Back in March of this year, I ordered, from QVC, one of the alt.coffee
group's recent favorite automatic drip coffeemakers, the so-called
"Scandinavian-designed" Melitta Clarity 8-cup Automatic Drip Coffeemaker.

IN a post shortly after I received it, I mentioned some of the things I
liked about the design, and some of the things I thought were definite
negative points in the design of this model.

For about two months now, I have been using it as my everyday coffee brewing
device.

All of the back portions of my little kitchen's counter space is civered by
cabinetry above it with only about 18 inches, maybe about 450 millimeters of
space between the counter top and the bottom framing of the upper ccabinets.
This means that thanis to the Clarity's design, I must slide the beast
toward the front in order to open covers to fill the water tank, and to load
the brewing basket with filter and ground coffee.

ON one of these forward sliding operations, one of the plastic feet snapped
off and I resorted to the use of an epoxy glu to re-attach it. Now, the
machine rests on a shallow metal cooky sheet that is just long enough to
hold the machine inside the sheet. This is definitely the first time in
more than 35 years owning and using electric coffee brewers, whether
percolators, drip brewers, of other types, that I have had one of the feet
come off.

At any rate, the subject of this message is my attempt to measure the
temperatures this unit produces while actually brewing a pot of coffee under
real-world conditions.

The test victim is this Melitta Clarity we're discussing. The water was
from the cold tap, straight from my kitchen sink. The coffee was A&P Eight
O'Clock 100 Percent Colombian Arabica whole bean coffee mixed half and half
with A&P Eight O'Clock French Roast Whole Bean coffee, ground in a
two-year-old Solis Maestro Grinder. I used as much coffee as the Maestro
would grind on a full wind of its spring-loaded mechanical timer. The water
tank of the Clarity was filled to the top with water, beyond any cup
markings, to the point where it was full to the top.
The Coffee beans came out of the freezer, straight into the grinder, and
then from the grinder's collection hopper into the old Krups Gold-Tone metal
mesh filter and then into the Clarity's filter basket.

Temperatures are measured with what is advertised to be a restaurant-quality
cooking thermometer which measures its readings on the Fahrenheit scale to
within one-tenth of one degree, with its maximum capable reading being 254.0
degrees. The business end of the thermometer is a five-inch long probe
about the diameter of a standard four-inch-long carpenter's nail. In
addition to an LCD digital readout, this thermometer speaks its readings in
a high-pitched, slightly Asian-accented female voice.

The time of the test was measured with a digital watch which has a stopwatch
and count-up timer function, which has the ability to speak its output in a
similar female voice to the one used by the Talking Cooking Thermometer.

As I begin the test, the air temperature in the room, within two feet of the
Clarity was 78.1 Degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature of the water in the
tank was 75.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Temperature of the cold ground coffee in the basket was somewhat cooler,
58.1 degrees Fahrenheit.

The machine was turned on and the probe remained inside the filter basket
through the brewing cycle.

Here are the measured times counting up from the time the machine was turned
on, with temperature readings at various points as the machine brewed its
thing. A couple of mintes after the pump stopped, giving some time for the
remaining water to drip out of the basket into the carafe, I measured the
temperature in the carafe before turning off the warmer plate. I accepted a
reading of air and water temperatures before brewing began, and of carafe
temperature after brewing stopped, when I got three consecutive readings
that were the same.

The switch was pushed at 10:43 PM.

