US innovator Get It Right (GIR) – the brand behind a previously crowdfunded range of silicone kitchen utensils and geometric lids – has unveiled a smart coffee grinder that, among other features, delivers real-time information to your smartphone about the amount of coffee remaining.
With a patent-pending IoT-connected sensor array, the Voltaire grinder not only tells you when you’re running low on coffee beans, but also goes the extra step: the result of a year’s worth of product development, the gadget learns to detect the freshness of the beans and can automatically replenish when you need more.
The attractive design will turn heads in an otherwise boring consumer category, with ceramic conical burrs, a stepless grind adjustment and zero-waste direct bean drop. It’s also portable, featuring high-performance LiFePo4 batteries that hold power for weeks on end and allow the user to make great coffee wherever they are.
Each GIR Grinder will be available for “under $200”.
GIR CEO Samantha Rose said: “The GIR Grinder started life as a hardware side project to make a battery-operated coffee grinder. But true to our name, we couldn’t stop there. What others might call scope creep, we like to think of as ‘getting it right’. The grinder itself is great. It’s beautiful, portable, and has a lot of features that hardcore coffee geeks (ourselves included) will love. But what really makes it fly is the freshness-sensing technology. It’s such a letdown to make an espresso or pour-over at home and have it come out tasting stale. Our platform lets you know how fresh your beans are and when to order more. Armed with these two things – fresh beans and a great grinder – you can make awesome coffee anywhere.”
The company will return to Kickstarter later this month, seeking $100,000 to finance tooling for the grinder components, an initial production run and refinement of the freshness-sensing platform, which includes several sensors and a machine learning algorithm that establishes user preferences over time.
The campaign will run until 8 August.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024