Slick, svelte, and almost looking like Michael Jackson leaning forward in his iconic stance, the AF007 (no relation to James Bond) is a tabletop conical burr grinder that does one job well – grind exactly the right amount of coffee for a single serve. For people who love the idea of a Keurig or Nespresso, but hate resorting to preground commercial beans, the AF007 gives you exactly a single or double-shot worth of coffee, dispensed directly in your portafilter, or a coarser ground dispensed right into your French press or pour-over.
Designers: Nicola Zanetti and Federico Gonzales Bosque
The AF007’s design is so ruthlessly minimalist you could put it somewhere in an Apple Store and nobody would bat an eyelid. It sports an incredibly clean design that’s focused on utilitarianism and is devoid of any details that would clutter the aesthetic. That being said, the AF007 still has a personality, with its geometric surfaces, wonderful matte metal finish, and that leaning-forward stance that gives it a sense of dynamism even though it’s a static device that sits on your kitchen countertop.
Using the AF007 is simple. Load the beans in the vessel through the opening at the top. The top also doubles as a rotary knob that lets you choose the grind size, going coarse for pour-over brewing, or finer for use in a Moka Pot or an espresso machine. An LED panel on the side lets you choose between a single or double-shot (smaller or larger depending on how much coffee you consume), and a holder and tray right in front of the nozzle lets you attach a portafilter or a collecting vessel for the grounds to get deposited into. It’s all deviously simple, both visually and functionally, which is what makes the AF007 such a neat little device for coffee aficionados. In fact, the grinder even won the A’ Design Award last year for its simple yet sophisticated approach to the coffee-making process!
Mocaf is the ideal electric coffee bean grinder for daily coffee lovers who enjoy crafting their favorite brew at home. It effortlessly transforms beans into uniformly sized grains for immediate brewing. Equipped with ultra-sharp 60mm stainless steel flat burrs, 29 grind settings, and 4-speed adjustments, it gives aficionados the perfect way to create a fresh, flavorful brew every time.
Finding the perfect coffee grind is as personal and crucial for coffee enthusiasts as a Wall Street trader seeking a custom-tailored suit. Coffee grounds come in many varieties, and the grind significantly influences the richness of the brew. That’s why Mocaf’s 29 grind settings range from coarse to extra fine settings, letting you achieve the perfect blend that matches your preferred coffee flavor and strength, aligning perfectly with your unique taste preferences.
The size of coffee grounds significantly impacts the brewing process and the resulting flavor of the coffee. When water passes through the coffee grounds, it extracts flavors and compounds. If the grind is too coarse, the water will pass through too quickly and not extract enough flavor, resulting in a weak and under-extracted brew. Conversely, if the grind is too fine, the water will take longer to pass through, leading to over-extraction and a bitter taste. Therefore, having control over the grind size allows for precise control over the extraction process, enabling you to fine-tune the strength and flavor of your brew to your exact preference.
For instance, it’s generally recommended to use a medium to coarse grind for iced coffee. This is because iced coffee is often brewed using the cold brew method, requiring longer extraction time. A medium to coarse grind ensures the coffee isn’t over-extracted during this process, which could lead to a bitter taste. Instead, it allows for a smooth, well-rounded flavor that is perfect for a refreshing iced coffee. On the other hand, for espresso, a fine grind is typically recommended. The espresso brewing process is quick, usually taking just 20-30 seconds, and requires finely ground coffee to ensure optimal extraction. The fine grind exposes more coffee to the hot water during brewing, leading to a robust and full-bodied shot of espresso. However, the grind should not be too fine, as that could cause over-extraction, leading to a bitter and burnt taste. Therefore, achieving the right balance with a fine, but not too fine grind is the key to a perfect espresso shot.
The 29 grind size levels range from a powder-like consistency for Turkish coffee to a coarser grind for Cold Brew. Turkish coffee, known for its traditional and rich flavor, is prepared directly in a pot by simmering finely ground coffee, often with sugar. The coffee is then served, allowing the grounds to settle at the bottom of the cup. This method is celebrated for its bold and robust taste, providing a unique coffee experience deeply rooted in cultural traditions—the settings range from gear 1 to 3.
