This post is sticky; all new posts will appear below it until the end of the giveaway. Thanks -V
Anyone who knows Beth and I knows we’re huge coffee fans. In fact, if you look at the number of check-ins I had (when I was playing, of course) on Foursquare, you would see lots of check-ins at Starbucks. In fact, many-a-time we’ve sat at Starbucks for 3-4 hours drinking coffee and hanging out with friends.
On the home front, though, it’s always been a little different. While there are plenty of great home options, we’ve never found one that worked really well for us, or one that works well enough to use on a regular basis. When we did find the one option to make great espresso drinks, it died (stupid pump blew just after the warranty was over). Our standard issue carafe coffee maker? Works great if you want to make 12 cups. Anything less is an epic fail. The Keurig machine we have? Closest to perfect of the lot, but only if you want coffee or hot chocolate (we don’t drink tea). The search continues.
A few days ago, I got an e-mail from the folks that make the Tassimo Brewbot, asking if I’d like one to review. I jumped at the chance. After all, what did I have to lose? A mere 4 days later and I had a Tassimo Brewbot T-20 in my hand for testing. What do I think? Well, let’s take a look.
Out of the Box
The out of the box experience is about as simple as it gets. Remove everything from the box, rinse out the 1.5 litre water tank, and attach it to the brewer. Remove the special cleaning disc from the back of the machine, place it in the brewer, and run 4 cycles of hot water.
Once you’re done, the machine is ready to use. If you need something simpler than that, you really shouldn’t be doing anything that involves appliances and water.
The Machine
It’s no surprise that this thing is made beautifully. Everything is engineered nicely with tight curves, no seams, and solid construction. The water tank that attaches to the back is made of a solid plastic that doesn’t flex at all and attaches solidly to the back of the machine. In fact, the most noticeable construction attribute, to me, is the solid feel that the door has when you pop it up to insert a T DISC. It doesn’t spring up and clang, but opens with a satisfying click that makes you realize that little details aren’t being overlooked on the machine.
The front panel is, as the rest of the experience is, simple. No need for giant amounts of controls, switches, buttons, screens, and so on. This machine screams simple. There’s an indicator for automatic operation, manual operation, low water, and descale. A huge round button to start and stop the machine, and an LED light above it to indicate whether it’s on or on standby. To the bottom right of the face of the machine is a power switch.
Under the brew head is a platform for your cup. If you like using those large insulated tumblers, just remove the brew stand and insert your tumbler. It should fit perfectly! I don’t know about you, but this is the feature that excites me the most. The idea of grabbing a perfect tumbler of coffee and heading for the subway in the morning is extremely appealing.
And if white or black aren’t the colors you want, you can even replace the cup area and cup stand with the optional color kit, giving you the option of having a coffee machine that matches up nicely with your other appliances.
That’s it for the machine. We’ve talked about how it is out of the box and the mechanics of how it works. What about the cup of coffee it makes? That’s the fun part.
The T DISC
If we’re going to talk about the Brewbot, we have to talk about the T DISC, the proprietary technology behind the flavor.
Unlike other brewers, the Brewbot has a barcode on its T DISCs. When you insert the T DISC into the machine, the barcode is read by the machine and the machine knows what kind of T DISC it is. Knowing this, the machine brews things to the appropriate temperature, knows whether to drip or pump water, and knows whether the T DISC is coffee, tea, hot chocolate, cappuccino, latte, or espresso.
Sounds Like Fun; How’s The Coffee?
Pretty good, actually. With my review unit, Tassimo was kind enough to supply me with Gevalia Kaffe T DISCs and Starbucks Cappuccino T DISCSs. The Starbucks T DISCs also come with creamer T DISCs, small discs loaded with milk to make a perfect cappuccino.
The first thing we tried was the cappuccino. I’m not going to lie; this is the one I was most excited about. The idea of being able to quickly brew espresso-based drinks and froth the milk in the machine without making a mess was what drew me to the machine in the first place. Per the instructions, I inserted the T DISC with the creamer first and heated up the machine. Within a few seconds, steamed milk was coming out and pumping into the cup. The small T DISC filled almost half of the cup, meaning a small quantity of milk could produce 3 to 4 ounces of froth. Most noticeable was the fluffiness of the froth. The froth didn’t knock down easily and stood up well as I moved the cup around to take a closer look.
