However, making a true plastic-free automatic coffee machine is difficult and very expensive. Plastic-free brewing is a bit like the Holy Grail, mainly achieved through high-tech methods such as French media, Moka Pot and Pour-over.
The Eight Series 2 is as close to achieving this as any automatic drip irrigator. The cold water reservoir is a BPA-free Tritan copolymer. The base is also made of polymers. Some of the BPA-free plastics used in the heating elements have no contact with hot water, Hellweg said.
But the pipes inside the equipment are made of glass. The pipe connector is organic silicon. The chassis is stainless steel, and so is the brewing basket. The hot glass bottle is stainless steel, and the choice is borosilicate glass. This means that the heated water or coffee will never touch the plastic.
This also has the side effect of giving each part a truly satisfactory weight in eight aspects. “Look at this,” Hellweg said with obvious pride, handing me a small piece of steel made of steel, which could double the annoyance. This is the cover of the reservoir. Actually, this does feel good, which is the weight of this lid. Plastics make you forget the satisfactory solidity of cast metals. These more expensive materials will of course be reflected in price.
But it’s expensive
The booking window offers considerable discounts for expected retail prices, but it is still not low. The eight-time Series 2 has a pre-order price of $639 and retails for $799 in September, which is the highest end of the drip coffee machine on the market. They are also twice as expensive as their own six and four.
Can coffee alone justify this higher price? It’s hard to know based on a delicious coffee can. This is the kind of thing I only learn when testing side by side over time. Compared to the sixth ratio, the Eight Series 2 offers the same 40-ounce batch size, but some new programming and new technologies include the ability to optimize its brewing program to use small batches of 20-ounce or less.
But, in fact, like many luxury goods, many costs can fall into luxury goods: invisible, style, cute, and of course more expensive materials. In the case of eight series 2, these costs are quite proportional to the steps taken to avoid plastic: double walled stainless steel, borosilicate glass tubes, American walnut. The new hot glass water bottle has a stainless steel construction, which is strong and lovely.
Ratio owners and designers also cited the instability around the tariffs, which is almost certainly a factor in the announcement of prices for the first time six months from now. Series 2, like most of the products of small American companies, is made in China because American factories do not customize tools for small production runs.
All I can say is that it is beautiful, it brews delicious coffee and it feels like a thing that costs it in my hands – a lot of things suddenly cost more things in the year. Based on past experience with ratios, Eight Series 2 may still be the most dying drip coffee I can get with just one button.