Espresso is a fundamental aspect of coffee culture, crafted by pushing a minimal amount of nearly boiling water through finely ground coffee beans under high pressure. This brewing technique is celebrated for its intense flavor and creamy consistency. Espresso forms the base for a variety of beloved coffee drinks such as lattes, cappuccinos, macchiatos, and more, making it a staple in the coffee community. Mocaf recommends gear 4-9 if you’re using an espresso machine.
The Moka Pot, an Italian invention named after the Yemeni city of Mocha, offers a unique coffee-making method. This stovetop or electric device brews coffee through ground coffee by forcing boiling water, pressurized by steam. The result is a robust brew, similar to espresso, known for its rich flavor. For optimal taste, use gear settings between 10-16.
Pour-over coffee involves a hands-on brewing process where hot water is meticulously poured over coffee grounds in a filter. The water slowly seeps through the grounds, dripping into a carafe or directly into a cup. This approach provides significant control over brewing, resulting in a clean, flavor-rich coffee. It appeals to those who enjoy the subtleties of coffee tasting. For this method, use gear settings 17-22.
The art of cold brew coffee involves settings on gear 23-29. It’s unique for its preparation method, where coffee grounds are steeped in cold water for an extended period, usually between 12 and 24 hours. This approach yields a smoother, milder coffee concentrate with less acidity than hot-brewed coffee. Cold brew is versatile and often served over ice, diluted as desired with water or milk for a refreshing, gentle coffee experience.
The grinding speed of coffee grounds significantly affects the final quality and flavor of the brewed coffee. This is mainly due to heat generation and grind consistency, which are both influenced by the speed of grinding.
Variable Coffee Grinding Speeds Accommodate Diverse Tastes
Mocaf offers four different grinding speeds to cater to your personal preferences. Choose a rate that suits your taste. Selecting a speed that’s too high can generate heat due to friction between the beans and the grinder’s burrs. This heat could further roast or partially cook the beans, potentially reducing the coffee’s nuanced flavors and aromatic oils. These oils and flavors are crucial for the coffee’s overall taste profile, so preserving them for the best brew quality is important. Therefore, controlling the grinding speed is essential to limit heat production and retain the coffee’s original flavors.
Another critical component of a quality coffee grinder is the burrs. These determine the consistency and quality of the ground coffee, which are crucial for optimal extraction and flavor. Unlike blade grinders that chop beans inconsistently, burr grinders crush coffee beans between two abrasive surfaces (burrs) to achieve a more uniform grind size.
Uniformity in the size of coffee grinds is crucial for even extraction during brewing. If the particles vary in size, water won’t flow through them consistently. This inconsistency can lead to over-extraction in some particles and under-extraction in others, resulting in a bitter and sour coffee cup. A uniform grind ensures all coffee particles are exposed to water for the same duration, yielding a balanced and flavorful cup.
Professional 60mm Flat Burrs Guarantee Consistent Grind Sizes
In essence, Mocaf features a set of precision 60mm stainless steel flat burrs to ensure a consistent, adjustable, and quality grind that is crucial for extracting the full flavor potential of coffee beans and enhancing the overall coffee experience.
Mocaf ensures minimal coffee grounds retention due to its razor-sharp steel burrs and innovative high-force grinds knocker design. This allows for completely capturing and dispensing coffee particles into your custom cup.
Designed with Powerful Knockers to Ensure Zero Leftover Grounds
Mocaf’s integrated scale and timer are vital features. You can set your desired grind weight or grinding time. The device automatically turns off when it reaches the set parameters. This guarantees a precise amount of ground coffee every time.
Mocaf Coffee Grinder includes features such as automatic stop, and options for grinding based on weight or time
A magnetic anti-splash cup is not essential, but it makes dosing coffee grounds directly into the cup neat and clean. Just put the cup on the base, and it will align to the center automatically and accurately.
To top it off, Mocaf features a spacious detachable bean hopper that can hold up to 850 grams of whole coffee beans, ensuring a fresh grind is always available. Its transparent container provides a clear view, enabling easy bean-level monitoring.
