[HN Gopher] CT scans of coffee-making equipment
___________________________________________________________________
CT scans of coffee-making equipment
Author : eucalyptuseye
Score : 669 points
Date : 2023-08-31 18:35 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.scanofthemonth.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.scanofthemonth.com)
| nurple wrote:
| [flagged]
| blamazon wrote:
| I got a kick out of this passage:
|
| > At times, Fourth Wave innovations verge into the realm of
| obsession, making you wonder how much real difference all of this
| precision makes to a cup of coffee. At the end (or beginning) of
| the day, coffee is a ritual. More than mere caffeine delivery,
| these technologies enable a multi-faceted sensory experience.
| Exploring the complexity of its flavors and aromas has
| transformed coffee from an article of consumption into an open-
| ended object of scientific and aesthetic experimentation.
| notamy wrote:
| I love that way of thinking about it. I wish I thought about
| more things as more than just the bland day-to-day they seem to
| be on the surface.
| fabian2k wrote:
| There are certainly diminishing returns on many of the aspects
| coffee enthusiasts care about. But when I started experimenting
| with an Aeropress and some better coffee I found it interesting
| that there were many fundamental aspects I could easily taste.
| Temperature and grind settings can get very obvious quickly.
| And also the difference between roast levels or some kinds of
| coffee beans/preparation are not difficult to taste. And I
| don't trust myself to distinguish any of the more subtle tastes
| coffee enthusiasts talk about.
|
| But once you e.g get into arguments on whether high-end
| grinders with conical or flat burrs are better you're far into
| the diminishing returns that might not survive a blind test.
| tomasGiden wrote:
| Related, but not as fancily presented, the startup I'm at just
| scanned a coffee bean in our micro-CT that we developed. It's
| especially good for low-Z (like carbon and silicon) based samples
| in contrast to normal X-Rays that see right through it (think
| x-ray images of a broken arm where the tissue is invisible).
|
| https://exciscope.com/applications/food-and-packaging/
| jval43 wrote:
| Awesome. I would be curious to see what the difference is
| between monsooned malabar and some more regularly stored beans.
| C-x_C-f wrote:
| Very cool as always! If I may be pedantic about the lede:
|
| > The history of coffee provides a rich index of global economic
| and cultural exchange going back thousands of years.
|
| The history of coffee is less than 600 years old.
| culi wrote:
| If I may be pedantic in return
|
| > The history of coffee is less than 600 years old.
|
| The history of coffee being traded internationally is around
| 600 years old. Coffee began being "domesticated" (more in the
| Graeber "play-farming" sense of the word) at least 7k years ago
|
| Likely even longer before that given the dominance of the plant
| in parts of Ethiopia. Today the few "coffee forests" remaining
| are protected ecosystems by UNESCO
| gaudat wrote:
| I thought X-rays do not pass through metal? Like it shows up
| opaque in clinical images. Suprised that they got a scan of the
| moka pot. Truly amazing stuff.
| mcpackieh wrote:
| Metal blocks some x-rays but not all. The more x-rays you have,
| the more pass through. When doctors are xraying people, they
| use as little xrays as they need to get a good image of the
| fleshy bits, so metal objects appear opaque relative to that.
| ceejayoz wrote:
| You can use a much higher dose on inanimate objects than you
| could on a human patient. (See, for example, airport security's
| ability to see inside your Macbook...)
| chongli wrote:
| X-rays are used a lot in non-destructive testing for welding
| and also in civil engineering to look inside concrete and
| rebar!
| exabrial wrote:
| Entire aircraft engines and rocket engines can in fact be
| x-rayed (google image search awaits you). Granted if you stuck
| your hand in there it would definitely get cooked. The power
| levels are much higher.
|
| If you really want to dive down a rabbit hole, look up how they
| image welds on pipelines... literally inject radioactive gas
| between two cardboard/clay plugs and tape an xray film on the
| outside of the weld for an hour or two.
| tasnimreza wrote:
| can someone explain what library they use to render scan images?
| endeavour wrote:
| The technique is called volume rendering. I'm not sure what
| library they specifically use but a popular one is VTK.
| ggm wrote:
| Wish they'd done a commercial segafreddo or like unit.
| kristofferR wrote:
| Slight sidenote, but today I've reading about Dual-energy CT tech
| in airports [1], which will finally force airports to unban
| liquids above 100ml.
|
| Some call the 2006 liquid explosive terror plot a failure, but
| it's been one of the most effective ever IMO. The economic and
| environmental effects [2] of the ban have been massive, likely
| resulting in thousands of lives lost.
|
| [1] ECAC EDS C3
|
| [2] At London's Heathrow Airport alone, approximately 2.2 tons of
| liquids, aerosols, and gels were confiscated every day in 2017.
| calpaterson wrote:
| Are there any advantages to the aluminium version of a moka pot
| aside from tradition/aesthetics?
|
| I switched to one of the (Bialetti-made) stainless steel ones
| ("Venus" shape) because at one point I lived somewhere with an
| induction hob. I immaculately saw that the stainless version was
| considerably easier to clean. Cleaning, afterall, is half the job
| of using one of these.
|
| Visually, I prefer the aluminium shape of course, but they are a
| real nightmare to keep clean and presumably you're drinking a lot
| of that aluminium oxide.
| rjsw wrote:
| Not answering your question but Bialetti make an adaptor plate
| that lets you use an aluminium moka pot on an induction hob, I
| have one, it works well.
| kwhitefoot wrote:
| Interesting images and a very well put together page.
