Making Coffee With One ouch
Great coffee brewers can’t do more
than they already do, but they can
make it easier for customers to brew
great coffee at home. And so new coffee
machines introduced at the International
Home + Housewares Show (IH+HS) in
March are more functional than ever,
with many borrowing features from the
technology world.
Increased functionality translates into
increased customization. Coffee, already a highly personalized beverage,
can be customized even further with
the latest machines. It’s a storyline
that’s particularly true of single-serve
coffee and espresso makers, which are
more tricked out with bells and whistles
this year to make quieter, hotter, bigger
cups with greater beverage variety than
older models.
The hottest accessory for coffee mak-
ers taps into our modern zeitgeist: We
want what we want with the tap of a
finger. High-end brewers from Krups,
Jura, De’Longhi and others can deliver
personalized beverages by pressing a
single button. Keurig’s new single-serve
system, Vue, has a touch screen, a fea-
ture that will seem familiar to users of
the most modern smartphones,
with icons that correspond to icons
on the Vue Packs, which contain the
read-to-brew coffee. Equally high-
tech is Tassimo’s new Bosch T55,
which reads bar codes on its capsules
to know what beverage to brew.
Functionality also improved in other
ways. For example, buttons on the
Nespresso Gran Maestria and Maestria
that once had to be pressed and kept
pressed are replaced with dials that
one can set and walk away from. And
another upgrade could almost make
one giddy with excitement: The steam
nozzle on the Krups retracts into the
housing and cleans itself. (If only everything could be cleaned this way!)
Recognizing that expensive coffee
machines take up valuable real estate
on the kitchen counter was another
area of improvement. More compact
machines like Jura’s Ena Micro One
and De’Longhi’s Gran Dama S offer the
same functions in a smaller footprint.
Added functionality doesn’t necessarily
translate into higher price points. Saeco
targets an opening price point with its
Royal One Touch Cappuccino, making
affordability its focus.
Jura Impressa J9 One Touch
took home the award for “Best in
Category – Countertop Cooking
& Beverage Appliances” at the
IH+HS
Automatic Espresso Machines
Jura Impressa J9 One Touch, introduced in a new
chrome finish, took home the award for “Best in Cat-
egory – Countertop Cooking & Beverage Appliances”
at the IH+HS. It is the first in the line with a color
display with graphics and text. Consumers can use
the rotary dial at the top of the machine or the but-
tons on either side of the screen to select the type of
specialty coffee beverage required, the strength and
the amount. Beverages can be brewed
with one touch of a button, as the cup
can remain in place for brewing and
frothing for crema coffee, espresso,
latte, cappuccino, latte or macchiato.
Available currently at Sur La Table for
$2,999 and for wider distribution in the
early fall.
Jura also added the Ena Micro One, an
automatic espresso machine and one
of the most compact automatic centers
on the market. At 9-by- 17.5-by- 12. 7
inches, it is 11 percent smaller than the
original Ena. A new feature, an aroma
preservation seal, keeps coffee beans
fresh. It will be available at specialty
retailers in October with a retail price
of $899.
New from De’Longhi is the Gran Dama
S, also a compact version of a super
automatic espresso machine. The one-
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