Mocaf Coffee Grinder has a capacity to hold up to 850 grams of coffee beans
Once you’ve finished grinding the coffee beans to perfection, cleaning is simple and quick, enabling you to enjoy your drink sooner.
It’s a no-brainer that fresh ingredients lead to fresher-tasting food. Whether it’s a salad or a cup of coffee, the ingredients do play a role in overall flavor… but not everyone has access to fresh iceberg lettuce, and not everyone has the time/energy to freshly grind their coffee every morning. It’s common to err on the side of convenience and I’ll admit to drinking instant coffee when I’m in a rush, or when I’m traveling but the folks at Goudveer have a handy solution. The Goudveer F1 casually combines freshness and convenience together, ensuring that you don’t need to compromise on what might just be the first ritual of your day. The F1 is a portable, sleek, wireless coffee grinder that works both automatically as well as manually. With industrial-grade conical burrs and a motor that offers 100 grind settings, the Goudveer F1 gives you access to fresh coffee whether you’re at home, camping in the woods, or even at a minimally-stocked AirBnb in Osaka. The grinder comes with a built-in fold-out collection tray, and lets you hot-swap a motor for one-button electric grinding, or a hand-crank for a more ritualistic hands-on grinding experience. The best part? It’s practically the size of a small thermos, fitting into bags, backpacks, suitcases, or even your tiny apartment kitchen drawer.
Designed in Norway, the Goudveer F1 has all the hallmarks of Scandinavian minimalism, with a simple-yet-sophisticated vertical cylindrical form factor. A faceted outer body with an anodized golden finish reflects light beautifully, while a fold-out clear container collects the coffee grinds, sort of like an inverted spice grinder. The vertical design ensures that all the coffee falls to the bottom, so you don’t need to smack the grinder around to get all the coffee out. Once done, the container slides telescopically back into the grinder, allowing it to have that tiny form factor that makes it such a travel-friendly pick.
The Goudveer F1 grinds at a speed of 1 gram per second, giving you enough for a double-shot of espresso in 15 seconds.
You can alternate between motorized or hand-cranked versions, letting you choose exactly how involved you want to be in the coffee-making process. Adding the motor gives the grinder more height, so we recommend keeping it when you want a quick, good coffee, or switching to the manual mode for travel. To keep things compact, the motor gets replaced with a simple hand-crank when used in manual mode. Rotate the handle and your coffee grinds through, effectively turning into a coarse or fine powder at the speed you like. Once you’re done, a quick rinse and dry should be fine, or if you want to place the F1 in your dishwasher, just remember to remove the motor before you do.
The patented motor and burr drive work efficiently at just 60 decibels
With 100 precise settings to choose from, the Goudveer F1 lets you fine-tune your grind, keeping it coarse for a French press or pour-over, or go superfine for an espresso machine or Turkish-style Cezve. 48mm five-star conical burrs made from high-quality stainless steel let you control your grind in increments of 0.018 mm or 18 microns (for reference, a human hair is 70 microns thick), giving you barista-level consistency. The 120W motor works with the tap of a single button, operating at a fairly quiet 60dB volume and grinding at speeds of 1 gram per second so you’ve got a 15-gram yield in just 15 seconds. The motor is powered by a battery that lasts for 35-50 grinds on a full charge, and charges via USB-C. An auto-stop feature kicks in if something (like a large coffee chunk or a loose staple pin) gets stuck in the burrs, preventing damage.
Charge it with a USB-C charger or even a power bank!
The Goudveer F1 ticks all the right boxes, from its compact size to its durable build, adaptable design, fast-yet-quiet motor, and ultimately its $89 price point which only includes the motorized variant. If you want both motorized and handheld options, a discounted $99 price tag fetches you an adaptable version of the world’s smallest pro-level electric coffee grinder.