Then, in went the espresso T DISC, the second component of the cappuccino set. Like before, coffee was brewing in seconds and I had a perfect cup of cappuccino. The coffee shot down through the middle of the froth, disturbing none of it, and when the cup was taken out from under the brew head, we had a perfect cappuccino with perfectly frothed milk.
The taste? Brilliant. Honestly, had I not told you what I used to make it, you never would know. The appeal, of course, is that I threw away two tiny T DISCS that were used and that was the end of the cleanup. Compare that to the hours of taking apart and cleaning my old espresso machine.
No thanks. Tassimo Brewbot wins handily.
What if a good old-fashioned regular cup of joe is your thing? Even easier!
Included with my review unit was a package of Gevalia Kaffe T DISCs. Regular coffee is even easier to make, as it can be accomplished in only one step. Insert T DISC, press button, add milk and sugar to taste, drink.
How about the taste? Honestly, even though the blend is listed on the package as a Medium roast, I found it to be incredibly strong, but it was okay once I tossed in some sugar and milk. I’d like to try other brands of standard coffee before I pass judgment, but I will say that after some doctoring, the Gevalia was acceptable. I don’t blame that on the machine, though, because I’ve had Gevalia in my standard machine in the past and it was pretty strong there, too.
The Wrap-Up
Single shot coffee makers aren’t new, and the Tassimo Brewbot T-20 isn’t impressive because it’s a single-shot coffee maker. It’s impressive because of the technology they’ve built into it. Instead of generically dripping hot water into a cup of coffee with a small filter, the machine is able to tell what to do with what you give it. That means it knows the proper water temperature for your coffee and tea (which is important because even different coffees have different temperature requirements) and even knows how to froth milk, which is always the biggest pain in making milk-based espresso drinks.
Where the Tassimo Brewbot T-20 really shines is ease of use and speed of delivery. There’s no finesse involved and no fiddling with settings (although you can if you want to; there is a manual mode). It’s just perfect and consistent coffee done right every time. Would I recommend the Brewbot? Of course I would. In fact, our Keurig is now in the closet and the Brewbot has replaced it. I can pretty much guarantee I won’t miss the Keurig, either, simply because the Brewbot makes the process that much easier and offers a level of versatility that my Keurig does not.
Oh yeah, and I can get Starbucks coffee in T DISC form.
Did I mention that I love Starbucks?
Where do I get one?
Ahhh, no here comes the fun part.
If you want a Brewbot to call your own and make you delicious fresh coffee every day, you can buy one at the official Tassimo web site. The Brewbot T-20, the model reviewed here, is $129, which is quite a bargain when you consider the variety of beverages you can make with it.
I did say this would be fun, and while buying a Brewbot to call your own is definitely fun, winning one is even better, so therefore we’re going to have a contest and award one of you lucky folks your very own Tassimo Brewbot T-20, the exact same as the model I reviewed. You can’t beat that with a stick, can you?
Here’s how we’re going to play.
1. Leave a comment on this post explaining how winning a Tassimo Brewbot T-20 will make your Christmas brighter. That counts as 1 entry and can be done one time.
2. Leave a separate comment on this post explaining why making coffee the old fashioned way is a pain in the butt. That counts as 1 entry and can be done one time.
3. Tweet a link to this post with the hashtag of #tassimo and @vincenzof. You can do that 2x a day for each day until 9pm Eastern Time on December 16th. Each tweet will count as one entry.
4. Like Tassimo on Facebook for one more entry (let me know in the comments here, in a separate post, if you do this one).
5. Follow Tassimo on Twitter for one more entry (let me know in the comments here, in a separate post, if you do this one).
6. Make a video on YouTube showing me why you hate your current coffee maker. This is the big one. If you do it, you get 5 free entries, increasing your chances dramatically! Link your video in the comments section of this post so we can all enjoy it.
By the end of the contest, if you follow all of these steps, you can have quite a few chances at winning your own Brewbot T-20!
At the end of the contest at 9pm Eastern on December 16th, I will collect all the entries into a spreadsheet and each “entry” will be assigned a row # based on where in the spreadsheet it is. A random number generator will determine the winner. All decisions are final, and the winner must reside in the United States.
If you win, I will contact you to get your information to pass along to the kind folks that make the Brewbot so they can send you your machine in time for Christmas!
Oh, and even if you aren’t interested in the machine for yourself, you can give the machine away. It’ll make one hell of a gift for some lucky person!
Good luck, and happy brewing!
Start entering now and spread the word!!