into the spotlight. While the beautiful glass and open flame brewing process still keep the elegance and showmanship in tact, the Siphon is most coveted for it's ability to brew the best cup of coffee you've ever had. In the eyes of many coffee aficionados, the combination of full-immersion brewing, consistant temperature stability, and use of a cloth filter make the Siphon the ideal coffee brewer. It is the favorite method of many of us at Prima and we're confident you will love it as well. We know the Siphon can seem intimidating at first, so take a look at the links below for more information.