For many coffee aficionados, traveling means having to go without their daily cup of artisanal pour-over java. The iKoffy GoBrew coffee maker is out to change that, as it's designed to let users be their own barista while on the road.
Currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, GoBrew takes the form of a 10-oz (296-ml) "smart" insulated coffee mug that communicates via Bluetooth with an iOS/Android app on the user's smartphone.
Waterproof electronics in the base of the mug include a circuit board, a pressure sensor (which works as a weigh scale), an LED display, and a rechargeable 400-mAh lithium battery. One charge of that battery is claimed to be good for a month of daily use.
Users start by selecting a recipe from the app, which indicates the weight of coffee beans required. Those beans are then gradually added to the mug, with both its display and the app showing their increasing total weight in real time.
Once the required weight is reached, the beans are transferred into a third-party portable grinder, which admittedly is an extra bit of gear the user has to supply. One option is to take pre-ground beans along on the trip, although that means they wouldn't be freshly ground for each serving.
In any case, once the beans have been ground, they're placed in a filter-lined dripper which is itself placed on top of the mug. Any dripper should work, although a system-specific collapsible model is available as an optional extra.
From there, it's just a matter of adding freshly boiled water. This process is once again guided by the app, which tracks factors such as the amount of water being added (via its weight) and brewing time. Users who wish to innovate can take the DYI approach instead of following any of the recipes, saving a record of their experiments on the app.
The mug itself has a double-walled stainless steel body with an enamel exterior and a ceramic-lined interior. It also has a conical interior profile, which iKoffy claims is designed to "enhance coffee flow within the cup, ensuring even distribution and aiding in the release of coffee aroma and flavor."
A translucent polycarbonate lid sits on top, popping on and off of a silicone gasket that reportedly forms a 100% leakproof seal. The mug is claimed to quickly cool its liquid contents to a non-mouth-burning 80 ºC (176 ºF), and to then keep them hot for up to five hours.
Assuming everything works out, a pledge of US$87 will get you a GoBrew mug of your own – the collapsible dripper is an extra $19. The planned retail prices are $149 and $30, respectively.
The app-aided brewing process is demonstrated in the following video.
Sources: Kickstarter, iKoffy