Bruvi BV-01 review: Brewing from eco-friendly pods

Price when reviewing

$398.00 (available with a $50 discount at the time of our review)

Best Prices Today: Bruvi BV-01

In the trade-off between the convenience of brewing coffee and environmental awareness, pod brewers typically sit at the very end of the spectrum, where convenience trumps any concern for the fate of the planet. The Bruvi BV-01 brewer breaks convention with other pod brewers in both its approach to environmental impact and the overall design of the brewer. It’s smarter, sleeker, and more eco-friendly than any pod brewer I’ve tried so far.

What is the environmental impact of a Bruvi coffee maker?

Brewing pods like K-Cups are single-use plastic of the worst kind, not accepted for recycling in many municipalities, and even then requiring disassembly and washing. The people most likely to opt for the convenience of a pod brewer aren’t those who put the environmental impact first, and I’ve met few who bother to empty and wash their pods. Let’s face it: most of them end up in landfills.

Robert Strohmeyer / Foundry

Bruvi’s approach to sustainability is markedly different from that of other brewers, as its pods are not designed for recycling, but for decomposition. Since almost no one breaks down their coffee pods to put the grinds in the compost bin and the plastic or aluminum container in the trash, Bruvi uses what it calls Guilt-Free Toss pods, which break down at 84% in approximately 500 days (compared to just two percent for conventional coffee pods) and leaves no microplastics behind after complete breakdown.

So even if you’re not one to separate your pods for proper disposal, you can still feel better about the waste you produce with your coffee habit. This is especially good for commercial environments where no one expects anyone to put in the work into recycling pods.

The Bruvi BV-01 offers a remarkable design

Beyond its more realistic approach to eco-friendly pod brewing, the Bruvi BV-01 is an exceptional coffee maker. Its aesthetic is clean and bright, and its display is dynamic and intuitive. Everything about this brewer stands out from the cluttered realm of pod brewers. For starters, its ivory body is beautifully crafted, with smooth, rounded edges that aren’t bulbous or square. It has the vague appearance of a trio of nested kitchen boxes rather than a blocky countertop appliance.

Unboxing the Bruvi, you get an immediate idea of ​​its distinctive character. It comes packaged in a fabric bag suitable for the infuser. If you wanted to take it on a trip, you can save and reuse the bag as a Bruvi tote to take the machine on a trip. (It’s not that the machine is so light that that’s a realistic idea.) The fabric-wrapped extension cord is flexible and sleek, and looks, feels and wraps better than typical plastic-wrapped cords.

Topped with a bamboo lid, the water tank is ergonomically designed and easy to remove for refilling. A grab handle is fashioned into one corner of the tank, making it easy to grab with one hand and carry it to the sink. And since the entire tank is clear, you can see from afar if you need a refill before brewing.

But the star of the show is the 3.5 x 5.5-inch color LED display, which presents clear and obvious options for every part of the experience. Crisp, high-contrast green or white icons illuminate the experience. Need to connect to Wi-Fi? The Wi-Fi icon is white instead of green. Lack of water ? You will see an obvious water icon. Inserted a tea pod? You will see tea options instead of coffee options. Any icon not needed for what you’re doing now disappears so you can make clear choices even if you’re half asleep. Hands down, the Bruvi’s on-screen experience is the smartest I’ve seen on any coffee machine. Just enough information, simply presented, with unequivocal meanings.

Robert Strohmeyer / Foundry

What is the brewing experience with a Bruvi BV-01?

While the mechanics of using the pods are by no means new to the Bruvi, the pods themselves are unique beyond being designed to break down. Like high-end Keurig machines, the Bruvi scans the pod label and adjusts the brew settings for brewing: temperature, brew time, pre-infusion, water bypass, brew bypass temperature, water and contact time. The pod holds up to 40% more coffee than comparable Keurig pods, allowing for more robust brews, and the pod chamber design prevents brewed coffee from touching the inside of the machine, so your coffee does not fit on a shelf. of dried coffee from previous brews as it pours from the pod into your cup.

Robert Strohmeyer / Foundry

With a pod inserted, your options appear on screen. Choose your cup size, whether you want a hotter brew, a stronger brew, a low acid, icy or cold brew, and press start. The machine heats up in five seconds and a surprisingly quiet pump starts brewing your coffee. Small parentheses on either side of the Start icon act as a progress bar throughout the process. Again, compared to any other pod brewer I’ve tested, this machine stands out for its simplicity and attention to detail, although the coffee spitting straight from the pod sometimes sprays a little to the sides, leaving a film around the edges of the cup.

If you are brewing in a travel mug, you can pop out the bamboo-faced drip tray to accommodate a larger mug. I found some of my taller travel mugs still didn’t fit, and also larger coffee mugs designed for tight pressure in horizontal space. While not a spectacle, these moments of disruption in service to the Bruvi design aesthetic slightly undermined the otherwise excellent brewing experience. (In one instance, I ended up brewing in a highball glass and then pouring the coffee into my travel mug from there, which is an inelegant user experience.)

What smart brewing features does the Bruvi BV-01 have?

Other than the Wi-Fi setup, I found Bruvi’s mobile app more of a distraction than a benefit. The on-screen functionality is so simple that I’ve never had to resort to the app to set up a brew. And the machine heats up so fast I can’t imagine needing to schedule a brew. Why bother when you can drop a pod and have coffee in your cup a minute later?

Yet even compared to other smart brewers, the Bruvi’s interface, its diversity of brewing functions, from cold brew to espresso or tea, and its clear and obvious icons make it one of the best smart brewers on the market. The next generation of smart coffee maker designers would do well to learn from this example.

Where can you buy Bruvi B-Pods?

A big problem with the Bruvi is that, unlike K-Cups and Nespresso pods, B-Pods aren’t widely available. As of press time, only Bruvi’s website sells them, and the coffees are mostly small brands you’ve never heard of unless you buy your coffee from niche California roasters. So if you’re looking for a pod brewer that works with Peet’s or Starbucks, this isn’t it.

That said, the coffees provided in my variety pack were flavorful and true to the profile of their types. I found their espressos rich, but just as flat as any other pod-based espresso except the Nespresso ristretto. So while the choices are few and niche, there is a very good coffee in the B-Pod format. It’s just an extra hassle to have to order it by mail.

The basics of the Bruvi BV-01

As a pod brewer, the Bruvi BV-01 is a great machine. Its overall design, heating and stirring speed, and attention to detail are truly top notch. The range of versatile brewing options is excellent and the coffees are delicious. For my own purposes, pod brewers are a tough sell because I just don’t prioritize convenience over control, flavor, and environmental impact. But if I was looking for a pod brewer, the Bruvi BV-01 would be at the top of my list.