Disclosure: Pull & Pour received coffee samples for this post, however, as always, all opinions are 100% my own.
About the One Brew
The OneBrew is an immersion brew method from Barista&Co, which is part of their Made Simple collection. It is a French Press style brewer that works equally well for coffee and tea (though we’ll be focusing on the coffee side of things here).
First Impressions and Unboxing of the OneBrew
The OneBrew sits securely in a beautifully designed box with bold graphics and details about how to brew with it. Upon removing all of the packaging, I was surprised most by the size of the OneBrew. It is much smaller than other French Press brewers I’ve seen and definitely is a single-serve portion. I was also immediately impressed by the quality of the materials. It consists of a glass container, a silicone base and metal filter—all of which appeared to be high-quality.
The First Brew
I followed Barista&Co’s directions of adding 15 grams of coffee for the first brew. Filling the water to the fill line led to adding 300 grams of water and a 1:20 ratio. The final coffee ended up a bit weaker than my preference, but the overall process of making the coffee couldn’t have been much easier.
Cost
The retail price for the OneBrew is £21.99 (which comes to around $26.75 currently). This seems right in line with (and maybe a little cheaper than) other single-serve brew methods I have. As with all French Press brewers it does not require additional filters, so the only additional cost would be the coffee.
Quality
The product is clearly well made. The container is made of glass, but also has a silicon base to protect it from chipping or sliding on hard counters. The ultra-fine stainless-steel filter does a great job filtering out sediment while still being super easy to clean. The top is made of plastic, but is well-crafted and looks really nice.
Ease of Use
Immersion brew methods are usually a bit easier to use than pour-over style brewers, but the OneBrew was especially easy to use. You add the coffee, pour the water to the fill line, wait 4 minutes, slowly pour it out and that’s it. Once you figure out the amount of coffee that is right for your taste, it can really be a thoughtless process.
The other piece that makes the OneBrew super easy to use is the cleaning. It is dishwasher safe, but also is incredibly easy to rinse out after each brew.
Durability
While the OneBrew is well-built, the main container is made of glass, which makes durability an issue. The silicon base helps, but if dropped, I could definitely see it breaking.
The metal filter also concerned me initially because I’ve seen them bend or pop out on other products. The filter seems thick and secured tightly into the lid though, so I don’t think that will be an issue here.
Appearance
As with all of their products, the OneBrew is minimal, yet elegant. The glass and matte black plastic & silicon work great together to create a really attractive piece of brewing equipment.
Value
The OneBrew is a bit more expensive than other French Press style brewers and does have a smaller capacity than most. That said, it has some added value in the quality of its materials, overall design and ease to clean that do make it a pretty good value.
Brewing with the OneBrew
The next four areas focus on the actual brewing process with the OneBrew and the quality of the final result—the coffee that you drink. The OneBrew offers three brew styles including:
- French Press style coffee
- Cold Brew coffee
- Tea
I’ll focus on the two coffee brew methods. Below is an overview of each:
French Press Style Coffee
- Add 18 grams1 of coarsely ground coffee to the OneBrew
- Slowly add 200-205° F (93-96° C) water to fill line (making a 1:16 ratio). Ideally stop one quarter of the way through and agitate the grounds.
- Stir the mixture once all of the water has been added.
- Allow to brew for 4 minutes.
- Pour coffee slowly through filter lid into a cup. Leave the last bit of coffee at the bottom of the brewer to reduce the amount of sediment in the coffee.
1 Barista&Co recommends only 15 grams, but that came to a 1:20 ratio, which was too weak for me.
Cold Brew Coffee
- Add 35 grams of coarsely ground coffee to the OneBrew
- Slowly add cool water to the fill line (making a 1:8 ratio). Make sure all of the grounds are fully submerged.
- Stir the mixture once all of the water has been added.
- Allow to the coffee to sit for 12-24 hours.
- Fill a cup with ice and slowly pour coffee through filter lid into the cup. Leave the last bit of coffee at the bottom of the brewer to reduce the amount of sediment in the coffee.
- Enjoy straight or dilute with milk/water to your desired strength.
Brew Speed
Like other traditional, French Press style brew methods, the OneBrew takes about 4 minutes (of mostly inactive time) to brew. Unlike pour over methods, you don’t have to constantly pour water over the grounds for the 3-4 minute brew.
The cold brew method overall takes a quite a bit longer, but again, it is all inactive time. There is only a few minutes of active time while brewing.
The setup and clean up time for each method is very quick as well, which quickens the overall brew speed as well.
Coffee Quality
In general I prefer pour over brew methods to immersion brew methods like the OneBrew. I was very impressed with the quality of immersion-style coffee the OneBrew could produce though. The filter and pour lid helps keep out a lot of the sedimentation that I usually don’t like in a French Press brew. Once I refined the coffee to water ratio, I found the OneBrew made as good of French Press style coffee as I have ever had.
Differentiation
While I think the OneBrew has some nice additional design features, at the end of the day, it is very similar to other French Press coffee makers. The biggest differentiation for me is the size. It is much smaller than other French Press coffee makers I have had, which makes it perfect for single servings.
Flexibility
The OneBrew does a nice job of being flexible with the type of coffee you make. The French Press Style and cold brew styles are very different types of coffee and equally as easy to make with the OneBrew. It also allows you to easily adjust the strength of the coffee based on the amount of grounds you add and the time you allow it to brew.
One extra level of flexibility is that it also allows you to brew tea, which is a nice added bonus.
The Bottom Line
The OneBew is a well-designed, easy to use brew method that offers a lot of flexibility. It has become my personal go-to way to make cold brew. I used to make it in a mason jar but filtering it out was always messy. Now with the OneBrew, it makes the perfect single-serve amount for me and doesn’t require additional filters.
In general, I think the OneBrew is a great buy if:
- You make coffee for only yourself. The OneBrew is really only a single-serve coffee maker, so if you need to make coffee for more than one person, it wouldn’t be best.
- You like immersion-style coffee. While it can also make cold brew, the OneBrew is first and foremost a French Press style, immersion brewer.
- You like tea, as well as coffee. While this review doesn’t focus on it, the OneBrew can brew tea, so it would be a great dual-purpose brewer if you like make coffee and tea.