I’m not one to throw the words Apple and Dyson too flippantly, but that’s pretty much the feeling you get looking at the BURRUS coffee grinder. While you’d expect a regular coffee grinder to simply crush your coffee beans to a fine powder, the BURRUS far outpaces anything you’d expect from a standard grinder. It comes with both automatic and hand-cranked mechanisms, and has a circular display on top that lets you cycle through various settings depending on the kind of grind you want, a magnetically docking wooden collector-mug at the bottom that gathers all your grounds to be transported to your coffee maker, an integrated precision scale that lets you measure out every gram of coffee you grind, and a wireless charging pad that powers the automatic grinder’s motor while also moonlighting as a smartphone charger every now and then. Even the grinder itself is built to the highest standards, with 48mm conical burrs that grind your beans with unmatched consistency, along with a magnetic pre-filter that catches any stray objects like staples that may accidentally end up in your grinder, damaging it. The entire product comes ensconced in an anodized aluminum and mahogany wood exterior, boasting a minimal design that’s still captivating to the eye… like if Sir James Dyson met ace barista James Hoffmann.
Say goodbye to costly high-end electric grinders. Harness the Power or Go Manual The Choice is Yours!
Standing tall with its metal + wood body, the BURRUS occupies less physical as well as visual space on your kitchen countertop. Its design marries great style with cutting-edge tech, complementing your state-of-the-art coffee machine and premium single-origin coffee beans. The grinder comes in two variants, a hand-cranked manual version that lets you personally grind each batch of coffee, or an automatic version that relies on an electrical motor that grinds exactly the right amount of coffee down to the milligram with staggering consistency.
With 200 distinct grind settings, you’re not just making coffee – you’re crafting an experience.
Whether it’s the rich oils of a dark roast or the subtle notes of a light roast, our 48mm burr captures the essence, delivering a grind that’s both precise and consistent.
The hand-cranked version is still miles ahead of any manual burr grinder you could find on Amazon. It has a mahogany-knobbed handle that snaps into the grinder magnetically, while the grinder itself is slim enough to be gripped with your other hand. A ring on the base lets you set the coarseness of your grind (coarse for a French press or pour-over, fine for a Moka pot or espresso machine), with a staggering 200 grind settings to choose from. 48mm stainless steel conical burr grinders help crush your beans with incredible consistency. The conical shape of the grinders guides your bean downwards while ensuring the grinding gears don’t shift around too much. This means every coffee ground particle that comes out of the BURRUS is roughly the same size, resulting in a uniform brew. The grounds get collected in a wooden container cup made from mahogany. The cup sits inside the BURRUS, docking magnetically in place. Hold it by the handle and pull it out when you’re done and you can pour the grounds directly into the coffee machine of your choosing.
If you fancy yourself something a little more high-tech, just replace the handle with BURRUS’ electric motor module that turns your manual grinder into an automatic one. The module comes with a 1.3-inch display on the top with a rotating bezel that lets you cycle through the grinder’s multitude of options. You can choose your grind speed, and even program exactly how many grams of coffee you want ground. Hit the button and the BURRUS gets to work, effectively (and silently) crushing your roasted beans to perfection. Grounds are dispensed into the mahogany container below, and a precision scale under it tells the BURRUS exactly when to stop. This means you grind exactly how much coffee you need without any wastage, while also saving money on an additional weighing scale that you’d have to buy separately.
Set your desired grind amount, adjust the speed, and tailor your brew with a level of precision unprecedented in coffee grinders.
The BURRUS comes in black and white color variants, with bronze metal accents and mahogany wood detailing in the handle, base, and the cup. You can alternate between hand-cranked and automatic modes simply by switching the modules on the top, going from a personal experience to an electric motor-powered one depending on what you’re in the mood for. A ring on the waist of the grinder lets you select the burr size, and when in automatic mode, you can even select the grind amount down to a micro-level as well as determine the grind speed you want. The patented inner hardware works silently, so your coffee-grinding ritual doesn’t end up waking everyone else. The automatic grinder also knows exactly when to stop grinding, and in the event that a bean gets stuck in the burrs, an anti-stuck feature allows the BURRUS to course-correct and dislodge the stuck bean. Each grinder is also accompanied by a mahogany wood charging base that you can rest your grinder on… with MagSafe no less, allowing you to also charge your smartphone!