|
| But a little off topic, I was struck by this:
|
| > With the powerful 1200 W heating element
|
| A typical European kettle is at least 1800 W, comfortably less
| than the power deliverable from a 10 A, 230 V circuit. A typical
| UK kettle would be more like 3000 W, such as this one (it seems
| that all the kettles on that website are 3 kW):
|
| https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9363195?clickPR=plp:1:72
| cjs_ac wrote:
| UK plug sockets are rated at 13 A, giving a maximum power
| rating of 2,990 W. Kettles are consequently amongst the
| highest-drawing household appliances in the UK.
|
| Back when there were only three television channels, the
| National Grid planners used to pore over the Radio Times,
| looking for popular programmes like the Morecambe and Wise
| Christmas Special (21 to 28 million viewers in 1977), so they
| could prepare for the demand surge of the entire nation putting
| the kettle on at the end of the programme.
| GuB-42 wrote:
| Is there a reason why European kettles are typically 2200W
| and UK kettles are 3000W?
|
| European plug sockets are typically rated for 16A, secured
| with a matching breaker and allowing for about 3500W of
| power. Appliances that use the full 3500W are rare but they
| exist, so it is not like it is illegal. So why don't
| Europeans get the 3000W kettles too?
|
| Maybe some people have 10A circuits, maybe this is a margin
| so that other appliances can be plugged in the same circuit,
| or maybe it is just more expensive.
|
| I have noticed that most 3000W+ appliances I can buy in
| France are more "professional", like what you can find in
| commercial kitchens or in workshops, but again, it does not
| mean they are not sold to consumers.
| mschuster91 wrote:
| > European plug sockets are typically rated for 16A,
| secured with a matching breaker and allowing for about
| 3500W of power. Appliances that use the full 3500W are rare
| but they exist, so it is not like it is illegal. So why
| don't Europeans get the 3000W kettles too?
|
| The British plug (and ring wiring scheme) was designed for
| two 13A electric heaters on a single ring, so continuous
| load.
|
| Meanwhile, German Schuko and the related French E plug are
| theoretically capable of 16A peak load, modern sockets are
| capable of 16A continuous load as well, but a lot of old
| installations and especially old sockets are rated for 10A
| only - so typical kettles are limited to 2200W/9.6A to
| leave a bit of headroom for older, more trigger-happy
| circuit breakers and other devices on the same circuit.
| lb1lf wrote:
| I think - I am an electrical engineer working in the
| offshore industry, so I have only superficial knowledge
| of shore-based installations - anyway, I seem to recall
| that the Norwegian electrical code calls for Schuko not
| being used to carry more than 10A continously, 16A
| intermittent.
|
| However, until relatively recently, the average
| residential circuit was 10A, though you could get 16A if
| you asked for it - typically for tumble driers, washing
| machines and the like - so the market for appliances
| requiring more than 10A was quite slim.
|
| I am sure the appliance stores didn't want to have to
| explain to each and every customer that the beefy kettle
| they had just put on the counter might not work at their
| house - hence, 10A appliances for all.
|
| (Incidentally, I have a 3kW kettle I bought in the UK and
| a couple of 16A outlets on my kitchen counter.)
| tommiegannert wrote:
| In Sweden (Schuko), 1.5 mm2 wall installations are rated
| for up to 13 A now, but used to be 10 A. It's the wires
| in the walls being the bottleneck, not the connectors.
| Dunno why they up-rated it. Can't imagine the copper is
| better now than it used to be.
| atoav wrote:
| I am an electrical engineer who has to learn all those
| norms.
|
| The normal eueopean "Schuko" plug is rated for 16A _short
| term_ and 10A long term. Long in that context means
| everything above 1 hour of continous load, which should
| cover typical applications of water cookers.
|
| The wall sockets are typically the same, although 16A
| continous variants exist and old wall sockets with bad
| contacts can easily heat up enough that I would avoid ever
| going over 10A with them if it can be avoided.
| quartz wrote:
| Related HN discussion about UK power demand surges due to
| millions of kettles being simultaneously turned on during TV
| breaks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5018560
| AdamN wrote:
| TV Pickup (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup) also
| leads to the political issue where one of the drivers of
| Brexit was that the 'EU' wanted to 'take away' traditional
| kettles because there was a proposal to embed a warm up
| cycle of a few seconds into the heating element so it
| didn't have spiky power consumption which caused very large
| amounts of simultaneous draw.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCAzalhldg8
| jcul wrote:
| I remember discussing this during a lecture as part of my
| electronic engineering degree, speaking about planning for
| demand during half time of big football matches when everyone
| went and boiled the kettle at the same time.
| Lapha wrote:
| >UK plug sockets are rated at 13 A, giving a maximum power
| rating of 2,990 W.
|
| Nominally, anyway. When the EU standardised mains voltages
| they mostly did so on paper by fudging the tolerances, UK's
| 240v +/- 3% became 230v -6/+10%. 28 years later and I still
| see the mains voltage in the 240-250v range more often than
| not.
| [deleted]
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| I checked, across the pond (here in NL) most kettles are up to
| 2200, maybe 2400 W; the 3 kW ones are the "dispense instant
| boiling water" type things. I suspect the UK power standards
| are a bit more beefy, the plugs sure are.
|
| It's probably a wide safety margin, you should be able to run
| an electric oven, a hob, and a kettle at the same time on a
| single fuse group nowadays. Or a kitchen should have separate
| groups.
