By: Alicia Walters Revised by: Mark Cambell Last updated: Mar 13, 2025
If you want not just a syphon coffee maker but an "objet d'art" to grace your countertop and soothe your senses, cease your search and gaze in the direction of the Yama Siphon Stove Top Coffee Maker.
Delicately handmade in Japan with meticulous attention to detail employing sparkling borosilicate glass and brass-engraved base, Yama balanced build combined ease of extraction with pressure changes. Slightly under 9 inches tall, it is subtle enough but substantial enough weight to ensure it stays put.
What impressed me most is how consistently it produces rich, subtle cups that elicit the multiple bean origins and processing treatments. By controlling temperature precisely and by adjusting steeping/extraction times, you can try more bold or restrained profiles.
Its break-through condenser/evaporator assembly features a smooth flow. Watching droplets form through glass is calming. Worst of all, disassembling and reassembling couldn't be simpler to allow for speedy clean-up.
Where syphons are dedication over auto brewers, the Yama is an optimal mix of art and reliability for a busy cafe. I have confidence that it will communicate specialty coffee to consumers with elegantly refined taste. For baristas who want the nuance of siphon brewing with commercial reliability, it is a top choice. The Yama Glass Siphon is literally the benchmark of modern syphon design.
The Yama Siphon Stove Top captures the unique harmony of both outward beauty and inner brewing ability. Elegant gestures and ritualistic functioning entice a meditative process for coffee brewing that lifts the mind above your four kitchen walls. For those seeking a syphon that is as much a work of decorative art as it is an operational coffee brewer, Yama's masterful craftsmanship brings the holy marriage of form and function.
Pros:
• Exquisitely crafted borosilicate glass body
• Vast range of aesthetic finishes from matte to engraved patterns
• Contains all required accessories
• Traditional stove top heating design
• Creates subtly nuanced, complex flavors
Cons:
• No quantitative monitoring of temperature
• Poor temperature stability in stovetop heating
• Slightly more expensive for a stove top syphon
A Bonus Recipe
Cappuccino
Following are instructions to make the perfect cappuccino with an espresso machine:
1. Refrigerate the milk. Cold milk froths more easily than milk heated to near-simmering temperatures, so put 100 milliliters (3.3 ounces) of whole milk (or barista-style almond milk, oat milk, or coconut milk) in a stainless-steel frothing pitcher and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
2. Grind the coffee beans. The best espresso is made from freshly ground coffee beans, preferably using a burr grinder, which chops them into more uniform particles than a blade grinder. Baristas will typically grind the beans directly into the portafilter for maximum freshness.
3. Tamp the grounds. Tamping follows. A tamper is a handle on a flat circular weight, kind of like a stamp. You use the tamper to compress the coffee grounds down to a smooth disc. Tamping will give the portafilter room to insert and pull out correctly from the machine and give full contact between the water and the coffee. Don't press hard, or this will pack the disc too hard. Press down lightly and twist out.
4. Warm the cup. Preheat a 160-milliliter cappuccino cup by adding boiling water into the cup.
5. Pull a shot of espresso. Place the filter basket into the machine carefully and turn the handle to lock it. Pour the hot water from the cappuccino cup and place it under the portafilter. Depending on the type of your espresso machine, you'll need to flip a switch or press a button, and the coffee will pour out into the cup.
6. Steam the milk. Your machine will hold accumulated steam that you can now vent by using the steam wand. Vent a little bit of steam into a rag or a sponge to get rid of any buildup in the wand. Take the milk out of the fridge and position the wand in the center of the frothing pitcher. Keeping the wand submerged, froth until the volume of the milk has increased to 125 milliliters and the temperature is approximately 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the wand near the surface of the milk initially and gradually move it further into the milk as the milk increases in volume.
7. Add milk. Add milk to the cappuccino cup slowly over the espresso and finish with a frothy topping of foam. Serve at once.
