Gourmia Automatic Cold Brew Coffee Maker Review

What We Like About Gourmia Cold Brew Coffee Maker

• Consists of parts that can be disassembled
• All parts are dishwasher free (except the electronic base)
• Brews 4 types of cold coffee – light, medium, bold, and concentrate
• Has a wide coffee basket/filter and ice basket
• Durable pitcher construction
• Fountain operation
• Well designed handle

What We Don’t Like About Gourmia Cold Brew Coffee Maker

• The pitcher volume is small
• The base is too big and has to be reworked
• Heats up when used too much
• Can’t brew coffee using lukewarm water

Key Features That Might Make Gourmia Cold Brew Coffee Maker Good

All parts are detachable (can be disassembled)

All the components of this coffee maker can be detached. This feature is handy for maintenance. The pitcher, filter, lid, ice basket, and other components can be separated from one another. This means that you can clean each part one by one. When separated, all parts can easily fit in a normal dishwasher.

Aside from maintenance, detachability also allows for easier storage. When not in use, you can opt to separately store each part if Gourmia can’t fit in a cupboard or cabinet as a whole. This is useful if you’re running out of kitchen space. Nevertheless, it’s good to put labels in case Gourmia’s components get mixed with other kitchen utensils. This avoids confusion the moment you decide to use Gourmia again.

The detachable components of this product make it very portable. Thus, you can always decide to bring this to the office. At home, you can disassemble Gourmia and put each component in a large bag. After arriving at work, you can then assemble it in the staff room.

Fountain Operation

Gourmia operates differently from other automatic cold brew coffee makers. Normal cold brew coffee makers brew coffee by wetting the filter with water that circulates from the top then letting the extract drip toward the pitcher. Gourmia doesn’t work this way. Instead, it works like a fountain.

This means that Gourmia sucks water from the pitcher to provide moisture for the coffee powder. The water travels from underneath toward the top through a fountain tube at the center of the pitcher. The cycle continues until Gourmia finishes brewing coffee. The result is a cold brew that might be better than what normal cold brew coffee makers give.

Light, Medium, Bold, and Concentrate

Gourmia provides you the freedom of choosing what kind of cold brew you wish for it to make. This product has four modes of brewing -light, medium, bold, and concentrate. You can access these modes through the buttons that manufacturers placed at the electronic base.

You can also find the brewing time button on the electronic base aside from the brewing mode button. The brewing time button allows you to determine how long you want Gourmia to brew coffee for you. The minimum setup is 10 minutes. On the other hand, the maximum duration for brewing is 40 minutes.

Well Designed Handle

We appreciate that manufacturers installed Gourmia with a good handle. The handle of this product is quite big. Thus, it’s very comfortable and easy to hold. Furthermore, it’s made out of nonslip plastic. That said, you won’t have to worry about holding the handle with wet hands. Gourmia runs on electricity. Therefore, you don’t want to hold it by the pitcher that’s the closes component to the electronic base.

ETL Certified

Manufacturers claim that this product is ETL certified. Having an ETL certification means that Gourmia is a cold brew coffee maker that has passed the tests of electronic labs for users’ safety. This is a feature that we cannot attest to. However, this might be true because Gourmia didn’t heat up or make weird noises while we’re using it.

Gourmia Automatic Cold Brew Coffee Maker Review

Initial Set-Up

The unit that we received wasn’t packaged well. However, we won’t fret about this because the components inside we’re not damaged. The components that are inside the package are as follows:

• a lid
• a filter or coffee basket
• an ice basket
• pitcher
• removable fountain rod
• electronic base or main unit

In case you already bought this product, don’t hesitate to call CS for a refund if any of the abovementioned components are missing. Gourmia needs all of its components to work especially the fountain rod. Without it, water can’t climb from the pitcher toward the coffee basket.

Assembly was fairly easy because the user’s manual was very clear. Also, there’s no need to use tools because the components fit each other through latches or holes that holds them securely together. Here’s how we assembled our unit of this product:

1. place the electronic base on a flat surface
2. place the pitcher on top (the portuding part of the pitcher should fit on the hole at the base for a tight lock)
3. inster the fountain rod at the center hole of the pitcher that extends up to the center hole of the base (in this sense the electronic base has two holes)
4. place the ice basket on top of the pitcher
5. place the coffee basket/filter ton top of the pitcher
6. place the lid on top of the coffee basket/filter

All in all the initial set-up for this product was a breeze. We didn’t encounter any issues while fitting each components together. That said, we give this product a score of 5/5 in this category.

