Test Drive: The Spiral Luxe Auto Pour Over by Breville

Breville’s new brewer brings automated pourovers to the kitchen counter.

BY SARAH ALLEN 
BARISTA MAGAZINE

Photos by Sarah Allen unless noted.

I’m not being self-effacing when I say I’m not a barista—I really and truly am not. I’m a writer and editor who gets to cover the beautiful world of specialty coffee professionals through the publication that my husband, Ken, and I operate in Portland, Ore., Barista Magazine. I leave the barista work to you pros.

In our house, Ken makes the coffee. Not espresso, mind you. For that, we go to one of the myriad incredible craft cafés in our city. But when it comes to brewed coffee, Ken’s gotten pretty good. So we were both especially excited when we got our new Spiral Luxe Auto Pour Over machine from Breville in the mail.

The funny thing is, once we had it set up, I realized the Spiral Luxe might actually be more exciting for me than for Ken, because this is a machine that essentially says: You don’t have to know how to do this. I do.

Anyone who has watched a skilled barista prepare a pourover knows there’s a lot more going on than pouring hot water over ground coffee. There’s the grind, dose, water temperature, coffee-to-water ratio, timing, and the controlled spiral pours themselves. At home, that traditionally means assembling a grinder, scale, gooseneck kettle, dripper, and filters—and knowing what to do with all of them.

Breville has essentially packed that process into one handsome stainless-steel machine (this is a pretty cool video of the brew process). The Spiral Luxe has a built-in grinder with 40mm flat burrs designed specifically for pourover. Freshly ground coffee drops directly into a conical dripper, which then travels along a track to meet an articulating water spout. That’s where the especially cool part happens: The spout pours water over the grounds in a spiral pattern designed to mimic the motion of a barista making a manual pourover. Breville’s ThermoJet heating system brings the water up to temperature in seconds, while PID temperature control keeps the brewing temperature consistent throughout the pour. And all I have to do is push a button.

That might not sound revolutionary to someone who has spent years perfecting their pourover technique, but to me it kind of is. I love great coffee. I know what great coffee tastes like. I have spent most of my professional life around people who can coax extraordinary flavors from it. I just don’t happen to possess their skills.

With the Spiral Luxe, however, I can make a remarkably good cup of coffee all by myself. And I admit there is something deeply satisfying about that.

The machine isn’t limited to people like me, either. Coffee geeks can go considerably further. Its Advanced Edit mode allows users to adjust the brew ratio, water temperature, number of spiral pours, pause time between pours, and grinder settings. Ratios can be customized from 1:10 to 1:20, and users can name and save their own recipes. There’s even an option to preheat and rinse the filter, dripper, and carafe.

Ken can play with all of that. Me? I am perfectly happy letting the Spiral Luxe do the thinking.

The machine has a 40-ounce water tank, 7-ounce bean hopper, and 20-ounce glass carafe, along with a 2.4-inch color display. At 14.6 inches wide, 6.7 inches deep, and 16.1 inches tall, its relatively narrow footprint is also welcome on a kitchen counter already occupied by assorted coffee paraphernalia.

One feature I initially thought sounded like a luxury has quickly become one of my favorites: Delayed Auto Start. I can set the Spiral Luxe at night and have freshly ground, freshly brewed pourover waiting in the morning. Not coffee that’s been sitting on a hot plate; an actual pour-over brewed when I want it.

The Spiral Luxe Auto Pour Over retails for $599.95, so this isn’t an impulse-buy coffee maker. But it also replaces several pieces of equipment and automates a brewing method that can take considerable time and practice to master. For serious pourover devotees, the appeal may be the control and repeatability. For busy coffee lovers, it may be the convenience. For someone like me, though, its greatest trick is much simpler: It lets me make coffee that tastes like somebody much better at making coffee made it.

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