The BURRUS starts at a specially discounted $349 (for just the first 48 hours of the sale) before settling to its super early bird price of $499. It ships globally, and you can also choose to add a wooden cleaning brush (to maintain your grinder) or a premium hard-shell carrying case to your pledge.
Inspired by the build of Jenga towers, Cenga is a modular, handmade coffeeset with a grinder, dripper, and canister included in a single unit.
Since coffee shops closed due to the pandemic, we’ve brought the coffee shops home–grinders, drippers, travel mugs, galore. With so many supplies needed to make a cup of coffee, storing our at-home coffee shops becomes the hard part.
Piled together like a Jenga tower, Cenga is a handmade modular coffee set conceptualized by a team of designers to bring home everything you’d find in a cafe.
Starting from the top of Cenga, a grinder for coffee beans funnels the grounds into a dripper before heating up some water and dripping that into a canister to serve. Inspired by the stacking method of Jenga blocks, the team of designers combined that with a modular build to optimize the product’s storability and portability.
Cenga’s initial inspiration was found in its portability, allowing users to enjoy coffee shops in the comfort of their own kitchens or even on the go. Narrow by design, Cenga can slip into any kitchen cabinet and still have everything you might need for a hot cup of coffee. The color scheme of Cenga also fits into almost any kitchen. The ribbed glass grinder and translucent coffee canister give Cenga a cozy personality and a fresh look.
Since COVID-19 closed down so many cafes, we’ve been itching for that cup of coffee graced by a barista’s touch. With Cenga, we’re one step closer to having all the joy of an actual cafe stored in a single kitchen cabinet. Stacked into a single unit like a Jenga tower, Cenga comes with a grinder, dripper, and coffee canister.
Designers: Joohyung Park, Seonghwa Lim, Eojin Roh, & Jihye Park
Cenga comes as a single unit for ultimate portability and storability.
Broken down into four parts, Cenga is a modular coffee maker inspired by the build of Jenga blocks.
Look at the Niche Zero and tell me it doesn’t possess the soul of a Vespa! The beautifully curvilinear design of the Niche Zero coffee grinder isn’t a result of function, but rather of expression. Inspired by old-timey automobiles (and even appliances), the Niche Zero coffee grinder celebrates the bold, beautiful design languages of icons like Piaggio, Fiat, Alessi, and Olivetti.
The Niche’s commanding presence in your kitchen is a stark deviation from most burr grinders that look to be compact, sleek, and portable. Designed by UK-based brand Niche Coffee, Niche Zero is a specially designed single-dose grinder that refreshes you with not just a cup of coffee, but also with its eye-catching design. The grinder, which comes in either white or black, features a gently curved metal body, retro-style switches, and wooden accents and stubby legs that make it look warm and approachable. On the inside, the Niche Zero comes with 63mm conical steel burr grinders with a step-less adjustment system that gives you precise and complete control over your grind size. Load the coffee beans into the hopper, secure the safety lid, and flip the antique toggle-style switch on the side and the Niche Zero begins whirring to life, delivering a single dose of ground coffee powder that you can then use with your espresso machine, French press, pour-over, cold-brew carafe, or any style of coffee-brewing apparatus you may have!
The Niche Zero measures a little over 12 inches in height (311mm) and boldly sits on your kitchen counter almost like a sculptural piece. It operates at 72 decibels too, which some might consider just a tad loud (if you’re one of them, maybe invest in a hand-grinder).
Each Niche Zero comes in either Pure White or Midnight Black (both equally classy colors, although the white one looks less visually heavy) with oak wood accents. The grinder comes along with a 58mm grind cup (perfect for most portafilters), a wooden-handled cleaning brush, a user manual, and a socket driver.
The grinder itself is incredibly easy and intuitive to use. The safety lid on top helps secure the beans while the machine is operational, and a step-less adjustment disc on the inside even comes with a marked guide that lets you calibrate your grind-size to suit the kind of brewing you plan on doing (finer grind for Espresso, coarser grind for a French press). A single switch on the side lets you turn the Niche Zero on or off, and the grinder’s direct outlet path ensures that no bits and specks of coffee dust remain behind inside the machine. However, a nifty little accompanying brush lets you clean out your Niche Zero every couple of uses.
