Balmuda The Brew Coffee Maker Review: Excellent Pour-Over Coffee That’s Completely Automated

Balmuda’s The Brew coffee maker is a compact coffee maker that makes pour-over coffee, with the brand stating: “Balmuda The Brew brings the cafe experience to your home by automating pour-over technology to create the perfect cup”. This coffee maker uses a unique bypass pouring method and precise temperature control to produce a cup of coffee that’s strong with a clean and sediment-free feel in your mouth.

While there’s a degree of personal preference to the “perfect cup”, it’s unlikely that pour-over fans will be disappointed by The Brew’s coffee. You get options for regular, strong, or iced coffee from a machine that sports a very compact and sleek design. It’s pricey at almost $700, so it’s an investment, but for the pour-over or coffee aficionado who doesn’t mind splurging, it’s a worthwhile investment.

Balmuda The Brew coffee maker review: What do you get for the money?

The Balmuda The Brew machine stands out as one of the few coffee makers that automates the process of making pour-over coffee. It has a small footprint of 5.5 x 11.7 x 14.9in and weighs 7.5lb. It only makes pour-over coffee, but it does so extremely well. The carafe holds approximately 17oz and the water tank has a 16.5oz capacity. The brewer has a typical pour-over setup, with a showerhead over a cone that holds the filter and ground coffee. When water is showered over the grounds, it drips into a small carafe.

The black plastic and stainless steel look is modern and sleek, and could proudly be displayed on the counter. I’ve received plenty of compliments from those who have caught sight of The Brew on my counter.

The carafe has a double-walled vacuum seal that keeps the coffee hot; you likely won’t need to keep the coffee hot for long since it only brews for a maximum of three cups per brew. The brew time is a quick four to seven minutes depending on the mode (Regular, Strong, or Iced) and size (Small, Medium, or Large) you choose.

Balmuda The Brew coffee maker review: What does it do well?

This coffee maker does the one thing it’s intended to do very well – it makes amazing pour-over coffee at the push of a button. Putting it through its paces at home, it delivered excellent-tasting coffee that was free of any noticeable sediment. In fact, I was amazed that the results were so flavorful and not in the slightest watered down – something that other coffee makers struggle to do.

At the start of the brewing process, The Brew adds a small amount of hot water directly to the carafe. It then showers the coffee grounds with hot water in precisely timed intervals. Although I didn’t test the temperature of every drip, I can confidently say that the end result was always a delicious-tasting cup of pour-over coffee. Near the end of the cycle hot water is dispensed directly into the carafe, which is the brand’s “bypass pouring” technique. While not a true pour-over in the conventional sense, the advantage here is that it extracts the full flavor of the coffee without over-extracting the grounds, which can lead to bitterness and astringency. Even on the Strong setting, The Brew produced a cup of coffee that was full-flavored without tasting burnt or watered down. When I tried the over-ice feature, the machine brewed a stronger coffee so that it didn’t taste diluted when I poured it over ice.

Balmuda The Brew coffee maker review: What could be improved?

When it comes to making delicious pour-over coffee, there’s little to complain about with this coffee maker. It delivers on its intended purpose with aplomb. However, those who’d like other options may find it difficult to justify The Brew’s $700 price tag. Furthermore, a lower price tag would also make this machine more accessible.

Note that the various parts of the Balmuda The Brew aren’t dishwasher-safe, so everything will need to be hand-washed. Plus, it makes only up to three cups of coffee, which isn’t really any more than manual single-serve pour-over coffee makers.

Balmuda The Brew coffee maker review: Verdict

For those who love a smooth, flavorful pour-over coffee, and are happy to spend the money, the Balmuda The Brew coffee maker is worth buying. It makes one of the best cups of pour-over I’ve tasted using a brewing method that’s unique to the brand. The resulting drink is flavorful, with a light, clean feel – which is more difficult to achieve in a regular coffee maker.

The Brew is extremely convenient and hands-off, eliminating the manual work to hand-pour, as well as having to stand around waiting for the coffee grounds to bloom and the water to pass through. Simply load the water and coffee grounds, and The Brew will take care of the rest. However, those who aren’t huge fans of pour-over, or prefer more varied options, should consider a different coffee maker type.