“That latte is DELICIOUS. I’d love a refill.”
“Oh, are you getting up? Would you mind topping me off?”
“No hurry, but whenever you get to making more coffee, I’d really appreciate another!”
When I started hearing comments like this, I knew I had hit a milestone in my “home barista” journey. And it felt pretty dang good!
But just when I was about to swell with pride and bust the buttons in my shirt, I began to realize being the “coffee guy” can also be exhausting.
Whether my visitors want another latte or a second pour-over, each of these “refill” requests entail a finely tuned, multi-step process. Good coffee takes time, effort, and skill – from roasting to brewing – so when I make coffee, it’s a labor of love!
When it’s just one or two visitors in my home, I’m happy to perform the ritual and exhibit the craft — to much-shared delight!
But when it’s a whole crew of folks — I’m talking house party numbers — or when an unsuspecting holiday becomes a veritable family reunion, I wind up spending more time working than partying.
I’ve routinely found myself stuck making a dozen specialty drinks, while my loved ones laugh and carry on in the next room. And I hate missing out.
So, I started looking for a way to streamline my coffee-making operation without cutting corners. After all, I’m the “coffee guy” — I can’t serve a ho-hum brew!
As I dove into the ever-deepening rabbit hole of specialty “batch brewers” — you know, like the old “mister coffee” machines, but…good — I discovered a pretty shocking trend.
Of the most popular retail drip coffee makers on the market, there are three nearly universal similarities:
- They’re pricey — north of $300!
- They’re stylish — not an ugly one in the bunch.
- And they’re…basic — coffee in, water in, coffee out, that’s it.
That last point was the surprise.
In the specialty coffee world, home baristas have knock-down, drag-outs over a 2-degree difference in brew temp. I’ve seen long think-pieces about the merits of conical vs. flat burrs for “bringing out fruitiness” in Ethiopian naturals. I’ve even watched videos where influencers pontificate on whether you should stir or swish the “slurry” during the bloom phase of a pour-over.
So, the idea of buying a drip coffee machine that didn’t allow me to use any of my specialty knowledge was like a step backward.
Knowing what I know, why would I put my fresher-than-fresh, home-roasted coffee into a one-size-fits-all machine?
You don’t have to look beyond two of the biggest names in the specialty batch brewer market to see why I’m frustrated:
The first, an iconic and well-loved brewer, boasts a classy, mid-mod design and clocks in at $329 MSRP. It’s pricey and stylish. But when it comes to settings and customization? Nil.
It’s a “one size fits all” brewer.
The second contender, a relative newcomer to the scene, costs even more at $329. If you like Apple’s glass and aluminum aesthetic, you’d love the fit and finish of this one. But (maybe you’re seeing the trend here?), it’s got zilch in the way of brew customization.
In fact, the makers of this brewer positioned their total lack of brew options/settings as “one-button simplicity” — a move that gets a tip of the hat from me as a marketer but a scratch of the head from me as a coffee lover.
Maybe you think this critique is unreasonable or that I’m demanding too much, but I don’t think so.
I really only want two things:
- Brew temperature control
- A customizable pre-soak (bloom) option.
And, of course, a price point that doesn’t have my wife questioning my sanity!
If I could find a specialty brewer that hits both those points, from a solid manufacturer, and with a reasonable price tag, I’d jump on it!
Imagine my surprise when I found all that under my very nose and (more importantly) under $200!
If you own the Behmor Brazen 3.0 Brewer, then you’ve probably had a vein popping out of your forehead for the last several minutes, thinking, “The Brazen is everything this guy wants!” — and I’m here to say, “You’re right!”
This spaceship-looking, automatic coffee brewer combines an ingeniously simple design and just the right amount of control.
There is a massive showerhead in the brew basket that saturates the coffee grounds evenly and quickly. The water tank/boiler sits on top, reducing the unit's overall footprint compared to that of its competitors. And, because it uses gravity instead of a pump or siphon to deliver the brew water, there’s nowhere for water to sit and get “funky.”
That’s all well and good, but does it have the two brew controls I mentioned before?
Yup.
In fact, you can program a pre-soak (bloom) to last from 15 seconds up to 4 minutes — leaps and bounds beyond those “one-size-fits-all” options.
And the temperature control is robust.
You can choose from a 20-degree range of settings, and it’s so precise it’ll maintain that temp to within one degree throughout the brew. That gives you plenty of room to find the ideal extraction temperature for whatever coffee you’re brewing.
At first, I was concerned that a machine with this many features would be too complicated to use, but it’s not! I can start up a brew with just two button presses.
I know, I know, it’s not quite “one-button-simplicity,” but I’d trade an extra button press for the ability to brew my coffee my way any day.
The Brazen has the flexibility and precision to dial in the perfect brew without sacrificing simplicity or ease of operation.
I’ve been using this brewer daily for the last 6 weeks or so, and it’s been a delight!
More importantly, it allows me to continue brewing a pot of coffee my way without missing out on time with my well-caffeinated friends and family.
Stephen Burnett: Coffee Bean Corral
Stephen is our resident marketer and roasting expert. A lover of good coffee, Stephen has been roasting coffee at home for many years. His favorite unroasted coffee bean from CBC is the Bali Organic Kintamini for its strawberry notes.