7 seconds, 58.7 degrees
30 seconds, 115.3 degrees
44 seconds, 165.8 degrees
1 minute, 173.5 degrees
1 minute 19 seconds, 172.5 degrees
1 minute 37 seconds, 184.4 degrees
1 minute 50 seconds, 187.0 degrees
2 minutes, 187.3 degrees
2 minutes 13 seconds, 189.4 degrees
2 minutes 24 seconds, 191 degrees
2 minutes 38 seconds, 192.9 degrees
2 minutes 49 seconds, 195.3 degrees
3 minutes, 196 degrees
3 minutes 19 seconds, 197.2 degrees
3 minutes 37 seconds, 197.4 degrees
3 minutes 49 seconds, 197.9 degrees
4 minutes, 197.4 degrees
4 minutes 16 seconds, 197.6 degrees
4 minutes 28 seconds, 197 degrees
4 minutes 36 seconds, 197.5 degrees
4 minutes 44 seconds, 199.8 degrees
4 minutes 52 seconds, 200.9 degrees
5 minutes, 201.4 degrees
5 minutes 8 seconds, 201.7 degrees
Five minutes 16 seconds, 201.5 degrees
five minutes 25 seconds, 201.3 degrees
five minutes 33 seconds, 201.4 degrees
five minutes 44 seconds, 201.9 degrees
five minutes 53 seconds, 202 degrees
six minutes, 202.1 degrees
six minutes 9 seconds, 202.4 degrees
six minutes 25 seconds, 203.1 degrees
six minutes 31 seconds, 201.3 degrees (brewing had stopped)
six minutes 39 seconds, 201.8 degrees
six minutes 49 degrees, 202.5 degrees
seven minutes, 202.8 degrees
Seven minutes 8 seconds, 202.8 degrees Fahrenheit.

Temperature insde Carafe after brewing:
Eight minutes, 176.5 degrees
8 minutes 25 seconds, 176.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

About 30 minutes before I ran that test, actually brewing coffee, I ran the
test with water only, no coffee in the filter basket. The highest
temperature reading I got inside the basket with the water being allowed to
flow out quickly and unimpeded was 190.1 degrees fahrenheit.

Now, I plan to run this coffee brewing test with some of my other automatic
drip brewers, including the Presto machine I bought at the end of 2004, a
Bunn BT-10B which I got at the 2004 SCAA convention in Atlanta, a Melitta
IBS-10S which was bought late in 1998, and a couple of other machines I have
hanging around here.

I must say that I found this particular test quite a bit reveling on several
levels. It will be interesting to see what kinds of readings I get from
some of these other machines. I might even toss the old 10-cup stainless
steel Farberware electric percolator into the test ring for good measure.

Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA USA
Email: Phone: 1-404-814-0768

> wrote in message
news
>
>
> Back in March of this year, I ordered, from QVC, one of the alt.coffee
> group's recent favorite automatic drip coffeemakers, the so-called
> "Scandinavian-designed" Melitta Clarity 8-cup Automatic Drip Coffeemaker.
>

For what it's worth, I think we usually use the term "Scandinavian-designed"
to refer to the Presto coffeemaker of that name, not the Clarity.

C

On 2005-07-03 said:
Newsgroups: alt.coffee,rec.food.drink.coffee
> wrote in message
news
> Back in March of this year, I ordered, from QVC, one of the alt.
>coffee group's recent favorite automatic drip coffeemakers, the
>so-called "Scandinavian-designed" Melitta Clarity 8-cup Automatic
Drip Coffeemaker. >
For what it's worth, I think we usually use the term
"Scandinavian-designed" to refer to the Presto coffeemaker of that
name, not the Clarity.

That may be so, but the Clarity has also been advertised as being a
Scandinavian, more precisely, a Swedish design product. Here is the text
from one such website, with all the HTML coding stripped out. Because of
that, some of the spacing and line-by-line formatting might be a little odd,
but the text is all here.

Begin, text from the website:

<1><2>
Clarity 10-Cup Coffee Maker by Melita
adphones,boom box,hitachi,lenox,nontake,waterford,oneida,norelco ,shaving
system,hair dryer,backpack,humidifier,vacuum,eureka,miele,hoov er,holmes,
steamer,rowenta,oxo,iron,mixer,farberware,percolat or,can opener,black deck
er,
homedics,krups,cuisinart,braun,delonghi">131741e2f 248a85<3><4>pad<5><6>



<7><8>click to enlargepad<9>clarity 10-cup coffee maker by melita



Elegant Swedish design. Stainless Steel boiler and copper braised stainless

element for quick brewing and reduced calcification. Separate, dedicated
warming plate keeps coffee hotter. Removable cone filter, transparent water

reservoir, pause n' serve. Flow regulator circulates coffee for optimal fla
vor.
MESC10pad$59.99padvwitemvwcatalog

