[Avodah] Brewing coffee on Shabbos

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Sun, Nov 13, 2016 at 08:11:11AM -0500, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
: As it turns out, this exact question was raised on these very pages eight
: years ago, by R' Stephen Scher, in Avodah 25:425. That thread got only a
: few responses, mostly about the bishul issues. One point was about borer,
: from R' Micha Berger, who wrote:
: 
:> Also, to get around the boreir problem.... Instead of using
:> a regular filter, use a french press. They push the grounds
:> down to the bottom, allowing you to pour okhel mitokh pesoles.
...
: I disagree. There is a two-step process here. I concede that in the second
: step, you "pour okhel mitokh pesoles", just as if you had waited for the
: grounds to settle to the bottom. But the first step, when you "push the
: grounds down to the bottom", that is (at least to me) a clear act of
: removing the pesoles from the ochel.

Well to be fair, I chimed in once someone else took the topic to tea.

The difference is that with the press as far down as it goes, there is a
lot of drinkable tea still beneath it. The leaves only take up a miut of
the space. (At least, on my bodum press. Perhaps other presses let the
filter go all the way to the bottom, if you push far enough. So let's
just say you don't.)

In the case I was discussing, I don't think the first step would be
boreir.

Personally, I make tea using a teamaker of this sort (albeit cheaper
brand) <http://bit.ly/2eXJ4pu>. The filter is on the bottom, with
a valve that keeps the water in as long as the maker is standing on
its legs. Put it on a cup, and it's the valve that is supporting the
weight. The valve opens, the tea comes out.

I think using that on Shabbos one could argue that you could see the
filter as holding back the leaves, and thus pesoles mitokh okhel, as
much as one could see it as the okhel mitokh pesoles of letting only
the tea fall out.

OTOH, given that the tea stays put, and anyone who sees that thing would
see it as letting the tea fall into the cup...

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "Someday I will do it." - is self-deceptive. 
micha at aishdas.org        "I want to do it." - is weak. 
http://www.aishdas.org   "I am doing it." - that is the right way.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                   - Reb Menachem Mendel of Kotzk