Over the past 10 years, Portland, Oregon-based Ratio has gone a long way in broadening the niche of beautiful, well-wrought, simple-to-use automatic home drip coffeemakers. The company's first two machines, the Eight and the Six, have both earned accolades not only for their good looks and serene user experiences but also, importantly, their effective delivery and dispersal of hot water at a
Equipment Reviews
Coffee Review's mission is to help consumers find and enjoy superior-quality coffees. To this end, we're pleased to offer objective reviews of coffee equipment that we've tested. Coffee Review does not receive commissions or referral fees for any sales that may be generated from our product reviews. However, in some cases, products were reviewed as part of our fee-based service offerings.
Equipment Review: OXO Rapid Brewer
Whether for cocktails, frappes, baked goods or speedy mornings, coffee-as-ingredient is big business these days. The number of bottled concentrated coffee products is on the rise in stores and online, and with the Rapid Brewer, housewares brand OXO delivers a simple means for anyone to create their own fresh hot or cold concentrate using any coffee at home, in minutes. For aficionados who
Equipment Review: Outin Nano Portable Espresso Maker
In the competitive market of portable espresso brewers, the Outin Nano, a lighthouse-shaped device with a built-in pump and onboard heat, aims to be a beacon of both convenience and consistency. Most gadgets designed for brewing espresso on the go are manually pumped and cannot heat water. In smaller handheld formats, especially, this tends to mean a herky-jerky flow as brew pressure drops
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 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
Equipment Review: 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
Equipment Review: 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
Equipment Review: Sowden SoftBrew
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