In about the same number of steps it takes you to make coffee from a Nespresso or Keurig, the Gevi gives you a cup of coffee that’s brewed directly from freshly-ground beans… and it all lies in the appliance’s sleek, 2-in-1 design.
At first glance, the Gevi doesn’t look like your conventional 2-in-1 coffee maker. Those are much bulkier, and look industrial, while Gevi has a sleek, slim appearance to it. On the inside, however, the Gevi can both grind as well as brew your coffee beans… and it can weigh the beans out beforehand too, resulting in a well-calibrated brew that’s just right.
A 2021 winner of the Red Dot Design Award, the Gevi rubbishes the notion that a coffee machine needs to look like a large, bulky, boxy appliance. With its cylindrical design that branches out into the cantilevered coffee-grinder and brewer, the Gevi capitalizes on visual drama, looking almost sculptural, like a ballerina on a single leg. While that description may be a little too artistic for what’s essentially a coffee machine, it drives home a point… that even a mundane kitchen appliance can be designed to look beautiful.
The 2-in-1 coffee grinder and brewer are visually separated into their two parts. The appliance comes with a base-platform that has its own dedicated weighing scale to help you weigh the beans before you add them to the grinder. The grinder comes with a bean hopper on the top to feed the beans in, while commercial-level 60mm flat steel burrs help create a consistent grind of your beans (while anti-static measures help prevent particles from sticking/clumping). The dose consistency from beans to powder of the appliance is around 0.2g.
You can choose from a whopping 51 different grind settings, ranging from a coarse blend for a french-press to a very fine blend for an espresso machine. The Gevi comes with its own pour-over brewer, for which an intermediate grind-setting works best.
After you’ve weighed and ground the beans, the Gevi’s own pour-over lets you brew them too. A touchscreen interface on the top of the machine lets you choose your bean-to-water ratio, water temperature, and water-quantity, and 3 rotating water spouts mimic the authentic pour-over technique, gently dripping water in a slow, circular motion over the coffee beans resting in the Gevi’s borosilicate Chemex-style pour-over jug. That isn’t just all, the appliance comes with an entire host of brew settings, ranging from an Automatic to a Barista mode, with even the ability to manually control your ‘recipe’ and save it to access it later on. Gevi is currently seeking certification from the ECBC (European Coffee Brewing Centre) to advance its own Barista mode even further… although it gives you complete flexibility to experiment with brewing techniques and ratios, so you can easily discover new flavors as you experiment with different blends to arrive at your favorite cup.
Once you’ve got your recipes set and you’ve picked your favorite blend of coffee beans, the Gevi simplifies the entire grinding and brewing process down to merely pushing a couple of buttons on the touchscreen while the appliance does the rest. The weighing and grinding become instinctive, and you can pre-grind your coffee beans beforehand if you’re lazy.
The machine’s internal 1000W heater heats an entire container of water in mere minutes, and the pour-over spouts mimic the pouring action of a barista, giving you a balanced cup of coffee. Every 11 gallons, the Gevi gives you a prompt to run the descaling mode to remove the hard-water deposits from its water-tank as a maintenance procedure, so that your machine runs flawlessly and your coffee tastes remarkable. As far as the word remarkable goes, the Gevi’s slim, cylindrical design comes in two colors to choose from – a classic silver and a copper blue.
What if you looked at a car and said “Hey, we should try removing the wheels…” It sounds like an odd thing to do to a car, right? But you take the wheels off and you turn the car into an eVTOL and you don’t need wheels anymore because your car can fly. As odd as that little story may sound, it’s similar to what industrial designer Ahmet Ergün and architect Yavuz Bozkurt did to the coffee grinder. They took out (the axle) what seemed like one of the most integral parts of its design… and somehow, that made the coffee grinder even better.
