Improving the Efficiency and Experience of Home Coffee Brewers

[jbilyeu15]

Hello!

So, my design team and I are working on improving the coffee brewing experience for home brewers with hopes of getting a startup going with our new and improved method. Our goal is to increase efficiency of the process while still preserving the overall coffee experience valued by many coffee brewers. We need/would love to have some feedback on our ideas. Here is a quick list of a couple ideas we are working on:

Idea 1:

Improving the traditional pour over coffee process by creating a method where grounds and water are contained but separated within the same system. Users would not need to physically pour the water over and wait for it to filter through for multiple iterations but rather this would be reduced to one iteration saving time and effort.

Idea 2:

We have found that mechanisms such as the Aeropress are difficult to press, awkwardly shaped, and somewhat aesthetically unpleasing. We plan to add a mechanical advantage to the press making it easier to create the necessary pressures but be quicker and easier for all users, as well as improving the aesthetics of the device.

Idea 3:

Creating a grinder that easily empties from the bottom. Often taking off the lid of a grinder spreads grounds all across your counter top and pouring the grounds into your coffee maker by tipping it can be difficult and awkward working around the power cord as well as other objects on your counter top. So, we believe adding a "trap door" to the bottom of the grinder would allow one to easily hold it over the coffee filter and release the grounds.

Please reply with any critiques or comments on these ideas. I know they are vague right now but that is how things get started right? If you have any other ideas or even complaints about your own personal coffee brewing experience at home please let me know, I WANT to hear them!

Thanks for reading!

 

[peterjschmidt]

Sounds like you have the answers to questions nobody's asking.

 

[jbilyeu15]

Sounds like you have the answers to questions nobody's asking.

Could you elaborate on that a little more? Are you saying that these ideas are not actually addressing the needs of current home brewers and their frustrations? Or possibly that they just do not have enough detail to be evaluated?

 

[peterjschmidt]

Could you elaborate on that a little more? Are you saying that these ideas are not actually addressing the needs of current home brewers and their frustrations? Or possibly that they just do not have enough detail to be evaluated?

In a way, both.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Hello!

So, my design team and I are working on improving the coffee brewing experience for home brewers with hopes of getting a startup going with our new and improved method. Our goal is to increase efficiency of the process while still preserving the overall coffee experience valued by many coffee brewers. We need/would love to have some feedback on our ideas. Here is a quick list of a couple ideas we are working on:

Idea 1:

Improving the traditional pour over coffee process by creating a method where grounds and water are contained but separated within the same system. Users would not need to physically pour the water over and wait for it to filter through for multiple iterations but rather this would be reduced to one iteration saving time and effort.

Sounds like a french press. Altering the process without improving the quality of coffee may just lead to more choices, but not change the preferences of those who are after the perfect cup, not the easiest/quickest way to get coffee to mouth.

Idea 2:

We have found that mechanisms such as the Aeropress are difficult to press, awkwardly shaped, and somewhat aesthetically unpleasing. We plan to add a mechanical advantage to the press making it easier to create the necessary pressures but be quicker and easier for all users, as well as improving the aesthetics of the device.

This is a fairly common approach to new product design. Take a successful product with decent market share, tweak it to appeal to a large subset of said market share, and coat-tail off of that success. Internally, this is called product redesign. Revisions of a product are sometimes created before a product's initial launch in order to extend it's life cycle...or in a planned obsolescence campaign. Nothing reminds me more of post WWII marketing than the phrase "New and Improved". Redesigning another companies product could lead to accusations of infringement, and legal fees.

Idea 3:

Creating a grinder that easily empties from the bottom. Often taking off the lid of a grinder spreads grounds all across your counter top and pouring the grounds into your coffee maker by tipping it can be difficult and awkward working around the power cord as well as other objects on your counter top. So, we believe adding a "trap door" to the bottom of the grinder would allow one to easily hold it over the coffee filter and release the grounds.

Please reply with any critiques or comments on these ideas. I know they are vague right now but that is how things get started right? If you have any other ideas or even complaints about your own personal coffee brewing experience at home please let me know, I WANT to hear them!

This is the area that would probably make the most sense to address. Can you make a grinder that is simpler, less messy, less costly, more durable, AND still produces a consistent quality grind and superb coffee or espresso? This is not an uncrowded segment of the coffee industry.

Thanks for reading!

Best of luck,

Peaberry

 

[jbilyeu15]

Those are some very good points, thank you for the thoughtful feedback Peaberry!

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Those are some very good points, thank you for the thoughtful feedback Peaberry!

You asked for a "critique" rather than praise or criticism...that is what you get!! Nothing worth doing is easy, and everything worth doing is worth doing well. Many people will look at your efforts and ask "why", to paraphrase an RFK quote. I look at possibilities and ask "why not". If an honest analysis leads to a conclusion that the "why nots" outweigh the "why fors"...then abort the effort! Best of luck, and keep us posted.

Cheers,

Peaberry