Recently I had an opportunity to test a couple of new coffee brewers released to compete with those most popular and appreciated ones. Although the results had been quite satisfactory most of the times, it was pretty fair to conclude: alright, yet another gadget.
Design
And then I laid my hands on The Gabi Master A, the device that I fell in love with at first extraction. What makes this Korean dripper special?
The Gabi consists of four plastic parts:
- a stand – to put the device on a server
- a brewing chamber – similar to Kalita Wave
- two conical parts forming an hourglass-looking water dispenser
This is the last component that makes Gabi worth the whistle. The very simple and logical paradigm of brewing has beenreplicated from the modern batch brewers and applied here. The lower part of the dispenser is a precise shower screen. The upper part is a 150 ml vessel to pour hot water into. It drains slowly to split up into sixteen even streams. Each stream falls consistently into a different part of the puck. It all means… a hyper-even extraction!
The manufacturer recommends different sorts of infusions, suggesting some adequate recipes based on given ratios. This allows the brewer to gain the whole range of extractions and concentrations with a confidence of performing an insanely even process of ringing the deliciousness. Therefore, The Gabioffersendlesspossibilitiesto play with. Filters? One can buy dedicated paper filters provided by the manufacturer or utilize Kalita Wave filters as well. It works!
Tasting – testing!
I’ve decided to use three coffees that had performed the best during a blind cupping session. A Kenyan Nyeri roasted by CzarnaFala. Washed Ethiopian Duromina and Colombian Huila Bruselito roasted by Audun Sorbotten.
I’ve started with a smaller ratio than usually, 15 grams of coffee to 200 grams of water, and went for a relatively fine grind – slightly finer than bagged sugar. I have become a Gabi enthusiast immediately! All the extractions were high, above 21%. The brewing time was around 3:30, which is slightly longer than I’m used to while using pour overs. Distinctive because of the higher concentration and viscosity, the brews were characterized by an insane sweetness, fullness and roundness. The coffees tasted like a big, fruity, colourful, closed hoop. The recipe:
- rinse the filter and put 15 grams of coffee
- heat water to 94-97 Celsius and pour 50 grams of preinfusion
- stir the puck evenly and quickly to wet all the grinds
- after 30-40 seconds put the hourglass on top and pour 150 grams of remaining water into it
- wait until around 3:30 and… done!
The first thing you see after removing the water dispenser is a nicely and beautifully extracted puck. No grinds left anywhere, no disparity, just a flat, compact surface. A romantic landscape for a coffee geek.
The next thing I’ve done was trying other grind levels and bigger water doses keeping the same coffee dose. The brewing technique was the same. It’s worth pointing out that the upper vessel has a 150 ml capacity, so if there’s a need to use more water, one has to split the dose into two or even three portions. As expected, the brews were less concentrated, offering even more nuances and hidden tastes. Regardless of the ratio, the ultimate factor for all infusions was the sweetness – clear, full, original and sticky. All extraction times were between 3 and 4 minutes.
Universal
Summing up, The Gabi Master A is a universal, all-purpose device.
Not only the taste characteristics, but also a perfect consistency of brewing will make it a nice choice for quality-focused coffeeshops with a single-serve handbrew on the menu.
As a toy for home baristas, it will provide hours of fun and experiments besides just a tasty and easy to make cup of coffee.
Finally, it feels like it’s purposely designed for barista competitors. Take the Brewers Cup for instance. The Gabi Master A provides not only even and consistent extractions, but also guarantees one of the most valuable resources when competing – time! It allows you to focus on everything but it. Take a look at MaciekDuszak who used The Gabi to become a Polish Brewers Cup Champion in 2017.
There are plenty of coffee gadget releases nowadays. I’m honestly happy that we finally have a top-notch, first-class product among them. Hats off!
