An array of coffee brewers and grinders designed by working coffee professionals. Photo courtesy of Howard Bryman. For all the many beautiful and clever pieces of equipment that exist for brewing coffee, it's remarkable just how few of them are designed by "coffee people" — people whose primary occupation is within the coffee industry. Houseware companies and other manufacturers
Equipment Reports
A High-Quality Grind, One Brew at a Time: The Fellow Ode Brew Grinder
Note: A Version 2 of the Ode grinder is now available. Home kitchen appliances don't usually enter the market wafting on hype. Yet, when it comes to an ambitious new product from the young and media-savvy California-based coffee equipment manufacturer Fellow, we've come to expect nothing less. The hype has been especially intense in the run-up to the debut of the Ode Brew
Equipment Report: Four Mid-Range Burr Coffee Grinders Tested & Reviewed
Grinding whole beans immediately before brewing is one of the single most powerful upgrades you can make to the quality of the cup you brew at home. No matter what grinder you own, it's better than owning no grinder at all. Yet when examining the differences from one coffee grinder to the next, and contemplating the sheer variety of products available on the market, it quickly becomes clear that
Minding the Grinds: Our Approach to Sampling and Judging Grind Consistency
There were a number of ways we could have approached the evaluation of the four grinders reviewed this month with regard to producing consistent particle size. We could have judged the machines based on the results of brewing with the grounds they put out, or simply through visual inspection of the grounds, or by manually sieving each sample to separate particles by size. Instead, we decided to
Equipment Review: Baratza Virtuoso+ Coffee Grinder
Overall Rating: 8.5 Pros: A smart design, simple operation and excellent serviceability make this machine both a reassuring long-term investment and a pleasure to use. Cons: Beans tend to popcorn around as the hopper empties, and its once class-leading grind consistency has been overtaken by competitors. MSRP: $269.00 How to Interpret Equipment Ratings | Read complete report: Four
Equipment Review: Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Overall Rating: 9.0 Pros: The Smart Grinder Pro's grind consistency is best among the four grinders we review for this report. It is also relatively quiet, and its capacity for supporting espresso brewing is particularly impressive for a machine offered at so reasonable a price. Cons: The stubbornly convoluted user interface takes either patience or a workaround to overcome. MSRP:
Equipment Review: Oxo Brew Conical Burr Grinder With Integrated Scale
Overall Rating: 8.5 Pros: The Oxo offers admirable grind consistency and conveniently controls how much coffee is ground by weight rather than by time. Cons: The weight of the actual dose always slightly misses the target. The unit’s high-pitched noise is on the louder side and its lightweight materials raise longevity concerns. MSRP: $224.99 How to Interpret Equipment Ratings |
Equipment Review: KitchenAid Burr Grinder
Overall Rating: 7.5 Pros: In keeping with the classic KitchenAid ethos, this coffee grinder's strong and handsome construction paired with its simple operation makes for a compelling combination. Cons: Grind consistency, grounds retention, static and noise can all be problematic in various usage scenarios. MSRP: $249.99 How to Interpret Equipment Ratings | Read complete report: Four
Equipment Report: Digital Electric Gooseneck Pourover Kettles
Of all manual brewing methods, the pourover drip method may appear the most straightforward. But as direct as the procedure may seem, a steady arm and resolute focus will only go so far. To gracefully land, time and time again, upon all the enticing aromas and flavors about which roasters (and coffee reviewers) wax poetic, you need the right equipment. In particular, you need a good gooseneck
Equipment Review | Fellow Stagg EKG Electric Kettle
Overall Rating: 9.5 Pros: Not only does this kettle look impressive and pour very comfortably, but its display is the most informative of any that we've seen, and it heats up quite quickly. Its interface is refreshingly intuitive and its build quality first-rate, down to the tiniest of details. Cons: The temperature reported on its display may be anywhere from 1-3 degrees higher than the
