There was a time when all you did to make a cup of coffee was put in the grounds, add the water and press a button. Now, with the advent of 21st century technology laden machines such as the Arist, brewing the drink that gets your day started is looking more and more like a Silicon Valley project. Another recent entry into this new high tech coffee lifestyle is the smartphone app-controlled, wireless-enabled Bruvelo.
Bruvelo, created by an American inventor aiming to automate his morning coffee ritual, is designed to provide an extra level of simplicity to brewing up a cup of joe, despite all the bells and whistles that go into its feature line up. The machine itself is a rather straightforward looking coffee maker, but with a glass base that sports a capacitive touch screen. From this you can, if you're in a hurry and don't want to think about your drink that much, select one of three so-called “flavor profiles” which have been pre-programmed to automatically adjust grind and brew settings.
Should you seek further customization, the smartphone app comes into play. Once you connect to the Bruvelo via Wi-Fi, you can use the app to create different "recipes.” These customizable settings let one control temperature, ground-to-water ratio and steep time for a particular bean and can be beamed over to the coffee maker for later use.
Under the hood
The Bruvelo, like the Arist, is designed to replace your favorite barista and a lot of thought obviously went into what it takes for a machine to brew a better cup. Though whether or not either of these kitchen gizmos can replicate the coffee-making magic a well-trained human performs behind the counter of the corner cafe will come down to a taste test.
As for this coffee maker, its process starts at the removable, built-in ceramic grinder. It reportedly grinds just the right amount of beans based upon what profile or recipe you’ve chosen. Meanwhile, a digital scale inside the Bruvelo tells you exactly how many grams of beans to add based upon the ground-to-water ratio determined by the particular settings.
Joining these special touches are additional considerations, such as a coconut shell carbon block water filter, a 199⁰ F (92.7⁰ C) brewing temperature that can be fine tuned, a standard 01 paper coffee filter you insert for pre-rinsing for a supposed cleaner taste and aeration of the grounds before brewing for better flavor extraction.
Like the Arist, the Bruvelo is currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign. It is closing in on its fundraising goal with a little over a week left, (its competitor has passed its goal), with pledge levels for the machine starting at US$350 (the expected retail price will be around $500). If everything goes to plan, deliveries are slated to begin in June 2015.
You can learn more about the Bruvelo below via its pitch video below.
Sources: Kickstarter, Burvelo
