Housewares Show 2012: The Most Impressive Automatic Coffee Machine
Photo from design-milk.com
With the 2012 International Home & Housewares Show soon coming to a close, we want to spend the week highlighting a few key products that caught our eye at the show. Mark Eyman, one of our Industrial Designers/CAD Engineers, was particularly interested in one of Bodum’s newest products—the Bistro Pour Over Coffee Machine. His take on the new product is below.
“Being the coffee nut that I am, I was excited to see the Bodum Bistro Pour Over coffee machine. For those that may not know what “pour over” means, it is simply where you manually pour water over a cone of coffee. I tend to drink it often because it makes some of the best tasting coffee you can get in a small 8-cup batch (a French Press works great as well, but is a pain to clean up and can have a lot of sediment). The key with a pour over machine is to have very hot water (around 200° F), agitate and mix with all the grounds while only taking 3-6 minutes to brew. Most drip coffee makers are closer to 160°-180° and take 10-12 minutes to brew, but they are also cheap and convenient for most users.
The BISTRO caught my eye for a number of reasons. Number one—it has a great product design. Each year at the Housewares Show, Bodum’s products always stick out to me for their great designs, as well as the wide assortment of colors they offer. This year was no different. In addition to the great design and range of colors, the coffee maker does all the right things to make a great cup of coffee and uses the right materials to do this in the most direct way. Plus, they actually let you see it by making the back panel translucent (which, for a nerd like me, is a great thing!).
After speaking with their representatives, I was able to see that it uses a higher wattage copper heating element, which feeds into a glass delivery tube, which in turn feeds into a high-temperature silicone brew head. Those three materials are better suited to handle extremely hot water than most drip coffee makers (the plastics in those would start to age quickly and break). It also makes the brew head really easy to remove and clean.
With every great design there is typically a downside—which, in this case, is the cost. Glass, copper, and silicone along with large body parts add up to a hefty $250 price tag. It is also really tall at 15.75” which, in my house, would just barely fit under our cabinet. If it is reliable (which its simplicity and brand suggest it would be) I think this may be a successful product even at that price, not in small part to the great product design!”
Check out the video for the Bistro below (we love the monkey).
Written By: Mark Eyman, Industrial Designer/CAD Engineer
Read more about our highlights from the 2012 Home + Housewares Show by downloading our recap below.
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