Equipment Review | OXO Brew Adjustable Temperature Pour Over Kettle
Overall Rating: 8.0 Pros: This kettle strikes an impressive balance between a generous capacity and a compact footprint while also reaching brewing temperature remarkably quickly. Its display is clear and easy to read without having to slide the whole unit closer on the counter, and its beep is a handy cue for when water has reached the target temperature. Its large and satisfyingly resistant
Equipment Review | Bonavita Interurban, Matte Black, 1.0L Variable Temperature Kettle
Overall Rating: 7.5 Pros: The Interurban is a successor to Bonavita’s pioneering, long-popular BV382510V kettle. The solid build of the Interurban inspires confidence, and its streamlined appearance cuts a bold yet charming profile on the kitchen counter. Cons: The built-in timer presents usability issues, the spout is not "drip-free," and the kettle brings water to brewing temperature
Equipment Review | Yabano Gooseneck Pour Over Digital Variable Temperature Control Kettle
Overall Rating: 6.5 Pros: The price is unbeatable, the temperature display is spot-on, and if you don't already own a pourover brewing device, this kettle comes with one. Cons: The Yabano is bulky, difficult to settle on its flimsy base, and allows wide fluctuation around a target temperature. Its interface is simple in appearance, but confusing to use. Price: $42.99 How to Interpret
Cold-Brew Coffee Makers for Home Use, Four Tested and Rated
Summer is upon us, and our July report features reviews of four cold-brew coffeemakers. These are devices that brew coffee using cold water and extended coffee-water contact times rather than hot water and short contact times, as is the case with conventional coffee-brewing devices. The cold or iced coffee we enjoy in cafés and stores is not necessarily cold brewed. It is often brewed using
Equipment Report: Five French Presses, Tested and Rated
For this survey of French presses, we selected a representative cross-section of widely available units from this popular brewer category. We tested one example for each of five key sub-categories: a classic model (Bodum Chambord), a budget-friendly option (Mr. Coffee Coffee Press), a high-tech addition to the market (KitchenAid Precision Press), a technically refined premium press (Espro Press),
Three New Capsule Espresso Systems
Convenience-first single-serve coffee brewing devices are on a roll in North America, fueled by the success of the Keurig and its K-cup capsules. In Europe, where espresso rules, the Nespresso espresso system has had similar blockbuster success. Both systems use rigid capsules rather than tea-bag-like paper pods that characterized earlier (and less commercially successful) single-serve systems. As
The Aeropress Coffee Maker
About five years ago or so Alan Adler, the inventor of the Aerobie Flying Disk, created the Aeropress because he wanted a cup of coffee was full and rich, similar to the results from a French press but with cleaner, less acidy attributes. After some experiments and prototyping, Alder solicited feedback about his creation from well-known coffee professionals before releasing it to the market. The
Single-Serve System Reviews 2011
Bunn My Café The Bunn My Café uses paper pods, the same dimension pods as the Senseo brewer. Bunn only brands the brewing units; it does not sell Bunn-branded coffee and no license is required to produce Bunn-compatible paper pods. This hands-off, open format approach makes the Bunn program unique among single-serve systems. Proprietary capsule design: No Approximate cost per serving early
Hario V60
There is hip and there is hip. The Hario V60 is definitely what the doctor ordered for the new slow coffee movement, that is brewed coffee done by hand, one cup at a time. I heard some marketing guru state the other day that the single-cup coffee market was going to be big. Really? That would have been big news a few years ago. Frankly, I’ve been using one-cup brewers for a dozen years, but I’m
Sowden SoftBrew Review
When I first laid eyes on this brewer, visiting Oren and Nancy Bloostein, I thought it was a teapot. Elegant, it was attractive. Maybe I thought it could serve coffee, but who transfers coffee from the brewer to the server anymore? Oren insisted I take it home and try it out. All the way home all I could think about was the opportunity to try out a new technology. I’m beginning to think there