| cjrp wrote:
| > ...the kettle reaches optimal temperature very quickly -- in
| under three minutes
|
| That's too long to wait for a brew.
| p1mrx wrote:
| If you fill to the minimum line (0.5L) instead of the maximum
| (1.7L), it will boil in under 1 minute.
|
| When buying a kettle, the most important specs are the
| minimum fill and wattage (ideally 1500W in the US.)
| blamazon wrote:
| Any amount of time feels like too long to wait for a brew
| ever since I got one of these:
|
| https://www.zojirushi.com/app/category/water-boilers-warmers
|
| (To answer the question an inquisitive reader may ask: the
| keep-warm setting of the model I have uses about 25-60 watts
| average at room temp 73degF/23degC depending on volume and
| selected water temp) [1, pg5]
|
| [1]: https://www.zojirushi.com/servicesupport/manuals/manual_
| pdf/...
| exabrial wrote:
| Reduce the pressure! :)
| c_o_n_v_e_x wrote:
| I once met the guy who owned Zip in Australia. Sold out for
| big $$$ apparently.
|
| https://www.zipwater.com/for-home
| crazygringo wrote:
| I'm not sure what the point is you're trying to make?
|
| I'm sure you're aware that US sockets are 110-120V. The power
| required by a European kettle would too often trip someone's
| circuit breaker in the US, especially if any other equipment
| were also plugged in (you usually want to stick to max 1500 W
| on a circuit).
|
| Clearly the "powerful 1200 W" is in the context of equipment
| designed for American residential sockets -- the page is
| produced by an American company after all.
|
| (Which is why Americans don't use electric kettles nearly as
| much as Brits/Europeans, of course.)
| beojan wrote:
| A heating element is basically just a resistor, right? Which
| means if you run one on half the design voltage it'll draw
| half the current it's meant to and produce 1/4 the power.
| dgfitz wrote:
| Half the voltage = 2x the amperage draw, not half, if I'm
| not mistaken.
| beojan wrote:
| P = (v^2)/R. It's R that stays constant, not P.
| exabrial wrote:
| [flagged]
| tpl wrote:
| They picked boring things to look at unfortunately. Not a lot
| going on in Moka pot that you can't grok just by looking at and
| taking it apart. Throwing a whole all-in-one countertop machine
| might be cooler.
| hex4def6 wrote:
| Agree, although it was interesting seeing the porosity in the
| casting in the new design.
| hammock wrote:
| And the aluminum shavings inside the chamber...
| felipc wrote:
| The point about the newer Bialettis being cheaper is absolutely
| true. My mother has an old (>10 years) Moka that feels heavy and
| sturdy. A couple of years ago, after accidentally leaving it on
| the stove for too long, the bottom chamber and the filter basket
| got a permanent burnt coffee taste, and we bought a new one to
| replace it. That one was lighter and came with a significant
| thinner filter basket, which I also attributed to either being
| counterfeit or just they shipping cheaper versions of the product
| to Brazil.
|
| Then, a couple of months ago, I was on vacation in Italy and
| decided to get a brand new one as a gift, directly from an
| official Bialetti store. To my surprise, the Mokas in the store
| felt exactly like the lower-quality one we had bought in Brazil.
| I didn't even buy the gift.
| MarkMarine wrote:
| You see a similar thing with the glass chemex. There is a
| healthy market on eBay for pre-1980 models that were hand blown
| from great quality glass. My wife got me one for a gift and the
| difference in feel is remarkable. New ones feel fragile, this
| feels solid and strong. I've broken two of the newer versions
| and it's dangerous. The old one is still standing strong in my
| house, surviving trips in my RV, and generally doing it's job.
| I'm sure I sound like a curmudgeon but they don't make stuff
| like they used to
| jghn wrote:
| This feels like it might be similar to the difference between
| PYREX and pyrex [1]
|
| [1] https://www.allrecipes.com/article/what-is-the-
| difference-be...
| anamexis wrote:
| They still make high quality ones, you just have to
| specifically get the "handblown series" (at 2-3x the price of
| the regular).
|
| e.g. https://www.chemexcoffeemaker.com/eight-cup-handblown-
| series...
| MarkMarine wrote:
| I am aware of those, but from what I understand the pre-80s
| ones are still better. I'm sure given a little time someone
| who is chemex expert will chime in and give a definitive
| comment.
| DougBTX wrote:
| Even if the manufacturing process is the same, pre-80s
| ones may be better on average due to survivorship bias:
| the weaker ones broke already.
| swader999 wrote:
| [flagged]
| dingus9001 wrote:
| Luckily for you bialetti doesn't have a monopoly on the design
| and you can just get a better quality one from another
| manufacturer
| C-x_C-f wrote:
| Bialetti has been on its last leg since 2015. They're drowning
| in debt and (in the best case scenario) are headed toward
| restructuring soon; in any case their future's not looking
| bright.
| tdullien wrote:
| Any insights into what went wrong?
| C-x_C-f wrote:
| I'm not sure about the details. IMHO a contributing factor
| is that they're a company historically centered around
| manufacturing nearly indestructible appliances (even the
| newer mokas, however flimsier, don't break easily); once
| the market was saturated with the flagship product, there's
| only so much profit they could squeeze out of selling
| accessories and the like.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| But even if the market is saturated... is it really? I'm
| just an armchair expert in this case, but as far as I'm
| aware, there's not a coffee maker yet in every house;
| they will eventually break if overheated for example (I
| broke mine's rubber seal by putting it on the stove
| without water); and there's plenty of untapped markets
| out there yet.
