Letters to Cuisinart

Question

This is about Does the Cuisinart “Bold” setting result in bland, or even acrid, coffee?:

Had I not seen Aaronut's comments on that question, I would have just flagged it, assuming a moderator hadn't yet seen it. But that's obviously not the case, so:

1. It needs splitting. There are 7 questions there. Reasonably, you could group style of grind, freshly-ground vs. pre-ground, ideal brewing (aka, "does it work") into one question, as the first two reasonably sound like independent variables and the third the dependent variable. The others really oughtn't be part of the same question, IMO.
2. The fourth one ("if less water is flowing…") seems overly rhetorical. To the extent its not, it doesn't really seem on-topic (it's explicitly asking about fluid dynamics…). Either that, or its asking "does it work" again.
3. The final two questions need more editing, they're still addressed to Cuisinart (who we're not).
4. The last question is one of those "general reference" questions are at best low-quality questions, and often get closed, which seems to be the consensus most places on the network. (Though I think its Jeff who doesn't want to add a close reason for it, worrying about the close reason being taken too broadly. 'Twas in one of the podcasts.)

Honestly, reading the initial version, it looks like an "open letter", the type you'd normally see addressed to politicians on the letters to the editor page. If it were posted by a new user, I'd chalk the whole thing up to not understanding what Cooking.SE is, but that's not the case, so I'm rather confused why its here and not on mfg's blog.

Answer 1

Yes the initial version was an open letter, and yes I upvoted this question, and yes Aaronut was right to have me tighten it up for a more expertly precise assessment of the feature, and I believe I addressed some of the edits you mention.

When evaluating a particular product, especially whether or not to use a feature, it is important to know what it is (Bass Boost on Walkmen anyone?). I was intrigued by the lack of detailed information when I was trying to answer the original question of, "what does "'Bold' do?".

The question is arranged as it is because the component questions are what I would consider to be appropriate aspects to test the hypothesis;

if the water drips too slowly... [then] it might easily cool more than is ideal while passing through the grinds; as such would it not extract less flavor?

The questions form what I feel is a thoughtful criteria that not only tests the coffee itself but seeks to elucidate the food science behind why such a feature is/n't beneficial.

• Considering that apparently this "Bold" feature is attached to multiple brands, splitting the criterion up is detrimental to answering the hypothesis (that slower coffee does not necessarily yield better coffee).
• Yes, the one question does have a taste of fluid dynamics behind it, but if we did not seek to understand chemical and molecular reactions we would be unable to understand the ideal way to cook a steak.

Not only do I really want to know if this is actually a feature and not a gimmick, but I want to know why. And yes I removed the comment about Empire Red.

Also, the manual for my Cuisinart doesn't have much info in the way of explaining the mechanics behind the [1-4 cups] button, and having some feature that is epistemically disembodied every morning when I am waking up is rather disturbing as I stare at that button, waiting for my brain to start working. I know what all the other buttons do, but that one has received a lot of theoretical thoughtless brain-energy. And perhaps I should put somewhere...