Uniform Brewing Solution for the Breville Precision and Luxe Brewer

The catalyst for our Uniform Brewing Solutions product line was our desire to transform an existing good product into a great product.  That initial product was the Breville Precision Brewer, which has been updated and rebranded as the Breville Luxe Brewer.  For years, the Breville Precision Brewer has been the drip coffee maker (batch brewer) that we have most often recommended for home and small cafe use and the one we have brought to countless farmer’s markets.  That recommendation has always come with a qualification regarding workaround methods to address the brewers’ poor showerhead design.  The problem is that the stock shower head sprays water only onto the center of the bed of coffee and the rest of the ground coffee is wetted only as the basket fills with water.  This often results in dry pockets of ground coffee that do not get extracted, the center of the ground coffee being over-extracted, and the rest being under-extracted.  In other words, it results in an uneven extraction and inconsistent flavors from batch to batch.  

Our solution to this problem was to create a food-safe water dispersion device that fits inside the filter basket, which provides a more uniform water flow across the bed of coffee at a consistent flow rate.  The result is simple, repeatable, consistently great tasting coffee.  The device is designed to be used only in the flat bottom filter basket and rests in the notches where the cone-shaped filter basket would be inserted.   

For those interested in extraction data, below you fill find a summary of the results of lots of testing of the brewer with and without the Uniform Brewing Solutions water dispersion device.  To measure the total dissolved solids (TDS) in the brewed coffee, we used an Atago PAL-COFFEE (TDS) refractometer.  Please understand that refractometer readings are not uniform and this data should only be understood to convey broad principles regarding the differences in extraction.      

Stock Brewer 
Average TDS: 0.94
Average extraction yield: 12.5%

Uniform Brewing Solutions 
Average TDS: 1.6
Average extraction yield: 19.5%

That is over a 50% increase in extraction from the stock brewer.  One thing we want to be clear about is that we are not suggesting that higher extractions necessarily mean better tasting coffee.  It doesn’t.  Consistently great tasting coffee is our ultimate goal—not high extractions.  In other words, extraction is a means to an end and not the end itself.  While the trend in the past five years has been chasing brewing methods resulting in extractions well above 20%, we often prefer extractions in the range of 18-21% depending on the particular coffee being brewed.  Taste is subjective.  Our position on this topic is that your brewing equipment ought not to be the limiting factor on your ability to reach higher extractions and, most importantly, your ability to properly extract the coffee.  With the Uniform Brewing Solutions water dispersion device, you are capable of reaching high extractions. Should you determine that the coffee tastes better at a lower extraction, you can always adjust your brewing variables to lower the extraction.  Our opinion is that this is a game changer for the Breville Precision Brewer and the Luxe Brewer.  We consistently find that Uniform Brewing Solutions water dispersion device produces coffee is that is sweeter, more balanced, and more full-bodied.  

The water dispersion device is made from injection molded medical-grade Polypropylene.  It was injection molded by David Eberhart with Dragonfly Engineering in California.  If you are interesting in the injection molding process of this product, David documented the process in his YouTube channel.  I have included links below.