|
| That said, one person may buy one coffee maker and never
| need another one for the next decade or two, or pass it
| on to their children if it's really good. So what another
| comment said, them expanding into selling coffee as well
| for example, sounds like an idea.
| rob74 wrote:
| If the rubber seal is damaged, you can simply replace it,
| you don't need to buy a new coffee maker. When people
| mention that newer coffee makers are cheaper and lower-
| quality, that's probably Bialetti trying to reach a
| larger market. I guess lots of people bought one and
| rarely if ever used it (I think even I have one
| somewhere, but don't ask me where).
|
| As for expanding into selling coffee: that's natural for
| systems like Senseo or Nespresso, where you have custom
| pads/pods which you insert into the machine (not sure if
| third-party pad/pod makers have to pay a license fee to
| the "system provider"?), but Bialetti coffee makers work
| with any ground coffee. Might be an idea nevertheless,
| but not sure about the odds of success - I imagine most
| Italians already have their favorite brand of coffee and
| wouldn't suddenly switch to "Bialetti Coffee" just
| because they say it works best with their machines.
| whatshisface wrote:
| That hypothesis implies that they would wipe out the
| whole industry long before themselves, so it's probably
| not correct.
| C-x_C-f wrote:
| Not really, it remains true even when you take
| competition into account. Also, the rest of the industry
| isn't really playing the same game: all other companies
| producing moka pots are vastly more diversified. You have
| e.g. Alessi which fills the design-oriented niche (and
| has tons of other products), or the countless crummy
| knock-off factories which churn out all sorts of trash
| and just happen to machine moka pots once in a while. But
| only Bialetti kept all its eggs in one basket (at least
| until it was too late).
| ImprovedSilence wrote:
| their quality went way downhill and they shipped
| production overseas. I would love to have a nice bialetti
| moka express or a stainless version. i bought one probs 8
| or 9 yrs ago, and it wasn't long before the tin lining
| separated, and the overall quality was crap. nothing like
| my mothers or any others I had used when i was introduced
| to them in italy. so i bought an alessi stainless steel
| made in italy pot at like 5x the price, and never looked
| back. but do i think a well built bialetti would be as
| good or better, they just dont make them well anymore...
| nerdponx wrote:
| I see a lot of Bialetti-branded cookware at local
| supermarkets. Things like nonstick frying pans. I
| actually bought one on a trip once when I needed a pan,
| and it's pretty good.
| [deleted]
| q7xvh97o2pDhNrh wrote:
| I don't know if this is the ideal takeaway. Otherwise, we
| should all prioritize making our products flimsier and
| more expensive.
|
| I think it's just a straightforward failure of creativity
| -- or, even more plainly, a failure to understand their
| customer. They had a great product, which led to a loyal
| following -- why not expand into adjacent markets?
|
| The cruel irony is that their product was related to
| something that's _extremely_ disposable. Why not get into
| the business of coffee beans? Why not partner with
| interesting coffee growers? Subscription businesses have
| been huge for decades, now -- why not offer consumers the
| ability to buy an espresso bean subscription to go with
| their Mokapot, thereby generating a reliable recurring
| revenue stream?
|
| A glimpse at their Wikipedia page [1] suggests they never
| even _tried_ to branch out from the small, comfortable
| niche of cookware.
|
| [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bialetti
| mdekkers wrote:
| Here in Italy, Bialetti have nice outlets, much like Le
| Creuset does. The one in my town often has quite a few
| people in.
| quags wrote:
| Brand protection may be one reason. Branding with a
| supplier who messes up in the coffee bean arena would
| hurt their reputation. Some business will throw ideas out
| and see what fits and maybe get a second really good
| product. Getting another product and being successful is
| hard enough which is why you see larger companies buying
| out others. It's easier to buy and get a successful
| product from and existing than branching out and hitting
| another success.
| xcdzvyn wrote:
| > Otherwise, we should all prioritize making our products
| flimsier and more expensive.
|
| It's the view of many that this is indeed what most
| companies prioritize -- I'm not saying it's true, but it
| doesn't seem to be a particularly fringe opinion. It's in
| the vein of enshittification.
|
| Also, might I ask how you inserted that em-dash? A
| keyboard shortcut? It's interesting to see fancy
| typography online.
| nor-and-or-not wrote:
| In macOS you can also use:
|
| option+minus for en-dash - and shift+option+minus for em-
| dash --
| vladvasiliu wrote:
| This can be reproduced on Linux using the "mac" layout.
| "option" is "level 3 shift" on Linux.
|
| This works on X11, I haven't tried on Wayland.
|
| On Windows it works, too, by grabbing the "us - mac"
| layout and using the alt-gr for the mac's option. I think
| this is the layout I use:
| https://github.com/adunning/Mac-Keyboard-Layouts-for-
| Windows
| [deleted]
| peterhadlaw wrote:
| One can look up the utf8 character for different
| typographical characters and copy and paste them in. On
| macOS at least, there is a keyboard shortcut for "emojis"
| (Cntl+Cmd+Space) and a little window shows up where you
| can search for emojis by name, and typographical
| characters by name (such as "em dash"). --pjh
| xcdzvyn wrote:
| > One can look up the utf8 character for different
| typographical characters and copy and paste them in.
|
| Haha, yeah, that's what I usually do. But it's arduous
| enough for me not to bother for a HN comment. That's why
| I brought it up.
|
| I love macOS' emoji picker thing, I wish there were
| something like it on Linux.
