Complete with a filter cloth, spirit burner, plastic stirring paddle with integrated measuring scoop and stand, the Hario TCA-2 is the perfect introduction to syphon brewing. If you're new to syphons, don't worry. As it happens, they've been around for more than a century, and as soon as you taste a coffee made with one, you'll see why. For coffee lovers and connoisseurs the syphon brewer offers a cup of unparalleled flavour, crisp, clean and sediment free, with a science experiment thrown in for fun. The principle of a syphon-system coffee maker is to heat water in the lower vessel of the brewer until expansion forces the contents through a narrow tube into an upper vessel containing coffee grounds. When the lower vessel has more or less emptied itself and enough time has elapsed, the heat is removed and the resulting vacuum will draw the brewed coffee down through a filter and back into the lower chamber from which it can be decanted. The beauty of the vacuum process is that the coffee is brewed by extended contact with water at exactly the right brewing temperature, the temperature is maintained throughout the process, and then the coffee is immediately separated from the grounds. The re-useable cotton cloth filter ensures that the resulting brew is clean and crisp, with a texture more like a tea than an espresso, french press, or stovetop coffee. Syphon coffee really does have to been seen (and tasted) to be believe.