Components of the Weber Bird espresso brewer. All pictures courtesy of Weber Workshops.
High-end specialty espresso gear firm Weber Workshops has launched an modern handbook espresso brewing gadget referred to as the Bird (styled by the corporate as BIRD, as in “brewed in reverse direction”).
Revealed on social media within the ultimate days of 2023, the Bird combines components of pourover brewing, full-immersion brewing and espresso inside a bodily format harking back to a French press.
The modern brewer’s worth of $360 additional distinguishes it from most current handbook brewing gadgets.
The filter within the Bird begins off on the backside of the chamber. Coffee is added on prime, adopted by water. At the underside of a threaded metal drive shaft, a propeller-like agitator referred to as the “claw” descends and spins to stir the slurry to the person’s liking.
The claw then connects to the highest of the brewing pod (filter equipment), permitting the person to tug the filter up from the underside of the chamber, accumulating and carrying the espresso grounds on its manner. The person absolutely removes the pod, grounds and all, to finish brewing.
A key characteristic of the gadget is its use of vacuum strain, including espresso-like variables to a platform that already combines pourover and French-press-like variables. Water is pressured by means of the espresso mattress by the upward movement of the pod in a vacuum. Users can experiment with a broad vary of grounds sizes, all the way down to espresso fineness.
The lack of ability of water to keep away from passage by means of the espresso qualifies the Bird because the latest entrant to the rising discipline of “no bypass” brewers.
Weber Workshops Director of Customer Experience Andrew Pernicano advised Daily Coffee News it takes roughly six to seven revolutions of the wing nut on the lid to boost the pod to the highest of the vessel — a course of that may take 30 seconds or extra, relying on preferences.
“When it comes to how fast or slow to retract the pod, that will come down to dose and grind size, as well as the intended recipe,” Pernicano advised DCN. “Certainly, a very fine grind and large dose will provide more resistance to the pull, requiring more effort or time to wind the wing nut. On the other hand, a coarser grind and/or lower dose will provide less resistance.”
Additionally, the quantity of agitation all through the brewing course of will present completely different ranges of resistance in the course of the pressurized brew part, with extra floating/agitated grounds leading to much less strain, and extra settled grounds offering elevated strain.
These and different variables encourage experimentation and the potential for vastly completely different brewing recipes.
“We believe it’s early days yet to call what is too little or too much in terms of agitation during the brew, and this will depend somewhat on what the recipe aims to achieve,” stated Pernicano. “Is it a quick 2-minute brew with a very fine grind, or a much longer 8-10 minute steep with coarsely ground coffee? The brewer has the option to follow tried and true recipes shared for immersion brews as well as take part in writing the playbook of what’s now been made possible.”
The “brewing pod” filter meeting is made out of stainless-steel with silicone flanges. Outside the borosilicate glass pitcher is an anodized aluminum deal with and lid, atop which spins a strong brass wingnut and crown. It is designed to accommodate brew ratios of 20 to 35 grams of floor espresso combined with a most of 400 grams (14.1 ounces) of water.
The brewer comes with abaca paper filters made by Japan’s Cafec as a substitute for the included stainless-steel filter.
The announcement of the Bird capped a busy yr for Weber Workshops. In addition to launching its premium WDT device referred to as the Moonraker, 2023 additionally noticed the corporate roll out further sizes of its Unibasket espresso filter basket, a bottomless portafilter referred to as the Buck, and the “Mk. II” evolution of the Key electrical grinder.
Weber Workshops is planning to point out off the Bird brewer at quite a few upcoming business occasions, together with the SCA Expo in Chicago in April. Brewers can be available for buy through the corporate’s web site in two restricted drops this month, with its broader launch coming later this yr.
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the affiliate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He relies in Portland, Oregon.
