I decidedly do not like to drink coffee from stainless. Something about it seems to boost acidity. Borsillicate glass is my preference for mugs, but to keep my chemex brew warm in between the Chemex and my mug is there any reason to get a glass lined carafe (bit more fragile) vs a pure stainless carafe?
Edit. Oh, and would either one fare better for also being washed out well and being used for ice water in the summer without any coffee flavors bleeding through?
Here is an idea for testing whether a stainless carafe vs glass lined makes a noticeable difference for you:
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Set up a water bath at whatever serving temp you prefer for your coffee. A quick search’s says this is somewhere from 140-150f. If you have an immersion circulator (used for “sous vide” cooking), you’re golden for this. Otherwise, you’d have to use a pot of water on the stove with a rack in the bottom to keep your coffee vessels from touching the bottom. then keep adjusting the stove to maintain water temp… which would be a PITA.
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get two clean vessels with lids, one stainless, one glass. You could probably get away with using plastic wrap and a rubber bands for lids in a pinch. Preheat the vessels with water.
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pour freshly brewed coffee into each vessel, put the lids on, and put them in the water bath for a while (1 hour?).
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have someone pour you a coffee from each vessel into identical coffee cups. They need to keep track of which is which. And, of course, you shouldn’t know which is which.
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Taste. Can you tell a difference? Which one is better?
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repeat until you’re tired of running the test and are sure your answer is solid.
I’d add that they should pour two cups of each, and remove one, then try to guess the odd one out.
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I’m clumsy as hell, I use stainless steel because of that. I honestly can’t tell the difference between the two, grind and water-coffee contact time seem to have the biggest impact on the coffee for me.
Exactly. I have a stainless French press as well. I’ve broken two glass ones. Not only is there broken glass to clean up, there’s also no coffee…
Stainless is often just not clean, but it isn’t as obvious as glass when it’s not clean. I could see that making a difference. If you’ve got a stainless-lined mug or carafe, try pouring a bit of baking soda and water in to make a paste, and scrubbing a little bit. If you wipe it out with paper towel, you can see how much coffee stain you’ve missed cleaning out.
