Spinn coffee maker

[jeffshoaf]

This is long - sorry, but it's a long story!

I like coffee but I'm not fanatical enough to spend a lot of time preparing it or grinding my own beans, so I've been using various pod machines for years. I wasn't happy with the original k-cups (just didn't make a big enough cup of coffee), so I was excited when Keurig came out with a new machine around 10 years ago that was a bit more flexible and could use bigger pods. After my usual research process and waiting for a while for the kinks to be worked out, I bought one. In general, I liked the machine; it could make several sizes of drinks and it let you adjust the strength, which addressed my big issues with the k-cup machines but it never took off and after a few years, Keurig discontinued the makers but kept producing the pods. Of course, after a few more years they discontinued the pods too. They did offer a pretty good discount on a new k-cup machine, but after having a similar chain of events with their espresso machine, I was through with Keurig.

While looking for a replacement, I came across a new machine in Kickstarter called Spinn. Instead of using pods, it had a hopper for coffee beans, a burr grinder that automatically adjusted for various grinds, and a centrifugal brewing chamber, all controlled via an app. Dump roasted beans (up to a pound into the hopper that has a gasketted lid to help keep them fresh, select a coffee style ( espresso, Americano, drip, etc.)  in the app, adjust the strength and size if desired, and start the process. The machine adjusted the grind size as appropriate for the coffee style, ground the beans, transported the grinds into the brew chamber for brewing. After brewing, the machine would dump the used grounds into a bin and go thru a cleaning cycle. Once drinking your fresh ground and brewed coffee, you could go back into the app and it would ask questions about how you liked it, make adjustments to the recipe if needed, and remember your preferences.

The centrifugal brewing process isn't exactly traditional but had been around for a while. Basically, the chamber spins at a high rpm and hot water is injected into the middle of the chamber; the centrifugal force pushes the water through the coffee grounds and through perforations to filter and extract coffee. By varying the grind, rpm, and how long the water is held in the chamber, coffee strength and flavor profile is controlled as well as crema, allowing various coffees to be made.

Reviews of the prototype machines were very positive but there was no guarantee that it would make it out of Kickstarter. They were pretty up-front about the issues they were having; the issues were mainly with grinder wear and jams in the mechanisms to move the ground coffee into and out of the brewing chamber.

I decided to not risk my $$ on the Kickstarter and I needed a coffee maker. My research found that Nespresso had licensed the centrifugal brewing technology and was using in their Vertuo pod machine. Since the coffee in the pods was already ground, the pod acts as the brewing chamber, and the spent grounds stay in the pod, the Spinn issues aren't relevant. Barcodes on the pods set the brewing parameters so no app. I kept my eye on the Spinn but bought a Vertuo. I've been happy with the Vertuo but the pods are a bit pricey, with prices averaging about $1 per pod. I have mainly used the pods for 7.7 oz coffees and they're mostly $1.10 per pod. They have a pretty good variety of styles and flavors and multiple sizes from espresso to travel mugs.

Meanwhile, the Spinn finally started shipping in quantities last year - only 4 years late - for $999. In the interim, they have resolved the issues but changed their plans a bit. Instead of the app asking questions and adjusting the brew accordingly, they now have a roasters market where they have beans from small craft coffee roasters all across the USA. Each roaster provides recipes of the brewing parameters they recommend for each blend they have available in the marketplace for each style/size of drink; you tell the app what beans you have loaded in the machine by scanning the bag or, if you bought thru the marketplace, your list of orders and the app loads those parameters to the machine. You still have the ability to adjust strength and size (within limits) and you can save those adjustments. You can also use beans that aren't in the marketplace but you'll probably have to tweak the recipes a bit more.

Anyway, the machine was on sale for $700 black Friday; I didn't have time to do the research my conscience requires then so I missed it, but they had another sale for cyber week at $750. I calculated my Nespresso pod cost per year and figured the machine would pay for itself in less than a year if I buy beans from the marketplace, sooner if I get less expensive beans. The average price of beans in the marketplace is $20 for 12 to 16 ozs plus $3 shipping. The beans ship direct from the roaster so delivery time depends on locality.

Anyway, mine was delivered December 2nd. I like it! There have been a fair number of reports of machine failure in the first month so I'm hanging on to the Nespresso for a few more weeks, but probably not much longer than that. Their customer service for machine issues has been very good by most reports. You get a $15 coffee credit for the marketplace when you buy the machine. You also get a $150 coffee credit for referring someone who buys a machine; strangely enough, you can set up your account before buying a machine and get a referral code that you can use when you buy a machine (effectively referring yourself), so I ended up with $165 in coffee credits. That helped justify the purchase.

I'm not a coffee connoisseur, but I'm happy with the machine. I've not bought whole coffee beans before so it'll take some experimentation to find a favorite - one downside to the machine is that there isn't a simple way to switch beans before the current batch in the hopper is all used up, making comparing beans difficult. Other downsides:

o The water reservoir seems small; there is a model that allows you to plumb on a water line and automatically fill but it's our of stock now and does cost more

o The water filter seems expensive; I used filtered water in my previous machines and will probably not replace the filter when it's time is up. That will also allow the reservoir to hold more water. Research indicates that the machine will still prompt you for periodic filter changes and you'll have to step thru the filter change process in the app but the machine will still work without the filter.

o The grinder is a bit loud; reports indicate is about the same as stand-alone grinders.

o The hopper for used grounds and the drip tray have to be emptied a lot. The aforementioned self-cleaning process flushes water thru the brewing chamber and dumps into the drip tray. I'm trying to get in the habit of emptying these and refilling the water each night as my getting ready for bed routine, as well as staging a cup for the next day's first cup. 

o The Nespresso takes about a minute to make a 7.7 oz cup; the Spinn takes longer than that for just an espresso due to the grinding and ground transport. Different recipes take differing amounts of time. That's why I try to stage an empty cup in the machine each night - I can start the process from my phone via the app so the coffee is ready when I'm ready for it.

Upsides:

o The coffee is very good!

o Lots of options on coffee drinks and they're adding more regularly; recent additions are pour-over style and cold brew.

o They're constantly improving the app; I emailed an app suggestion and they quickly responded that my suggestion was already planned for the next release

o The Nespresso put a crema on top of everything, even plain coffee. This never bothered me but I've had guests that didn't care for it. The Spinn only generates a crema for drinks that traditionally have it.

o No pods to dispose of (in case that's important to you). Nespresso has a recycling program that provides free postage-paid bags to send back spent pods for recycling bit I'm bad to let them pile up before managing to get them shipped - there are 4 full bags sitting in my house right now.

o While the app and wifi/internet are needed to set up the machine and tell it what beans you're using, you can make coffee without it. The machine has 3 buttons pre-programmed to make espresso, Americano, and coffee, plus 4 user-programmable buttons that you can assign with any standard or custom recipe.

o The coffee is very good! (yeah, that needs two mentions)

As I've mentioned, I'm not a coffee connoisseur so I'll not spend time attempting to give a critical review of the coffee produced in the Spinn but there are plenty of reviews by knowledgeable folks on the interwebs; they're mostly positive, especially for "regular" coffee but more mixed for espresso.

https://www.spinn.com/

[David Chang]

i've never heard of this machine. thanks for the introduction. 

[MacKenzie]

Interesting. 

[jeffshoaf]

If you're interested in the Spinn, it's on sale again at the black Friday price I missed - $649. Price good thru December 31.

Edited December 27, 2022 by jeffshoaf