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Sony sold me on Xperia Agent in one cup of coffee
I like coffee. I like robots. So, when Sony's cutesy Xperia Agent offered to serve me up a cup of Arabica at IFA, how could I refuse? Of course I didn't, and it was probably the best cup of show-floor joe that I had this week. We first saw the Xperia Agent at MWC, but we've barely heard anything from the bot since, so free coffee or not, it was good to check in with the little guy and see it doing its connected thing.
Barisieur's coffee-brewing alarm clock might actually happen
When we first spotted the Barisieur coffee-brewing alarm clock back in 2014, it was a pet project for designer Joshua Renouf. The plan was always to turn it into a gadget for the masses, and in the months that have passed since, the overall design and the tech that drives the bedside system were refined for production. To help make waking up to a freshly brewed cup of pour over coffee or loose leaf tea a reality, Renouf and his team are looking to Kickstarter to get them over the hump.
This machine makes cold brew coffee in less than 10 minutes
Cold brew coffee is delicious. It's about two-thirds less acidic than coffee brewed with hot water, which results in a cleaner, smoother and less bitter taste. Unfortunately, making cold brew coffee is a pain. You typically have to let the grounds steep for 12 to 24 hours, which requires a lot of planning ahead. This is not something you want to do when it's a hot summer's day and you want that cold brew coffee ASAP. Fortunately, however, there is now a solution. Say hello to the Pique, a coffee machine that can make cold brew coffee in less than 10 minutes. And, based on the sample I had, it tastes amazing.
Acaia's Bluetooth scale tracks your morning coffee ritual
I'll admit it: I'm a coffee snob. I wasn't even that invested until I became friends with two roasters. Fast forward a few years and I have equipment in my kitchen for six different brewing methods. Yes, it's a bit much. However, that still didn't stop me from being enticed by the Acaia Pearl Bluetooth-equipped scale, which aims to make the daily ritual as consistent and accurate as possible. Do you really need a $129 gadget to help you make better coffee, though? Or will a cheap kitchen scale and timer do the job just fine? After a few weeks with the priciest "Pearl Black" model, which sells for $150, I'm not ready to give up my budget gear just yet.
Here's how you make coffee in the International Space Station
Now that the International Space Station is in bloom, how about a nice cup o' joe to enjoy alongside the (single piece of) greenery? European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake pulls out a coffee with cream vacuum pack (with the delicious sounding sugar substitute), and inserts it into the most high-tech kettle we've ever seen. This injects hot water into the pack, and one plastic straw later you're drinking space coffee. Which is obviously the best kind of coffee. It seems astronauts are still waiting on that space-ready espresso machine from Lavazza.
Recommended Reading: The most advanced coffee lab in the world
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Inside the World's Most Advanced Coffee Laboratory Jason Koebler, Motherboard If you're at least somewhat interested in coffee, you've likely researched a bit about where your favorite spot gets its beans and who roasts them. Thanks to Motherboard, we can take a look inside the walls of Cenicafé: a government-backed facility dedicated to analyzing Colombia's coffee varieties.
60 seconds with a robotic pour-over coffee machine
Coffee enthusiasts know that one of the best ways to brew the caffeinated beverage is via the pour-over method, a meticulous technique that requires a steady hand and precise timing. At coffee shops, baristas have traditionally brewed this style of coffee the old-fashioned way, carefully pouring hot water in a steady spiral stream over multiple filter setups. Not only can it be tiresome, it can also distract them from giving better customer service. Poursteady, however, is a potential solution to that.
How a toy designer dreamed up the geek-friendly AeroPress coffee maker
The AeroPress is a deceptively simple device -- it's basically a coffee syringe. The quick-brewing coffee maker sits somewhere between an espresso machine and a French press. You pour hot water over your grounds then force the water through them with a plunger. What makes the AeroPress unique is how quickly it can spit out a high-quality cup of Joe. The entire process takes roughly one to two minutes and at the end you've got a heavily concentrated, smooth mug of coffee. But unlike other modern methods for making a hot caffeinated beverage, the AeroPress was dreamed up by an engineer who spent a good chunk of his career making toys and electronics.
First all-in-one coffee machine that roasts, grinds and brews heads to Kickstarter
Machines that grind then brew your coffee for you all in one are a dime a dozen. But one that fresh roasts you beans first, before grinding them? Well, according to Bonaverde Coffee Changers it's never been done, until now. The company's Kickstarter campaign is underway and chugging along towards its $135,000 goal. The hope is to ship something only slightly larger than a standard grind and brew unit, but with the ability to turn (often hard to find) green beans into delicious dark roast in only minutes. A stainless steel rotating roaster makes a single batch of beans at a time. The small amount of beans take only three or four minutes to roast, but the necessary cool down pushes the total brew to between 12 and 14 minutes. In order to save energy, the same element that fires up the roaster also preheats the water. You'll be able to control the darkness of the roast and the size of the grind from the ceramic conical grinder. Basically, it's a coffee nerd's wet dream, putting every step of the production at your fingertips. To get your own when it starts shipping, hopefully in October of 2014, you'll have to plunk down at least $300 at the Kickstarter page.
GE's Barista Bots are exactly what SXSW needs: coffee-printing robotic arms
The best way to get the attention of a bunch of sleep-deprived, possibly hungover SXSW Interactive attendees? Coffee-slinging robotic arms, naturally. GE's fully embracing Austin's caffeinated food trick culture with a pair of Barista Bots, arms that operate similarly to your standard 3D printer, moving along the X, Y and Z axes to extrude coffee through a syringe, atop a latte's foam. The process starts when one of the robot's human barista counterparts takes a shot of an image with a webcam, digitizing it on a nearby computer. Then the arm goes to work. It's an imperfect science, of course. For one thing, foam is a really difficult canvas to work on, what with all the unevenness of constantly popping bubbles. There's also an awful lot of wind in Austin today, and with all those people inside, the van did a little bit of rocking. We saw some more complex images that didn't come out particularly well (facial scans, for one thing), so we decided to throw something a simpler at the 'bot, drawing our "e" logo on a sheet of paper. %Gallery-181191%
