Review: Bruvi BV-01 Coffee Brewer

A lot of folks will have you believe that pod-style coffee brewers are the devil, meant only for folks with no taste and even less time. But sometimes you just want a dang cup of coffee and you want it right now! I’m on the hunt to find pod-style coffee brewers worth the space they take up on the counter, and my favorite that I’ve tried so far is the Bruvi BV-01.

I love a French roast or a pour-over as much as the next girl, but sometimes I just want my coffee right now. I’m no stranger to coffee snobbery—throughout my life, I’ve run the gamut of coffee routines, from growing up with an always-on coffee pot of burnt Folgers (and taking my coffee with seven parts cream and 24 parts sugar) to living in a house full of coffee connoisseurs who insist on boiling a kettle full of water and doing a precise 200-degree-Fahreneheit pour-over. I’ve tried the Aeropress, a moka pot, and at-home cold brew. Lately, I’ve taken to using an espresso machine to make less expensive cappuccinos, or just resorted to sipping on an energy drink throughout the morning. But I found myself missing simpler times, when I worked all hours from my apartment kitchen and used a tiny Keurig as my sidekick on my mission to get caffeinated without waiting 15 minutes for my coffee to be ready.

My mom has gone through a ton of Keurig and Nespresso machines, which is part of what inspired me to write an upcoming guide to pod-style coffee brewers. It may not be quite as ritualistic as waiting for grounds to bloom or tamping down espresso, but there’s still something comforting about picking out a pod and brewing a single cup of joe. And I don’t have to wander around my kitchen like an NPC for 20 minutes while I wait for my morning jump start.

Brewer, Meet Counter

The Bruvi BV-01 is cute. It looks sort of like if Ikea made a coffee brewer. It’s available in Black or Cream & Sugar color schemes (I tested the latter). It’s got a sleek, 70-ounce water reservoir and a large, modern touchscreen, and a few of the plastic pieces on the Cream & Sugar model have a wood-look finish. If I’m going to put something on my counter with its very limited space, I want it to look good. This machine does.

I could tell right away that Bruvi paid attention to the details. Unboxing the machine was a breeze—it was wrapped in a Japanese knot bag, and each piece was protected with paper to prevent scratches. The easy-to-understand welcome guide walked me through running a cleaning cycle before brewing my first cup. The machine also comes with a needle-cleaning tool and a water injector. These can help prevent two of the most common problems that pod-style coffee brewers have: a dirty, clogged needle or a dry water pump. I’ve witnessed my mother troubleshoot these exact problems with no fewer than five different pod-style coffee brewers (from other companies), and while I haven’t run into these situations with the Bruvi BV-01, I think it’s a nice touch that the company gives you the tools to take care of the issues if need be.

The attention to detail continues with the brewing process. The Bruvi BV-01 has a built-in trash bin for its B-Pods, with enough space to hold six used pods and a window to show how full it is. The machine is quiet when it operates, ending each brew cycle with a cheery little chime. The touchscreen shows a progress bar during the brew. The drip tray can be readjusted to fit up to a 6.5-inch-tall mug. The inside of the handle even says “Good morning, sunshine” for goodness’ sake. It’s just a cute little appliance that makes me happy every time I see it.

My favorite detail of all? B-Pods (Bruvi’s proprietary coffee pods) are biodegradable. You don’t need to peel off the lid or dump the grounds. You can throw them away in the trash. The plastic is designed for landfill disposal and is infused with enzymes that break the plastic down much faster without leaving microplastics behind—the test is ongoing, but so far, ASTM D5511 tests of the entire B-Pod show 84 percent biodegradation in a landfill environment over 534 days. That’s simply not the case with traditional plastic coffee pods. One minor drawback is that Bruvi B-Pods are only available for purchase online. There are pods for coffee, tea, and espresso, all from local and artisanal brands such as Triple Death Coffee and Saka Matcha. I tried pods from Klatch, Lamill, and a few of the kinds in the variety pack, and they were all tasty.

Coffee, Meet Face

The brewer recognizes each pod and suggests settings for brewing them, though you can adjust as needed. These pods can fall prey to the common pitfalls of this brewing method—a few that I tested were initially weak or flat compared to, say, a pour-over. But choosing the “Stronger” setting helped mitigate the issue and made my coffee taste much better, so now I choose that setting every time. I haven’t touched my espresso machine since trying this brewer out. It’s just too darn convenient. By default, the BV-01 brews solid coffee that’s not too hot to drink. There are never any grounds swirling around at the bottom of my cup, and I haven‘t found any of the B-Pods to be too acidic or too reminiscent of diner coffee.

You can also choose to brew coffee hotter, and there are settings for lower acid, iced coffee, cold brew, and plain hot water (among others). There are settings for 1- to 4-ounce brews (for espresso) and 6 to 12 ounces (for coffee). You can even choose high-altitude mode to ensure that your water won’t accidentally boil. Again, the attention to detail sets this machine far and above other simple brewers. It might look like your average coffee maker, but the BV-01 is anything but.

The machine works quickly. It takes five seconds to heat water and brews cups back-to-back in about one minute per cup. After spending many a Christmas morning groggily standing at my mom’s Keurig waiting for it to heat up so we can all get our coffee fix, the ability to brew cups in quick succession with the Bruvi is one blessing that I won’t take for granted.

And finally, because of course, there’s a smartphone app. It’s pretty simple, with a brew history, descaling alerts, and the ability to quickly order B-Pods. But I liked that you can use the app to schedule or start brewing up to 36 hours in advance. The app mimics the touchscreen on the brewer itself—you can choose from the same settings—and you can schedule it to brew up a cup at a chosen time. I don’t find myself using it often since it takes less than two minutes to make myself a cup of coffee, but it’s a nice feature that some folks might like.

One thing to note is that once the Bruvi needs to be descaled, you will eventually have to descale it in order to use it. After about 220 B-Pods have been used, the Americano and 1-ounce buttons on the touchscreen will blink. That means you need to descale the machine soon. You can override the alert and brew about 5 more liters (or 20 B-Pods), but afterward the brewer will no longer work until you complete a descaling cycle. That makes sense considering how descaling preserves the machine (and makes your coffee taste better), but if it’ll annoy you and you want to run your coffee machine of choice into the ground as is your god-given right, this brewer isn’t for you.

Another thing to factor in is the price of B-Pods. They can be cheaper with subscriptions or if you buy in bulk, but even on sale, most of the best-selling pods I found factored out to be around a dollar per pod. That’s less than the pods for higher-end machines like the xBloom (7/10, WIRED Review) but more expensive than Keurig’s K-Cups. But to me, the trade-off for biodegradable pods is worthwhile, and so is the pure speed of this brewing method.

The only other annoyance I found is that the drip tray fills up quickly. That’s because the Bruvi BV-01 spurts a little bit of water out once you dispose of a B-Pod into the waste bin (which I do after every brew). Of course, the reason for this is to ensure that the needle is clean and that your coffee tastes good, so I can’t really be angry about it.

All in all, the Bruvi BV-01 is a precise, great-looking brewer that makes a good, strong cup of coffee in under a minute and a half. If you, like me, sometimes just want your caffeine fix without needing to deal with a kettle and a coffee grinder and a coffee filter and goodness knows what else, this is the machine you’re looking for. (But you can’t have mine because it’s staying on my counter. Sorry, Instant Pot, but you’ve been demoted.)