Disclosure: I received free product in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was received. The thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.
Some of you may have caught me sharing this before, but I have only been a regular coffee drinker for a little over a year. Why did it take me so long to enjoy it? The bitter taste was a real drawback for me. If you don’t like the bitter taste like me, Remington’s iCoffee may help turn you on to coffee.
The iCoffee features the following:
- Water Reservoir – 12 cup capacity
- Rotational Steam Brewing – extracts the most exquisite coffee flavors
- Steam and Hot Water Jets – 6 jets steam and stir your favorite coffee producing an exquisite coffee crema
- Premium Goldtone Filter – saves money with no paper filters ever to be used
- Programmable Auto Start – 24 hour programmable
- SteamBrew™ with Viewing Window – watch your favorite coffee being steamed and stirred producing deliciously exquisite coffee crema
- Automatic Shut Off – 2 hour keep warm function
- BPA Free
The “i” in iCoffee stands for innovation. Bruce Burrows, founder and CEO of iCoffee by Remington worked 7 years on this product and went through over 1,257 prototypes to perfect it. iCoffee uses patented SteamBrew™ Technology to release the locked in flavors of the grounds that is typically left behind. It works on a similar concept as it would be for steaming rice and vegetables. A little steam may be seen escaping from the lid during the brewing process and that is okay.
This machine has six jets that first pre-steam the grounds. Then it stirs the coffee during the brewing process so the grounds are suspended and surrounded by the hot water. Conventional brewers often compact the grounds.
You can watch the process take place through a viewing window on the front side of the goldtone filter (pictured below). This filter can be rinsed with water or even placed on the top rack in the dishwasher for cleaning after the grounds have been tapped out over the trash container.
Since this new technology truly utilizes the flavors of the coffee grounds, you might need to initially play with your usual grounds to water ratio to master your perfect cup. The recommendation for that first pot is following the amount printed on the container of a medium to coarse ground coffee per cup. You can then adjust by increasing/decreasing the amount of grounds used. The coffee crema can be seen in the viewing window when brewing. By the time the crema has made it to the carafe, the bubbles have popped, but it still leaves you with the smooth flavor.
This machine comes with a 2 hour shut off. The longer the coffee sits on the plate, the stronger it becomes due to some of the water evaporating out. You can reheat your cup of coffee after that length of time in the microwave.
There is also an optional filter included that sits on the lip of the carafe. With normal brewing, you may notice fine sediment or “coffee essence” as it is termed in your cup and carafe. It is normal to see, but you can use this optional filter to remove more of the finely extracted coffee essence. My one recommendation with using the optional filter is that you remove it before pouring the coffee in your cup. I have noticed run over from the corners of the lid or even through the hole where the coffee drips down into the carafe so I find it easier to pour after it has been removed. To clean the optional filter, simply remove and rinse thoroughly with water.
Since I am kind of a short-term regular coffee drinker, I did pack up the Remington iCoffee one day and brought it with to a scrapbooking day out. Some of my friends attending had experienced the joys of coffee for several years. We tried the same coffee grounds in a regular drip style coffee pot and then also the same ratio in the iCoffee. First off, my friends thought the sound effects were cute (plays a short Mozart tune after you hit power button and at the end of brewing, which can be turned off). They did agree that their was more flavor and it was smoother than how it tasted in comparison from a drip style. I know some people enjoy the taste of coffee, but have given it up because they can’t handle the acidity. Maybe this would allow them to drink coffee again with the SteamBrew™ Technology virtually eliminating the acidic oils.
Now I hardly ever make product review videos, but if you would like to see the Remington iCoffee running in my home, I have included a video below. I did tape the entire brewing cycle so you can skip over the wait if you so prefer.
The technology of iCoffee is pretty cool. Not only does it do all that I have already shared, but can also sense and tell you things. The display can notify you if you leave the lid open and when you need to add water. 🙂
To learn more about Remington iCoffee, please visit http://icoffee.com/. This product has a suggested retail of $199.95 and comes with a limited one year warranty.
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