Listen, here’s the thing: brewing coffee is supposed to be fun. And part of having fun is getting a little weird from time to time, taking the path less traveled even when that path has a loop de loop of questionable necessity. Yeah, maybe the not-so-straightforward coffee brewer is a bit too impractical for everyday use, but not every coffeemaker needs to be a v60. Variety is the spice of life! Let the people have their siphons, their Dragon bongs, their Rube Goldbrewers.
We all understand the rules we’re operating under here, right? Ok then. Let’s get on with it.
Introducing the Bravo Brewer, the brand new coffeemaker that is a playground of experimentation for the filter coffee fanatic, and I’m not entirely sure what it does.
The first time ever did I lay eyes on the Bravo Brewer was at the 2019 World Barista Championship in Boston, where three-time Italian champion Giacomo Vannelli had this rather bizarre contraption he was using to make his signature beverages. Tinkering away on the prototype for what would become the Bravo—a little twist here, a little press there—Vannelli, now a brand ambassador for espresso machine manufacturer Sanremo who is handling distribution of the brewer, rode a theatrical performance all the way to a 10th place finish.
And now with the official release of the Bravo, we have a better idea of what he was doing up there with the Coffee Bop-It. Kind of. Key features of the filter brewer include a gravitational funnel whose “hyperbolic shape… helps water spiral as it gradually increases speed through its downward flow” as well as a flow adjustment lever that allows the user to control the rate at which the water moves through the funnel, allowing for a “prolonged pre-infusion.” The coffee then passes through the optional static mixer, “which channels the flow through various passages” and “allows the coffee to divide and mix multiple times before entering its final destination.” Per Vannelli, the static mixer works well with heavier-bodied brews like those of natural processed coffees, whereas he prefers to forgo the static mixer for more floral cups.
The decanter’s toroidal bottom (it’s got a shapely butt) “aids in oxygenation [and] introduces organoleptic complexity.” The Bravo also features an air flow regulator that allows you to “open the aroma of your coffee and stretch the flavors,” per Vannelli. And lastly, there’s an “essence injection,” a small channel you can unplug to pour a variety of “essences”—flavored syrups, sugars, oils, palo santo smoke, whatever you want—to get passed with the coffee through the static mixer.
Now, I have absolutely no doubt that in the hands of someone like Vannelli, the Bravo is a powerful tool to create vibrant coffee. But to me, whose job is more words than coffee if we’re being real, it’s a lot of sound and fury. But see, that’s the fun of it all. Get me a Bravo Brewer and a helpful tutorial on YouTube and I could easily Funnel it! Adjust it Mix it! Decant it! for hours on end until I had, through magic I don’t yet understand, created a very, very good cup of coffee.
The Bravo Brewer is out now and available wherever Sanremo machines are distributed worldwide. So have fun. Get weird. Enjoy the process of making coffee, not just for the ritual but for the wild ride it will take you on.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
Top image via the Bravo Brewer
