Eva Solo gen. 2?

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In the past, I've talked about how much I enjoy "coffee for one" brewed using my Eva Solo 0.6 L, and I've also described my experience trying to squeeze "coffee for two" out of its modest-sized carafe. Well, I won't need to worry about the latter anymore now that the Eva Solo’s big 1.4 L brother has recently joined the family (above right).

How? Prima had a Cyber Monday deal going on the 1.0 L Eva Solo, and one of their helpful reps. agreed to extend the sale price to the largest version for me. Easy peasy.

Why? I don’t know. It’s an addiction. Seriously, though, this seemed like a much easier way to make coffee for a small group of people than, say, whipping out a Chemex, and I know it’ll produce better-tasting results than I’d be able to achieve with the freebie Gevalia drip machine I keep on hand for visiting family.

Anyway, I haven’t used my new Eva Solo yet, but I wanted to go ahead and make a post about a small difference I noticed between it and my trusty 0.6 L unit since I haven’t seen the issue discussed elsewhere on the internets. To avoid confusion, I’ll briefly review how the Eva Solo’s parts come together before delivering the goods (advice: keep your expectations low). If you want a more thorough write-up on how this simple brewing system works, I’ll refer you again to Mark Prince’s authoritative review—from which some of the pictures you’ll find below have been borrowed because I doubt I’d be able to improve on them.

The heart and soul of an Eva Solo is this fine metal mesh filter, which you insert into a glass carafe. Fun fact: while the 1.4 L Eva Solo’s carafe is unsurprisingly larger than those of the smaller Eva Solos, its filter assembly is identical.

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When it comes time to pour, you do so through an ingenious little lid that's seated in the metal cone of the filter assembly. Coffee flowing out causes the upper part of the lid to pivot on its rubber neck. Never fear: we're almost there.

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In a nutshell, the lids on my Eva Solos are different. Here's the view from the top (0.6 L on the left, 1.4 L on the right)...

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And here's the view from the bottom (again, 0.6 L on the left, 1.4 L on the right)...

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Do I think this lid-related difference between my Eva Solos will matter in the cup? Not really, but I suppose it's at least *possible* that the alternate lid designs might contribute to differences in flow, which in turn could affect aeration, etc., during the pour. We'll see.

One last thing: I've turned up pictures of 1.4 L Eva Solos online that feature the lid design on the left. So, which design came first, and when was the change made? If I find out, I'll be sure to post an update.