The Knob Coffee Grinder both simplifies and improves on the coffee grinder. Traditional grinders come with an outer chamber that holds the beans, and an inner grinding stone that rotates on an axle (which you manually crank). However, this ever-important axle can sometimes wobble or shake while it’s trying to crush the beans, causing them to grind into uneven pieces, resulting in inconsistencies that cause your coffee to taste bad. The most obvious solution up until now has been to just make the axle stronger and less prone to wobbling, although it’s had mixed results.
No axle, no wobbling to ensure perfect consistency.
Ahmet Ergün and Yavuz Bozkurt decided to ditch this axle completely, designing a completely new grinding mechanism in the process. The Knob Coffee Grinder doesn’t use an axle, but rather, lets you directly rotate the burrs instead. Just chuck roasted beans in, set how coarse or fine you want your grind, and begin rotating. The robust mechanism creates an incredibly consistent grind every time, and with a few simple hand-cranks, you’re ready to brew the best cup of coffee you could probably produce at home!
The axle-less design of the Knob Coffee Grinder has a few other notable advantages too. The removal of the axle allowed the designers to also build in a step-less adjustment mechanism into the grinder, letting you be very flexible with how fine or coarse you want your grind.
Precision from Espresso to Cold Brew.
To adjust your grind size, all you do is loosen the main knob and freely rotate the adjustment dial to choose exactly how coarse or smooth you want your grind. Unlike other grinders that require you to choose a fixed coarseness value, the Knob lets you even pick a spot right in between two values, giving you infinite control over the grind. Once you’ve made your choice, tighten the knob again to ‘confirm’ your coarseness value. Aside from this infinite customizability, the lack of an axle actually makes the Knob more portable. Without an axle and a crankshaft attached to it, the Knob features a detachable handle that pops off and docks vertically into the side of the grinder, making it easy to pack and carry with you. When you’re ready to grind, just pop the handle off and fix it into the top and you can begin rotating it to grind your beans.
The overall design of the Knob is limited to just a handful of parts that are easy to disassemble and reassemble (making it easy to clean/maintain). The body’s made of just two parts – an outer vessel, and the fixed burr setup.
The Knob even comes with a cap that acts as a measuring scoop while feeding the beans into the grinder, and a pop-out catcher base collects the final grounds all in one place.
The coffee grinder comes with an all-metal design, featuring a slick-looking aluminum outer body that feels great to the touch. The cylinder-shaped grinder measures just 58mm wide and 150mm tall (that’s smaller than a soft drink can) and weighs a mere 600 grams (1.32lbs), making it perfect for using at home or even carrying with you on outdoor trips.
The Knob can churn out 20 grams of fine espresso-grade coffee powder in under a minute, with a consistency that other regular burr grinders will struggle to match. Designed to be simple, reliable, portable, and long-lasting, the Knob costs $189 on Kickstarter, and comes in three color variants – Aircraft Silver, Moon Grey, and Batman Black. I bet Batman’s a regular coffee drinker too… although I hear he likes his coffee dark!
In about the same number of steps it takes you to make coffee from a Nespresso or Keurig, the Gevi gives you a cup of coffee that’s brewed directly from freshly-ground beans… and it all lies in the appliance’s sleek, 2-in-1 design.
At first glance, the Gevi doesn’t look like your conventional 2-in-1 coffee maker. Those are much bulkier, and look industrial, while Gevi has a sleek, slim appearance to it. On the inside, however, the Gevi can both grind as well as brew your coffee beans… and it can weigh the beans out beforehand too, resulting in a well-calibrated brew that’s just right.
A 2021 winner of the Red Dot Design Award, the Gevi rubbishes the notion that a coffee machine needs to look like a large, bulky, boxy appliance. With its cylindrical design that branches out into the cantilevered coffee-grinder and brewer, the Gevi capitalizes on visual drama, looking almost sculptural, like a ballerina on a single leg. While that description may be a little too artistic for what’s essentially a coffee machine, it drives home a point… that even a mundane kitchen appliance can be designed to look beautiful.
The 2-in-1 coffee grinder and brewer are visually separated into their two parts. The appliance comes with a base-platform that has its own dedicated weighing scale to help you weigh the beans before you add them to the grinder. The grinder comes with a bean hopper on the top to feed the beans in, while commercial-level 60mm flat steel burrs help create a consistent grind of your beans (while anti-static measures help prevent particles from sticking/clumping). The dose consistency from beans to powder of the appliance is around 0.2g.