| butterknife wrote:
| KCharSelect on KDE Plasma is a good alternative on Linux.
| js2 wrote:
| Bring up the keyboard viewer widget on macOS and it will
| show you a live preview of what each key is... you can
| hold down the modifiers to see how the keys change.
|
| https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-the-
| keyboard-vi...
|
| Also--FWIW--an m-dash should not have whitespace on
| either side, at least, not in America. :-)
|
| https://medium.com/typography/on-dashes-hyphens-and-
| other-im...
|
| https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/08/mind-your-en-
| and-em...
| cwillu wrote:
| WinCompose is wonderfully intuitive for those on
| operating systems without one included stock.
| piaste wrote:
| > I don't know if this is the ideal takeaway. Otherwise,
| we should all prioritize making our products flimsier and
| more expensive.
|
| That's an "is-ought" gap if I've ever seen one, sadly.
| johnnyApplePRNG wrote:
| They started making garbage quality products and their
| brand recognition plummeted? Look at the mukka express for
| example. [0]
|
| They did one thing well and succeeded for decades and then
| tried to expand their business and failed miserably.
|
| I have seen crap quality bialetti everything. They make
| pots and pans now too.
|
| [0] https://www.amazon.ca/Bialetti-Express-Cow-Print-
| Stovetop-Ca...
| Reason077 wrote:
| > _" Any insights into what went wrong?"_
|
| For one thing, things like Aeropress, Nespresso/Keurig, and
| cheaper/better home espresso and bean-to-cup coffee
| machines came along. People don't necessarily need to muck
| around with a Moka pot to make quality coffee at home any
| more.
|
| And if you really _do_ want a Moka pot, there 's a lot of
| cheaper Chinese competitors now that look the part and
| actually have reasonable quality.
| rfrey wrote:
| James Hoffman gives a good history of Bialetti here:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upgQsA5kLAk including their
| sale to Faema and later to a cookware manufacturer, their
| numerous brushes with bankruptcy, and the stiff competition
| they've gotten from... even in Italy... pod machines.
| sdfghswe wrote:
| What did you expect? They're not exactly innovators, are
| they?
| amirathi wrote:
| Is anyone here worried about pouring hot water into Aeropress
| plastic? I know it's polypropylene, which is BPA-Free but could
| there be things that we haven't properly researched yet?
| budgi4 wrote:
| Heating plastics can release not just BPA but also phthalates,
| dioxins, and other harmful compounds which are linked to lots
| of nasty heath issues like hormone disruption, cancer and
| reproductive problems.
|
| Polypropylene is generally considered one of the safer plastics
| with it's high heat tolerance meaning doesn't leach harmful
| chemicals. While pure polypropylene may be considered safe,
| additives used in the manufacturing such as colourants or
| fillers could have their own health risks.
|
| Personally avoid mixing food or drinks with any heated
| plastics, including my coffee. I use French press for my coffee
| but if Aeropress is your thing and want to avoid plastic I've
| heard good things about the Cafelat Robot which is made almost
| entirely out of aluminium and stainless steel.
| luag wrote:
| If you want to avoid plastic, Hario Switch is a great
| alternative. It allows you to steep and release, kinda similar
| to AeroPress (pressure only comes from gravity though).
|
| Cone is made of glass, stopper is from stainless steel, but the
| base is made of silicone. I imagine the hot water contact with
| the silicone will be a lot less compared to AeroPress.
|
| If you get the size 03, you can more easily brew enough coffee
| for 2 people.
| void-pointer wrote:
| It drives me crazy how V60 and Chemex are regarded as "modern"
| when the Chemex is from the 40s and the V60 is a knock-off of the
| Melitta 102 conical filter system, which was invented in 1936!
| [deleted]
| tokai wrote:
| Isn't that modern in the sense of the modern movement in
| design, and not modern as contemporary?
| dagw wrote:
| The V60 isn't a knock-off of the Melitta, it's much more of
| rethinking and redesign of the basic concept Melitta
| introduced. They might look superficially similar, but if you
| actually use both products side by side they work quite
| differently.
| for1nner wrote:
| > Compared to flat burrs, conical burrs also create a more
| uniform particle size distribution, reducing the potential for
| clogs and jams
|
| Well this is just...not true. Porlex musta sold them pretty hard
| on Conicals.
| exabrial wrote:
| I've always thought that about conical burrs, but I guess I've
| never seen anyone actually look at them under a microscope
| either
| riobard wrote:
| A few days ago I accidentally put wife's beloved Bialetti Brikka
| pot in the dishwasher. The aluminium lost its anodized coating
| due to chemical reaction with the detergent (alkaline I think),
| and the pot turned dull/dark gray. Scrubbing the surface left
| some gray mark on fingers, which got me wonder if aluminium is
| actually safe for making coffee? Bialetti also sells stainless
| steel pots, and I wonder if they're safer to use.
| jdthedisciple wrote:
| Oh Lord, I hope you were forgiven..
| MrBuddyCasino wrote:
| Generally, acidic foods shouldn't be used in conjunction with
| aluminum. I suspect the patina protects against this, but I
| wouldn't drink the coffee until it has been re-established.
|
| Stainless steel is always preferable from a safety POV.
| sytelus wrote:
| The website is beautiful expect that stupid cookie popup. Has
| anyone ever got any fines for not putting up cookie popup in
| their website?
|
| Also, if you are into this, you might like the book:
|
| Cut in Half: The Hidden World Inside Everyday Objects
| https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Half-Hidden-Everyday-Objects/dp/1...
