Anyone here have a Ratio Coffee Maker?

I was waiting until it started shipping and reviews came out to see if it was worth it.

This CNET review says there’s a problem with the water measure which is going to be fixed but I don’t know if one ordered now would have the fix in or not.

I seriously considered it but didn’t pull the trigger as my wife prefers espresso… and less than 4 coffee brewing methods on our counter. They are made locally if you need me to kick the tires :slight_smile:

when i first saw this i thought it was a joke. like that great ad for artisinal fire wood (e.g., “fancy materials such as glass, specialty metals and wood.”)

i’m a coffee geek and this doesn’t make sense to me. it’s a pourover but doesn’t automate any of the process other than just the pouring part. so you can replicate this exact system and process (and do a much better job) with a chemex and a tea kettle. if you go out of your way to spend as much as possible it might be $100.

I did as well, especially at last year’s price for $100 less. I thought I might replace the Technivorm, but then realized that doesn’t see much use since my wife and I both drink mainly espresso.

Why do you think it’s a much better job to do it manually as opposed to an equally good job once you’ve mastered it?

Especially if it’s done before you’ve had any coffee…

because of this comment:

THE BAD With inaccurate water volume labels, the Ratio Eight is a headache to operate reliably unless you’re in the habit of weighing your water.

Pourover cofee is so great because it’s cheap AND can be done consistently. The way to be make great coffee - any method, doesn’t matter - is to identify and understand the variable, and then ensure that you can control them perfectly. The amount of water is one of those crucial variables and is probably the easiest thing to control, especially in pourover. The idea of a $500 machine that doesn’t do this is ludicrous when you can buy a $15 digital scale and do it properly.

For example, when i make pourover coffee at home, i do 22 grams of gound coffee to 340 grams of water. that’s incredibly easy to execute properly every time.

so, to your point, i’m sure that with practice, you can get great results from this machine, but perhaps not on a consistent basis because it doesn’t handle the water volume properly. watch the video, the guy explains it, kind of.

I agree, the first thing I thought was it looked like an overpriced Chemex. It looks pretty, but it looks like they chose form over function judging from the review. I have a six year old $25 Black & Decker that brews between 195-200 Degrees and is great for drip. I also do what others talked about, and weigh the grounds for more consistent results.

I’m baffled by weighing water. baring excessively hard water or massive dissolved oxygen, it should be 1g/ml, easy to measure.

how a gram was originally defined, if I rememer correctly . . .

well, yeah, but that doesn’t help if you don’t have good/consistent graduation - which is the case here.

in the case of traditional pourover, you fill up a kettle and pour - and it’s really dead easy to stop pouring when you get to a certain weight.

Surely you can do the same with the Ratio?

I’m not impressed that a device this expensive couldn’t get something as basic as measurements correct but I’m still considering it as a Christmas present for Arnold. Assuming they get the measurements fixed.

you’d have to stick the scale under the carafe and then turn off the brewing when it hit the right weight?

i actually have no idea if you can do that with this machine, but i know for certain that i wouldn’t want to.

i would just buy a really great $200 machine and then go to home depot get something like this for $44 and wrap it.

ha! that’s hilarious Yaacov. I’ve got way too many brewing methods but I usually prefer the French press: $300 grinder, $30 brewing method.

Me, too. French Press or the Technivorm. Grinder is the essential component for me.

Coffee is one of the only things I am not a such a snob about. It’s nice knowing I’m not a totally lost cause. And Jonathan more than makes up for my more pedestrian tastes.

Yes, yes, very funny :slight_smile:

I used to read all the posts here (largely by Yaacov) about the pourover method and think “I really don’t care that much, my French press is fine”. Then a local coffee shop that roasts their own beans and uses the pourover/bloom method opened up and I realized the coffee really was noticeably better.

The thought of getting a chemex and learning the technique seemed intimidating (one more skill I had never really wanted to pick up) and the Ratio seemed attractive.

So Yaacov - Chemex and grinder, anything else I need to buy? The shop I mention sells freshly roasted coffee so I don’t think I’ll bother with roasting my own.

I’m the opposite. I knew the pour-over combined with single origin beans, house roasted is all supposed to be great, but every time I try - and I’ve been to some of the most highly regarded operations in the country - I really hate the coffee. It’s likely I just don’t care for the way “properly” roasted beans taste. I am not ashamed that my preference is for what others would consider burned.

Pour overs to me feel like skin contact whites. The texture is too lipsticky without the backing acid. You get more acid extraction with the French Press, which balances the deeper flavor. Yes, the pour over is cleaner, the aeropress cleaner still, but what can I say, I like my acid balance.

A digital scale (try Hario), filters, and a gooseneck kettle. With those it will take you all of about 5 minutes to figure out… maybe a week to semi-optimize for your tastes.

One reason I was looking at the automation of the Ratio is that as barristas have come and gone at the coffee shop the quality of the pourover coffee seems to vary with who is doing it. Both of the first guys were great, then the next two weren’t, then the new guy is making coffee the way I like it again.

In a home environment you can pretty readily control most of the primary variables for pourover - grind consistency, grind dosing/weight, water volume. You’ll optimize for what you like pretty quickly and tailor to your preferences to a much greater degree than they’ll do at your local shop. Things will change somewhat with the coffee and roast but you’ll figure it out.

I love Clive Coffee (stop there every time I’m in PDX and have bought a lot of espresso equipment from them), and the Ratio is very pretty, but what variables is it really controlling besides water dosing (assuming it gets that right)? I don’t want to speak for Yaacov but am pretty sure this is his point.