You can choose from a whopping 51 different grind settings, ranging from a coarse blend for a french-press to a very fine blend for an espresso machine. The Gevi comes with its own pour-over brewer, for which an intermediate grind-setting works best.
After you’ve weighed and ground the beans, the Gevi’s own pour-over lets you brew them too. A touchscreen interface on the top of the machine lets you choose your bean-to-water ratio, water temperature, and water-quantity, and 3 rotating water spouts mimic the authentic pour-over technique, gently dripping water in a slow, circular motion over the coffee beans resting in the Gevi’s borosilicate Chemex-style pour-over jug. That isn’t just all, the appliance comes with an entire host of brew settings, ranging from an Automatic to a Barista mode, with even the ability to manually control your ‘recipe’ and save it to access it later on. Gevi is currently seeking certification from the ECBC (European Coffee Brewing Centre) to advance its own Barista mode even further… although it gives you complete flexibility to experiment with brewing techniques and ratios, so you can easily discover new flavors as you experiment with different blends to arrive at your favorite cup.
Once you’ve got your recipes set and you’ve picked your favorite blend of coffee beans, the Gevi simplifies the entire grinding and brewing process down to merely pushing a couple of buttons on the touchscreen while the appliance does the rest. The weighing and grinding become instinctive, and you can pre-grind your coffee beans beforehand if you’re lazy.
The machine’s internal 1000W heater heats an entire container of water in mere minutes, and the pour-over spouts mimic the pouring action of a barista, giving you a balanced cup of coffee. Every 11 gallons, the Gevi gives you a prompt to run the descaling mode to remove the hard-water deposits from its water-tank as a maintenance procedure, so that your machine runs flawlessly and your coffee tastes remarkable. As far as the word remarkable goes, the Gevi’s slim, cylindrical design comes in two colors to choose from – a classic silver and a copper blue.
I love coffee, I love Apple and I love Star Trek, and thereby I love the Elemental coffee machine because it combines ‘elements’ from them all! The sleek machine has a silhouette of an espresso group-head with an intuitive modern touch interface. The clean form is a nod to how easy it is to use and a freshly brewed pot of coffee is still the center of attention here.
Torres takes a very stripped-back, modernist approach, with nothing hidden in terms of the machine’s function. You can see everything you need to make a good cup of coffee which adds clarity to the simple form. The interface is completely touch-based and therefore the UI had to be intuitive while still communicating movement as well as a sense of urgency. The UI is a homage to the ‘okudagrams’, an loving name given to the interactive and usually re-organizable displays found on control panels and computer interfaces in 23rd and 24th-century starships. It started with Star Trek and then spread to every sci-fi thing ever. The idea of integrating it here was to alleviate the comparatively long time it takes for filter coffee to brew, it almost gives the illusion that more is happening than there actually is.”I wanted to avoid the basic – almost traditional at this point – style of touch UI so I went with more of a sci-fi theme inspired by TNG LCARS, but actually, you know – usable,” says Torres.
The conceptual coffee maker also incorporates a digital scale to the hopper lid and a simple twist will push the beans into the grinder. The latch would also have a switch to activate the grinder and the cover has to be shut in order to complete the circuit. There is a sneaky little MacPro reference in the internal compartments because it looked much neater than bare PCBs and offered more protection from any potential leaks. The intricate grooves on the dripper were an attempt to avoid having a sprinkler in order to distribute the water evenly to the coffee grounds. The heating element is also woven into this section to prevent hot water from needing to be pumped up the exposed pipe and potentially causing a safety hazard.
“There was limited capacity for physical prototyping, so CAD + simulation software was used to quickly iterate and solve problems with the design. Surprisingly, this actually worked fairly well, at least in this case. Blender mantaflow simulations were used on the CAD models were used to help drive the water channels and filter arrangement,” explained Torres. Now, all I can think of is getting a good cup of coffee and watching sci-fi movies.