| davidmurdoch wrote:
| Brave browser does some annoying things, but automatically
| blocking cookie popups is worth it.
| GoofballJones wrote:
| Just reading the headline I was like "why X-ray them? Couldn't
| they just take them apart to see what's inside". But clicking on
| the article made me go "Oh, I get it now. This is damn
| interesting and very informative."
|
| Well done!
| ulrischa wrote:
| Reminds me of my cancer scans
| billsmithaustin wrote:
| Moka pot rubber gaskets are replaceable.
| vlowrian wrote:
| > There's also a hidden game in the Stagg EKG and Corvo EKG
| kettles. If you remove your kettle from the base and toggle the
| F/C switch back and forth, you'll unlock a snake-like game called
| Wormy that you can play using the dial.
|
| Funny, how I'm finding out about that from a CT scan of my kettle
| :)
| murermader wrote:
| The images on mobile behind the text lead to pretty low contrast
| between foreground and background, making the text hard to read.
| bragr wrote:
| This site is probably one of the most clever bits of advertising
| since the Will It Blend folks at Blendtec
| supportengineer wrote:
| Another company that made an indestructible product!
| culi wrote:
| Afaict Lumafield (the company behind this) sells b2b. Seems
| like a very non-egregious form of advertising. I think most
| likely the engineers that work on this are hobbiests. Perhaps
| they managed to convince C-suite to let them use part of the
| marketing budget but I find it hard to believe a company would
| pay $4.5k/month for their tech because of hype and a pretty
| website alone
|
| https://www.scanofthemonth.com/scans
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| Or the slo-mo channels on youtube for that matter.
| mlsu wrote:
| This has to be a marketing exercise by the CT machine maker,
| right?
|
| "We spotted casting issues with the new pot" "We can see the
| density difference in the plastic" "We found aluminum shavings"
|
| For the right audience, this would definitely sell one of those
| big fancy CT machines.
|
| Not that I'm complaining -- visuals, presentation, content is all
| thoroughly interesting, speaking as someone with an Aeropress, a
| Moka. Pretty awesome piece.
| rx_tx wrote:
| Correct, it's produced as a cool nerdy promo by a CT scan
| machine company (https://www.scanofthemonth.com/about)
|
| Every article from them does pretty well on HN, understandably
| so.
| [deleted]
| advisedwang wrote:
| Yes, in the about us page they say it is "powered by"
| Lumafield.
| frakkingcylons wrote:
| Finally, a use for the $700K burning a hole in my pocket.
| samcheng wrote:
| >There's also a hidden game in the Stagg EKG and Corvo EKG
| kettles. If you remove your kettle from the base and toggle the
| F/C switch back and forth, you'll unlock a snake-like game called
| Wormy that you can play using the dial.
|
| It was fun to walk over to the kitchen and discover something new
| from a two-year-old appliance!
| canadianfella wrote:
| [dead]
| tw1984 wrote:
| when those poors will never be able to afford a CT scan when they
| are sick...
|
| well done.
| vilunov wrote:
| Does anyone else get 406 Not Acceptable openresty error on this
| website?
| vilunov wrote:
| Seems to me that a bunch of websites block IP addresses with
| tor relays (not exits), and they all send a `x-cluster-name:
| eu-west-1-prod-hosting-red` header.
| msds wrote:
| CT is the wrong imaging tech for Moka pots at least - they're
| much cooler looking if you're doing neutron imaging and can see
| the water: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VESMU7JfVHU
| sbierwagen wrote:
| Comment from the author on that video:
|
| >The aluminum is easily activated and directly after the
| experiment it often has something in the order of 300-400uSv/h.
| This decays to 4-5uSv/h in about 15-20min, some hours are
| needed to reach inactive status <0.1uSv/h. The coffee does not
| become active to a degree that is worth mentioning. However,
| due to the risk of contamination in the controlled zone it is
| not allowed to eat or drink things that have been in the beam.
|
| Yow, toasty.
| s0rce wrote:
| Very cool, if you don't care about seeing the condensed steam
| this could be done with X-rays by adding Sodium metatungstate
| or very toxic thallium formate/malonate to the water. You could
| also probably replace the water with bormoform or if you don't
| care about destroying everything, elemental bromine.
| LorenDB wrote:
| I'd be interested in seeing a show of hands - who else generally
| dislikes webpages like this that use the scroll wheel to
| manipulate the zoom, rotation, or displayed content of an object
| (like a CAT scan or 3D phone model) or otherwise makes scroll
| behave unusually (e.g. the Opera GX website has a point where
| scrolling down makes a list of cards move sideways instead of
| actually scrolling down)?
|
| To be clear, I like the content displayed here; it's just that
| the way they chose to move between views of the CAT scan are a
| little annoying to me.
| jefftk wrote:
| It can be done badly, and is more often than not, but in this
| case I liked it.
| klausa wrote:
| For how much love went into the imaging and description of
| everything, the actual coffee knowledge is maddening.
|
| You want your water in your Aeropress to be as close to boiling
| as possible if using lightly roasted beans (which I'd wager is
| most of Aeropress usage)! None of that 80-85 degree celsius
| nonsense.
|
| Similarly, their description of ceramic burrs is bizarre. Ceramic
| burrs are not considered "better" than stainless steel ones! If
| you look into high-end grinders sold for hundreds and thousands
| of dollars (both commercial and "enthusiast" ones), they will all
| have stainless steel burrs!
|
| And don't get me started on their description of conical vs flat
| burrs...
