The Precision Press by KitchenAid adds technology to home brewing with a built-in timer and scale.
BY ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ
SPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE
Recommending coffee equipment for a customer can sometimes seem like jumping into a rabbit hole. Yes, buying a home brewer will help you make better coffee, but then you also need the timer, and the scale, and the water kettle, etc ¦and a simple question of how to make better coffee at home becomes a laundry list of devices and techniques that can be intimidating for most coffee enthusiasts just trying to dip their toes into home brewing.
KitchenAid considered this when they came out with the Precision Press Coffee Maker, a French press with many of the features needed to make excellent coffee built into the machine. Most of us probably have some sort of KitchenAid product in our homes, and they produce a number of appliances designed to make kitchen tasks easier (including the Rolls Royce of kitchen mixers that you can get in a wide array of colors that has been on my Christmas list for years). œWe looked at all the steps and tools that went into brewing French press coffee and sought to find a way to make it easier. We found that if people didn’t have a timer and scale readily available extraction times and ratios were often all over the map, says Dan Rellis, Category Leader of the coffee and tea business at KitchenAid. œFinally, we asked ourselves, why do we need all these separate tools? The answer was we don’t and then we just needed to figure out how to bring everything together in a good looking form factor.
The Precision Press is sleek and includes everything you need to make an excellent French press. The stainless steel press is double-walled to keep coffee hot, and a timer and scale are built into the press, with readings displayed on the top of the handle. œThe integrated scale and timer are the key features of this product. These features allow coffee enthusiasts of all levels the ability to precisely brew a great French press coffee, shares Dan. The press is also designed to be sleek and attractive on your kitchen counter and while serving guests.
Although it’s possible to brew coffee without these built-in tools, consumers will appreciate both the ease and consistency the Precision Press offers. œWe found that people often lost track of how long a coffee had been steeping and if they didn’t have a scale readily available they didn’t get the ratio they wanted. With the integrated scale and timer, all the tools people need are right there to brew exactly how they want, said Dan. Now home brewers can experiment with ratios and figure out just how they like their coffee ”instead of brewing a great cup one day and a mediocre one the next. The Precision Press makes it easy for home brewers to be just as nuanced and scientific as their local baristas are at making coffee behind the bar.
As coffee professionals, we know the power and importance of consistency in brewing, and that’s something that can be difficult to communicate and hard to sell to our customers, especially when that can only be achieved through buying a bunch of equipment. Obviously the Precision Press is a victory for ease, but it’s also a victory for communicating the message of consistency and craft. By making certain variables, like brewing ratios and steeping times, easier to understand, customers can tie the knowledge they gain from knowing these numbers to an actual cup of coffee, and appreciate the amount of knowledge and experimentation it takes to make something delicious.