.autodone
copyright 1996-2005 Apex At Home, LLC. All rights reserved
57 0

IMG1=http://redirect1.vip.store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/referadd?et1=41f4841a&r1=h
ttp://shopping.yahoo.com&catalog1=apexexpress
IMG2=http://shopping.yahoo.com/js/st.js
IMG3=http://store1.yimg.com/I/apexexpress_1828_859749
IMG4=http://us.st1.yimg.com/store1.yimg.com/Img/trans_1x1.gif
HREF5=index.html
IMG6=http://store1.yimg.com/I/apexexpress_1825_5168
HREF7=http://store1.yimg.com/I/apexexpress_1828_29221140
IMG8=http://store1.yimg.com/I/apexexpress_1828_29246923
IMG9=http://store1.yimg.com/I/apexexpress_1828_29268416

End webpage text.

I'm still not sure what is supposed to be so special or otherwise great
about "Scandinavian" or "Swedish" design in a drip coffeemaker that would
make it a desirable marketing buzzword, especially from a German company
who's founder supposedly invented, or at least popularized the whole idea of
brewing coffee by pouring or dripping the hot water over coffee placed in
some kind of basket in a paper filter to keep those yucky ground bean
particles out of the cup.


Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA USA
Email: Phone: 1-404-814-0768

In article >,
says...
snip
>
> Temperatures are measured with what is advertised to be a restaurant-quality
> cooking thermometer which measures its readings on the Fahrenheit scale to
> within one-tenth of one degree, with its maximum capable reading being 254.0
> degrees. The business end of the thermometer is a five-inch long probe
> about the diameter of a standard four-inch-long carpenter's nail.

Hi, Brent.

I used a small bead K type thermocouple on a Fluke and read more than
200 degrees within moments and the temps went up to 210 at the shower
head in a minute or two. With the probe buried in the middle of the
coffee, by the time brewing was finished, temps were around 205 or so.
All from memory, sadly, so subject to question.

Ted
--
email me at:
tee en jay ess eye em pee ess oh en one-the-number (at) cee oh em cee a
ess tee (dot) en ee tee

ANY other email addie will probably mean I spam-killed your message
unread, by accident, really.

"simpson" > wrote in message
ganews.com...
> In article >,
> says...
> snip
>>
>> Temperatures are measured with what is advertised to be a
>> restaurant-quality
>> cooking thermometer which measures its readings on the Fahrenheit
>> scale to
>> within one-tenth of one degree, with its maximum capable reading
>> being 254.0
>> degrees. The business end of the thermometer is a five-inch long
>> probe
>> about the diameter of a standard four-inch-long carpenter's nail.
>
> Hi, Brent.
>
> I used a small bead K type thermocouple on a Fluke and read more than
> 200 degrees within moments and the temps went up to 210 at the shower
> head in a minute or two. With the probe buried in the middle of the
> coffee, by the time brewing was finished, temps were around 205 or so.
> All from memory, sadly, so subject to question.
>
> Ted
> --
> email me at:
> tee en jay ess eye em pee ess oh en one-the-number (at) cee oh em cee
> a
> ess tee (dot) en ee tee
>
> ANY other email addie will probably mean I spam-killed your message
> unread, by accident, really.


If my memory serves me correctly, I posted about my Melitta Clarity
brewing temps in the basket over a 30 oz brew cycle of 5 minutes 20
secs, { 8, 4oz cups [32oz] } (for me, 3 10 oz cups for 3 people) on the
CG forums. Or maybe I wrote it down..
The temps after 1 1/2 - 2 minutes was 202F climbing to 203F after 3
minutes & stayed there. Temp in the carafe was I believe 180F or 185F.

I really love this brewer, & the prices a while back there on CHEFS &
QVC were great! I tailor the roasts for the coffees, blends that suit
the higher brew temp.
Craig.

<RoqueJa> wrote in message
...
> It surely does look like something off-the-shelf from IKEA.
>

thanks so much for "your" "contribution;" really got me thinking!

ken
;-)