| seatac76 wrote:
| I know they say Aeropress switched to a better thermoplastic but
| I always worry about micro plastics with mine, but it is so damn
| easy to use though.
| criddell wrote:
| Aeropress announced a glass version earlier this year. Still
| has a rubber plunger, but no other plastics. No idea when they
| plan on shipping it though.
| fabian2k wrote:
| Nice images. It's probably too much effort, but for the grinder
| it would have been interesting to compare the now rather old
| Porlex grinder with the much heavier steel burr grinders you'd
| get recommended today. Those are very noticeably heavier and more
| massive compared to the Porlex, could be interesting to compare.
| quickthrower2 wrote:
| Those 4 items are a good coffee setup!
| EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote:
| Nah, its all toys for lazy impatient kids. Real coffee needs
| slow and thoughtful preparation in a cezve.
| quickthrower2 wrote:
| Them is the fighting words considering a moka pot is there!
| aidenn0 wrote:
| Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I've never gotten anything I
| would consider drinkable from a moka pot.
| Reason077 wrote:
| > _" With the powerful 1200 W heating element (the thin coil
| wire), the kettle reaches optimal temperature very quickly -- in
| under three minutes."_
|
| Europeans (and other countries with ~230V household sockets)
| would consider this quite poor performance for a kettle. 3000 W
| kettles are not uncommon here in the UK!
| rollcat wrote:
| I have this kettle, and its selling points are: temperature
| control, ergonomics, and the steady, controllable flow rate.
| Using it is pure joy!
|
| It reaches the desired temperature before I'm done preparing
| everything else (throw the beans in the grinder, pre-heat the
| V60, etc), so it does not matter that it can't draw 3kW.
| trebligdivad wrote:
| The 'nature' page on there is just lovely; including Romanesco
| broccoli and pomegranate - just lovely.
| munchler wrote:
| I liked that page too, but did a double-take when they said
| that the skin of a pomegranate protects it from "predators".
| bowmessage wrote:
| Incredible scans!
|
| > Removing used coffee immediately after brewing and storing the
| AeroPress with the seal pushed all the way through the chamber
| (as shown) can help minimize wear by reducing compression to
| extend the gasket's life.
|
| But, that's not what's shown. Pushing the gasket all the way
| through isn't possible unless the filter head is removed.
| amatecha wrote:
| Yeah I personally store mine with the filter head on, and the
| plunger/gasket inner cylinder separate. Also other protip
| (which may actually be in the instructions), I pour the hot
| water onto the gasket before pushing it into the AeroPress, so
| the material expands and will have a tighter seal.
| angst_ridden wrote:
| Proper storage is just pulling the plunger out entirely.
|
| Every few years, soaking the rubber seal in mineral oil
| overnight then cleaning will restore flexibility (otherwise it
| shrinks over time, reducing the quality of the seal).
|
| Unrelated: using paper filters is less eco-responsible than the
| gold foil filter, but makes for better coffee.
| arp242 wrote:
| > Unrelated: using paper filters is less eco-responsible than
| the gold foil filter, but makes for better coffee.
|
| You can use the paper filters more than once too; typically I
| need about one or two a week (depending on which coffee and
| how lucky I am), meaning that one EUR4 350-pack filters will
| last for years (I just bought my first refill after 4 years,
| but I didn't re-use the filters for the first few months
| _and_ I gave a bunch of them to a friend when he ran out).
|
| Re-use isn't necessarily more eco-friendly by the way,
| because cleaning takes energy too and cost of production can
| be much much higher. But realistically, the eco-impact and
| differences are so small it's not really something to worry
| about.
| bowmessage wrote:
| Why is pulling the plunger out entirely necessary for proper
| storage? I always just push mine all the way through so the
| rubber isn't under any tension.
|
| Disagreed on the paper filters, I personally enjoy using a
| metal filter to ensure the oils from the coffee beans are not
| filtered out. I suppose it is all subjective.
| joezydeco wrote:
| When the plunger is at the end of travel and out of
| tension, the cap won't fit on.
|
| I just tried screwing on my cap and it forces the plunger
| back into the shaft, compressing it.
| pavon wrote:
| Yeah, so you just set it down cap up, not screwed in.
| Takes up less space than keeping the plunger separate,
| and is just as good on the plunger.
| angst_ridden wrote:
| That works too. I call it "proper" because it removes one
| step _before_ I have coffee, which, no matter how trivial,
| is a big deal for me in the morning.
|
| Interesting about the filter. I prefer super dark roast,
| Italian espresso-grind coffees. The paper filters give me a
| much smoother brew. Of course, as you say, taste is
| entirely subjective! I'm envious, because I'd rather have
| just one reusable filter rather than go through a stack of
| paper discs each year.
| astrange wrote:
| > Unrelated: using paper filters is less eco-responsible than
| the gold foil filter, but makes for better coffee.
|
| It's also healthier, because metal filters make for oily
| coffee.
| SamBam wrote:
| A year's supply of paper aeropress filters weighs about 1.4
| oz. This is significantly less paper than a single Monday New
| York Times, so if you've ever read a paper newspaper, you've
| eco-sinned more than drinking a year of aeropress.
|
| Indeed, the paper is so little that I'd be _really_ surprised
| if the ecological impact of mining and making that metal
| filter will _ever_ be recouped.
|
| It's a little how cotton groceries bags are so resource-
| intensive that you'd need to use them hundreds and hundreds
| of times before they're better than daily plastic bags.
| (Litter aside, which isn't an issue with paper filters.)
