Hasta La Ideas

Think of your Nespresso pod and imagine if it were just a thousand times better. I’m talking whole beans, ground and brewed on the spot, with an automated procedure occurring all within the same machine. What the xBloom does isn’t completely different from any average coffee machine, however, the method it employs and the underlying technology it uses is simply remarkable. A Tesla isn’t different from other cars – they both transport you from A to B… but one of them is just much more visually, technically, and emotionally sophisticated. That’s why we’re calling the xBloom the Tesla of coffee machines.

Designers: Richard Xu, Rui Zhou & Yuan Hong

Click Here to Buy Now: $449 $799 ($350 off). Hurry, less than 72 hours left! Raised over $530,000.

Designed to elegantly sit on your countertop, the xBloom is an all-in-one coffee machine that handles grinding, brewing, and dispensing all within one device. It does so in a manner that’s almost entirely automated and expertly tuned, so you really need to do nothing once the machine takes charge. Just pour the beans in, sit back, and watch your coffee get made as if a robot barista was at work. Its overall design is just sublime too, with simple geometric forms that break down the coffee machine into its separate functions, and a metallic finish that feels luxuriously pristine.

Place the Pod on the sensor pad to activate bean recognition.

Pour the beans into the grinder and place the empty pod on the Dock.

Press the Dock and let the machine take care of the rest.

The xBloom follows the pod-based model popularized by Keurig and Nespresso, but instead of having tiny metallic pods filled with pre-ground, pre-flavored coffee powder, each xBloom comes with actual coffee beans inside, measured out for a single serving. The pods are curated by expert roasters, with special coffee types from around the globe offering the entire world of coffee right on your kitchen countertop. How do you brew these pods? Well, that’s perhaps my favorite part!

It isn’t often that kitchen appliances and RFID tags ever intersect, but they do with the xBloom. Each pod comes with coffee beans inside it, but on the underside of every pod is also an RFID tag that allows the xBloom to identify the coffee type. Just tap the underside of the pod on the xBloom and it instantly sets the grind size, brew temperature, coffee-to-water ratio, and even pouring style. Once the xBloom identifies the coffee, just peel the lid off the pod, add the beans to the device’s inlet, and place the empty pod in its designated holder for later.

The professional-grade grinder features 48mm Titanium Nitride coated conical burrs, allowing 20 automatic grind size adjustments perfect for pour-over (each step is as precise as 18.75µm).

Super easy to clean.

The beans enter the grinding chamber, where the 48mm conical burrs grind it to the perfect consistency. The grounds are then dispensed back into the empty pod (which also comes with its own built-in filter lining). The xBloom then automatically carries the pod from the grinder to the brewing area, almost like a robot on a factory line. It’s quite entertaining to watch as the machine literally choreographs the coffee-making process. The xBloom then introduces heated water to the coffee, brewing it right in its pod (so you don’t need a separate filter), with holes in the pod’s base letting coffee drip through right into your empty cup or glass. Unlike any coffee machine I’ve seen in the past, xBloom even possesses the ability to pour in different patterns, mimicking a straight pour, a slow spiral pour, and a rapid spiral pour based on roasters’ preference. The pouring is quite unlike any other machine, with the laminar water stream being electrostatically controlled by 4 energized electrodes, resulting in a curved flow of water that seems almost magical to look at. Moreover, the pod’s holder can even agitate the pod, helping the coffee brew more evenly. The most remarkable part of all this isn’t that it’s possible – it’s that it happens with just one simple RFID scan and absolutely no human intervention on your part.

A weighing scale built into the pod holder detects how much water’s still in the pod. This prevents the xBloom from accidentally overfilling the pod and having water spill over. Different grinds filter coffee at different rates – a coarser grind lets water pass through faster than a fine grind, and the xBloom can detect that by weighing the pod. It then automatically controls the water’s dispensing rate to ensure there are absolutely no mistakes. Water filters through the pod right into your cup or glass below, leaving you with a fresh cup of coffee. The pod, which now contains your used coffee grounds, can easily be lifted out of the xBloom and disposed of elegantly.

It should come as no surprise that xBloom’s design team consists of tech veterans including ex-Apple product designers. With the level of sensitivity to design, detailing, and user experience, the xBloom literally turns a coffee machine into a luxurious ritual that is bound to delight absolutely any coffee drinker. The device is simply a piece art that houses technical magic underneath, echoing exactly the kind of sophistication seen in Apple’s own products.

The user experience is put at the absolute forefront – there are no buttons, knobs, wires, or even as much as screw details visible on the device. It looks as if Jony Ive sculpted the machine with his own hands. The xBloom’s interiors use high-quality parts, relying on suppliers who also supply to Apple and Tesla. The pods are expertly curated with a wide variety of coffee bean types, and each pod is made of sugarcane and bamboo fiber, so you can discard it in its entirety (with the coffee grounds) and not worry about generating plastic waste (the RFID tag is mostly biodegradable too, being made from paper with very small traces of aluminum). Maintaining your xBloom is remarkably easy too, with a pop-out magnetic cover that collects any stray remnants of ground coffee from the grinder.

The xBloom stands at 16.9 inches tall, like a slick, metal Obelisk. It comes in two colors, Obsidian Black and Silver White, with a 700ml water reservoir inside its main chamber, letting you brew almost 3 cups of coffee on a full tank. While the true mark of xBloom’s excellence is its ability to automate the entire process for consistent, expert results every time, each xBloom also comes with a smartphone app that allows you to play with the brew settings, creating and saving recipes that are unique to your taste, preferences, and mood. The xBloom starts at $449 for early-bird backers, with 32 pods included along with the machine. Once depleted, you can either buy more pods through xBloom or get the reusable dripper cup that’s compatible with Kalita Wave 155 filters.

Click Here to Buy Now: $449 $799 ($350 off). Hurry, less than 72 hours left! Raised over $530,000.

The post The ‘Tesla of coffee machines’ is a beautifully designed high-tech machine that delivers a luxurious coffee experience first appeared on Yanko Design.