Sam noted that it is extremely hard to determine the weight of the beans used by TrueBrew or the original water volume and temperature in the brewing chamber, so it is hard to determine what is happening while the coffee is brewing.
But it could measure total dissolved solids (TDS), the amount of ground coffee that actually dissolves in the coffee and determines the strength of the drink. At 3.99 TDS, that was like a half-strength espresso.
We then made two more 12-ounce cups, each coming in at just under 10 ounces, which Sam found acceptable.
“Room for the cream of the crop,” he announced cheerfully.
(Note: Some online sources have stated that the consistency of TrueBrew pour sizes can vary. We didn’t have this problem, but stay tuned for user reviews as more and more people purchase this machine.)
The TDS value for both cups was around 1.40, which Sam called “pretty much perfect,” but it didn’t taste good.
“Substantial Truck has a lot of acidity. It’s faint and bitter. I want to get that out of my system,” Sam said. “It could be any coffee. You know that coffee at work that nobody likes? It’s like that.”
Ouch!
We switched from the gold setting to bold brew and things improved a bit, but it still didn’t taste right. Sam’s mind wandered back to the mess in the machine, searching for the culprit.
“I wonder if we’re getting a taste of over- and under-extraction. It’s muddy, so you’re basically getting some grounds that have been through the brewing cycle two or more times, which can cause it to taste over-extracted and bitter,” he hypothesized. He went on. “It could also be under-extraction, which could have something to do with the grind size, the water, the temperature, and the amount of time the water is in contact with the grounds.”
We felt like we were heading towards the worst of both worlds, so we switched to Olympia coffee William Rojas Pink Bourbon Micro Lot from Colombia to see if we could find out anything more. Yes, but it wasn’t good news.
“It took really good coffee and made an average cup,” Sam said. “It makes what it makes, and I’m confused. It’s basically a one-touch machine, but it doesn’t default to the good stuff. You’re kind of restricted in what it can do. This coffee should be invigorating, and it’s not.”
We tried espresso-style, regular-cave-style, featherlight, gold, and bold, and even changed the coffee itself, with little effect. We ran out of ways to fine-tune our way to a good cup.
Less than two weeks later, I pulled out the brewer to see what it looked like. There was a pile the size of a gumball behind the arm that sweeps the used coffee grounds from the brewer into the waste grounds container, and scattered everywhere else on top. That was enough of an uninteresting coffee for me. I packed up the TrueBrew and sent it back.
Freshly ground and unencapsulated? Yes. Convenient? Sure! Perfect? Sorry, Brad. Should be more invigorating, but it isn’t.