| dublinben wrote:
| >It's a little how cotton groceries bags are so resource-
| intensive that you'd need to use them hundreds and hundreds
| of times before they're better than daily plastic bags.
| (Litter aside, which isn't an issue with paper filters.)
|
| It doesn't seem unreasonable to use a cotton grocery bag
| hundreds of times. That's only a few years of weekly
| shopping trips.
|
| Regardless, litter from improperly discarded plastic bags
| was the primary motivator of their regulation. It was not
| intended to be about resource use or carbon emissions or
| whatever people are focused on today.
| eastof wrote:
| On the eco-responsibility bit, just curious do you actually
| have a source that logging uses more carbon than mining?
|
| I'm not sure but my gut would say the opposite since rocks
| are heavier but idk.
| bowmessage wrote:
| Their point, I think, is that the paper filters are used
| once then thrown away, but the metal filter is washed and
| re-used.
| semi-extrinsic wrote:
| I've never maintained or replaced the seal on mine in over
| ten years, and it still seals just fine. It's made from
| silicone rubber, which is extreme durability even when
| continuously exposed to temperatures above boiling or strong
| acids/bases. As used in the AeroPress where it's just sitting
| at room temperature indoors for 99% of the time, durability
| is at least 20 years.
|
| I also use a metal filter, but just for the taste and
| convenience of not having to buy paper filters.
|
| The eco-responsibility argument against filters I don't get.
| Unless you drink extreme amounts of coffee, you use
| significantly more paper in a day just going to the bathroom.
| I hope people aren't using metal foil for that as well.
| <insert seashell joke here>
| pavon wrote:
| My first one had to replaced after about 6 or 7 years. The
| plunger rubber had gotten worn down, and the internal wall
| of the brewing compartment had become blistered from hot
| water (I used 170-185F water). The new one with different
| materials seems to be holding up better.
| totoglazer wrote:
| Such a cool idea, and attractive images. However I'm kind of
| disappointed they mostly picked things that are fairly simple,
| transparent or openable, and look exactly the way you'd expect
| them to inside. I assume some combination of cost & size drove
| this.
|
| A vintage espresso machine with 1 group head would be more novel,
| for example.
| OJFord wrote:
| And even that you essentially disassemble them and see how they
| work through using them. I suppose a lot of people only know or
| use one or two ways and may be completely unfamiliar with
| others though.
| amatecha wrote:
| There are scans of other, more-complex objects on the site,
| such as the Nintendo Game Boy series:
| https://www.scanofthemonth.com/scans/game-boy-compendium
| joezydeco wrote:
| I actually enjoyed this one more, since it was used to point
| out measured tolerances and problems with manufacturing (voids,
| bubbles, untrimmed flash, shavings, etc).
| jacobwilliamroy wrote:
| You just reminded me there's a video on youtube of a guy
| literally tearing a Juicero apart and it's hilarious:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cp-BGQfpHQ
| aidenn0 wrote:
| The auto-generated captions have a scunthorpe problem;
| censoring a British & Australian term for a cigarette that
| has a more offensive meaning in the US.
| Loughla wrote:
| Holy shit that's amazingly funny.
|
| My personal highlight as he's pushing the button wildly, "oh
| for fuck's sake. The mash harder button. Es funktioniert
| nicht"
|
| Also subtly hilarious that the machine more and more covered
| in root juice as he goes. God that's good.
| somewhat_drunk wrote:
| Thank you for posting this. I've seen it a few times already,
| but I'm watching it again, and it's cracking me up, yet
| again.
| switchbak wrote:
| Probably one of AvE's best videos. I was just chatting about
| the peak Silicon Valley insanity that was Juicero yesterday.
|
| That thing was built like a Bugatti. And he's like "why not
| use a roller instead of a press??".
| mtreis86 wrote:
| It really is, he is equally impressed and disgusted with
| this one, a rare combination. Most impressively built stuff
| isn't so wasteful. And most useless junk isn't nearly so
| well made.
| junon wrote:
| I love AvE and somehow understand exactly what he's saying
| whilst simultaneously having no idea what he's saying half
| the time.
|
| Does anyone know if this is some regional slang? Or is AvE
| just very unique in how he speaks?
| jacobwilliamroy wrote:
| I think they were trying to turn food into a subscription
| service? Having complete control over a person's food
| supply sounds like an 8 million dollar idea. It still
| sounds like a really bad idea, but I think that is how
| Juicero was pitched to investors, rather than a spaceship
| that squeezes bags marginally worse than a person can.
| etrautmann wrote:
| Even when first announced, it became a meme among friends
| Juicero (and Ubeam) were peak Silicon Valley.
| kens wrote:
| Lumafield scanned a 1960s flip flop module for me, to help
| reverse engineer some vintage NASA hardware. The module
| contained a bunch of resistors, transistors, capacitors, and
| diodes, encased in a 13-pin plastic package. These modules had
| various functions and were used like integrated circuits, but
| made from discrete components in the pre-IC time. With the
| Lumafield scans, I could reverse-engineer the circuitry.
|
| My writeup: https://www.righto.com/2022/08/lumafield-flip-
| flop.html
| minikomi wrote:
| What an amazing project and thanks for sharing so much about
| the process!
| lostlogin wrote:
| E-61! Second choice, Atomic stovetop espresso machine.
|
| With clinical equipment you can image all sorts of things
| beautifully, but a hunk of brass won't generate any useful
| images.
| jbrnh wrote:
| Yea, can we get one of a CT scanner?
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