A Smart Way to Brew – Review Geek

Making coffee at home is faster than getting it from a cafe, but it takes effort. The Spinn Pro Wi-Fi coffee maker eliminates most of the work involved, from grinding to brewing, while offering dozens of drink choices. It was easier to use than a Keurig and delivered a much better cup of coffee.

What Makes Spinn Pro a Smart Coffee Maker?

• Total weight: 18.3lbs (8.3kg)
• Dimensions: 13.5 x 14 x 8.5in (34.3 x 35.6 x 21.6cm)
• Bean capacity: 18oz (0.5L)
• Water capacity: 40oz (1.2L)
• Finest grind: 0.01in
• Stainless steel burrs: 1.6in diameter

My daily routine for making coffee includes filling an electric kettle and letting it heat up, stacking a Hario V60 dripper with a filter on top of a small carafe, and adding a scoop of coffee grounds to it before I pour the heated water on it.

The whole process can be measured in minutes, and the entire setup costs less than $100. Still, day after day, it can become a little tedious. When I tried the smart Spinn Pro coffee maker, I was looking to see if it could simplify my morning cup of coffee even more and bring in more freshness. My biggest regret is that I only grind beans on a weekly basis instead of daily.

There are plenty of multipurpose coffee machines, but Spinn Pro incorporates a grinder, water reservoir, and Wi-Fi connectivity so that nearly every part of the brewing process is automated and integrated. The machine grinds the beans and brews the coffee in one fluid motion.

Because all the pieces are integrated, having Wi-Fi on the coffee maker means that the Spinn app (available for iPhone/iPad and Android) is an on-demand button for getting a cup of coffee whenever you want it. The company also tries to encourage buying your coffee beans on a schedule and having them delivered automatically through its marketplace for the complete experience.

Spinn Pro Coffee Maker In Action

The Spinn Pro coffee maker comes mostly assembled. It’s a decent size at 13.5 x 14 x 8.5 inches, but considering it includes a water tank with a water filter and a burr grinder, it’s relatively compact. It should take up less counter space than having all the separate coffee pieces out together. It was at least tidier looking.

Because the Spinn Pro machine came pre-assembled, it did seem like a mystery box, with secret compartments to uncover. The drip tray pulls out, and above that, there’s a hidden catchall for the discarded grounds. On the back of the unit, the water reservoir is stealthily held on by a hinge and magnets. On top of the unit is where all the coffee beans sit before the grinder automatically pulls in as many as it needs for the current drink selection.

A mobile app (available for iPhone/iPad and Android) is used to walk through the setup process and then can be used to configure the machine’s settings. There are touch-sensitive buttons on the Spinn Pro machine for use without an app, but those do need to be configured from a mobile device.

Once it’s set up and you’re ready to start making coffee, you can use the Spinn app to scan a bag of coffee beans so that it knows what it’s working with. It worked perfectly when I used the feature.

There’s no built-in milk compartment to this machine, but Spinn does sell a separate frother to expand the drink choices you can create even further. Even without the addition of the frother, I was impressed at the nuanced drink selection the app offered, such as a distinction between pour-over and brewed coffee. I was even more impressed that the pour-over coffee was a bit smoother and less acidic. It tasted remarkably close to the coffee I normally make. Similarly, it did a great job replicating a smooth-tasting nitro cold brew drink.

After the first three days of use, I encountered a problem where the app wouldn’t let me remotely start brewing a cup of coffee. When I got downstairs and pushed the main button for it to figure out the issue, it turned out that it was out of water. I refilled the tank, and everything went back to normal.

I tried a range of drinks, including espresso, americano, cold brew, nitro cold brew, and pour-over. All tasted fresh and authentic. They didn’t seem like they were all made by the same general-purpose machine, that is. The range of choices also got me to branch out for my morning cup of coffee. Instead of only making the kind of drink I had the gear for, I was freer to choose different drinks depending on the day’s weather or how groggy I felt in the morning.

The Limitations of the Spinn Wi-Fi Coffee Maker

For the most part, the Spinn Pro machine automates everything it can reasonably. It even comes with a tube to hook up directly to a water source so you could bypass needing to refill the reservoir regularly. Really, the only thing a human needs to do consistently is to ensure there’s a cup underneath the spout. Short of that, the machine can be attended to at a more leisurely pace.

If I were wishing for features, my next logical integration request would be a charger for an Ember self-heating coffee mug on the drip tray so the mug could be fully charged in the morning. But that’s probably wishful thinking.

Still, there are a few limitations of the Spinn Pro coffee maker that potential buyers should be aware of. The most glaring missing feature for me was scheduled brewing. Waking up and pushing a button to start brewing a cup of coffee from my bed was nice, but I kept wondering why I had to do that when it could just be set on a schedule. That feature could be added in the future via a software update, however.

Note: Spinn also offers an Amazon Alexa integration, so you can ask an Echo speaker to make you your favorite style of coffee without needing to take out your phone or pressing any buttons.

And as automated as Spinn Pro is, it still requires maintenance. The drip tray can hold a decent amount of liquid, but it should probably be emptied daily to be safe. The coffee grounds catchall will also need to be emptied and cleaned regularly. The water filter will need to be replaced, too, but with much less frequency.

While coffee-making was essentially hands-free, the Spinn Pro coffee maker wasn’t a completely hands-off machine. It did require attention from time to time. The nice thing is that it can mostly be on your time frame rather than its timing.

Should You Buy the Spinn Coffee Maker?

I loved my time with the Spinn coffee maker. It fulfilled the promise of a Wi-Fi-connected, smart home product. If you don’t know how to make a specific type of coffee, don’t want to take the time to do it, or don’t have all the gear to make different types of coffee, Spinn Pro solves those issues.

Spinn’s downfall is its price. There are plenty of ways to justify its cost—I can think of several off the top of my head—but no matter how you look at it, it’s expensive. At the end of the day, a coffee maker that retails for $999 is purely an investment in convenience. At the time of review, the Spinn Pro coffee maker in the silver color was on sale for $799. Also, the Pro indicator here does make me hopeful we’ll see a less expensive “regular” version at some point.

If spending less time making coffee—fresh, good-tasting coffee at that—is what you’re searching for, then Spinn Pro is it. It’s a machine that delivered on its promise of an all-in-one machine. But most likely, Spinn is a luxury that is still out of reach for most people’s budgets.