Easy-Use

Using this product is easy. However, putting ingredients for cold brew is quite the hassle. For example, we can’t put water in the pitcher without removing the ice basket, and coffee basket/filter on top of it. The same also applies for the ice basket. We can’t put ice inside without removing the coffee basket/filter on top. That said, remember these things before brewing with Gourmia:

• put water in the pitcher first and remember to remove the topmost components before doing so
• after putting water, put ice on the ice basket then place it back on top of the pitcher
• after putting ice, put the coffee basket/filter back on top and pour coffee powder

Gourmia started brewing as soon as we pressed the timer and brewing mode buttons. We want to emphasize how soft the buttons are on the fingers. There’s no need to press hard because doing so might get the buttons busted. After it started working, there’s nothing much to do except wait for the brewing to finish.

Gourmia did well in terms of easy usage. It stayed true on its automatic concept. We didn’t have to pour water continously or adjust anything. Still, putting water, ice, and coffee is a bit of a hassle. We give this product 4/5 in this category for this reason.

Maintenance

Cleaning the upper components of Gourmia was very easy. We find it easier and more effective to clean Gourmia by dissassembling it. After separating each component, we can then decide to wash them by hand or by dishwasher. It’s fine to wash the pitcher, ice basket, and lid through dishwasher. However, the fountain rod and coffee basket needs to be washed by hand for a thorough clean.

We have to put a cover on top of the electronic base after the pitcher was removed. This is because the electronic components inside are very exposed without it. The electronic base had to be maintained through wiping with wet cloth. Still, we have to be careful not to wipe the LCD between the timer and brewing mode buttons. The LCD is quite bare and we suspect that wetting it might cause malfunctions.

Before assembly, we had to ensure that all the components were dry especially the pitcher. Drying is important because moisture from the upper components might travel down toward the electronic base. It might then seep through the electronics inside and cause Gourmia to go haywire. Considering this, we think that manufacturers should have considered making the electronic base waterproof.

Maintaining Gourmia isn’t a problem considering that its components are detachable. However, its electronic base becomes very exposed once all other components are detached. Furthermore, the electronic base is sensitive against moisture and would’ve been more durable if waterproof. Thus, in this category, we give Gourmia a rating of 3/5.

Brew Quality and Brewing Time

Manufacturers claim that Gourmia Cold Brew Coffee Maker can provide you with a refreshing drink in 10 minutes. However, this is not the case. We want you to know that brewing time is very dependent on the type of cold brew coffee that you want Gourmia to make.

We tried light brew and it took Gourmia 10 minutes to finish. The light brew that Gourmia makes in 10 minutes tastes very bland. And so, we have to make Gourmia brew for 20 minutes for better results. We tried medium brew and Gourmia finished in 20 minutes. The medium brew was pretty satisfactory and we didn’t opt to make Gourmia brew it for longer.

Bold and concentrate brews are best done in a duration of 40 minutes. By default, the manufacturers recommend that let Gourmia make bold cold coffee for only 30 minutes. We followed this. However , the resulting drink was closely similar to medium cold brew. As a result , we opted to lengthen Gourmia’s bold brewing time just as what we did with light brew.

In connection, Gourmia can brew using any brand of coffee powder. The manufacturer didn’t specificy which coffee brand Gourmia works best. However, we suspect that this product works well with those that are very concentrated or deep tasting. We we’re using cheap coffee powder while testing Gourmia’s brewing quality. This might be the reason why we had to extend the brewing time on some brewing modes.

Alternative to Gourmia Cold Brew Coffee Maker

Yama Glass Cold Brew Maker

Final Verdict: How Much Do We Recommend Gourmia Cold Brew Coffee Maker?

Gourmia Cold Brew Coffee Maker is a great product for coffee lovers who don’t have to to brew themselves or not knowledgeable about brewing. This product prepares the cold brew coffee while the user is busy doing other tasks, There’s no adjustments needed and all that the user has to do is put water, ice, and coffee inside.

This product is only good for making small matches of cold brew. Nevertheless, the fact that it’s easy to use, clean, and set up are great perks. Therefore, we give this product a recommendation score of 9/10.