The Uber Boiler is part of Marco’s “UBER PROJECT“, a continuous endeavor to pursue the very best in coffee equipment. Whereas typical products go through the standard product development cycle – research, concept, develop, test, and launch – the Uber Project inherently loops itself indefinitely. As we speak, Marco has the next generation in development.
Marco is a small Irish company specializing in the design, manufacture, and sale of hot water beverage systems, primarily for filter coffee brewing and tea infusion. It is heavily focused on R&D and involved with SCAE and its Gold Cup program. The Uber Project currently has two products – the Uber Boiler and the Uber Grinder.
What is the Uber Boiler?
The Uber Boiler is a precise hot water delivery system designed to deliver exact volumes of water at exact temperatures to meet the needs of cup by cup tea infusion and coffee brewing. To brew coffee correctly, there are essential guides; in particular, the barista must have the right water to coffee ratio and the right brewing temperature. The Uber Boiler gives the barista control to manage these important parameters. It is designed for single cup manual brewing, cupping, and other small quantity precision hot water needs.
The Uber Boiler was born out of a collaboration between Marco and WBC champions James Hoffman and Stephen Morrissey. It was prominently featured as the only coffee equipment at Square Mile’s brewed coffee-only cafe, Penny University.
The Uber Boiler has attracted some attention in the USA and several units are now in use across the country, including at Counter Culture, Intelligentsia, and Stumptown. At Stumptown’s new brew bar at their Red Hook roastery in Brooklyn, they’re following a similar format as Penny University – no espresso, brewed coffee only. Quite fitting, as the idea is to showcase the variety and origins of coffees they offer.
How the Uber Boiler works:
The Uber Boiler has four main components: the font (the gooseneck) & nozzle, scale & drain, user/programming interface, and a 6 liter, 2800W boiler.
- Set the desired water temperature. The Uber Boiler is accurate to 0.1 degrees Celcius.
- Place the brewing device with coffee on the scale and tare it.
- Press the “boost” button. This circulates boiler temperature water throughout the font, in order to ensure zero heat loss along the line of travel out of the boiler. Under the boost mode, the system locks out any cold, fresh water from entering the boiler. This is important to preserve the temperature integrity of the entire system to eliminate any deviation from the set point.
- Dispense with the side mounted dial for variable flow rate. Use nozzle handle to direct water direction. During usage, the scale automatically tracks amount of water dispensed by weight in grams. Stop when the desired portion is dispensed.
- Once the coffee is brewed, any waste water can be poured directly onto the scale/drain. Press “prime” button to turn off boost mode and allow the boiler to “prime” by refilling and reheating with incoming cold water.
Pros:
- Incredible temperature accuracy
- Unparalleled temperature stability
- Undercounter design; minimal obstruction between barista and customer
- Comprehensive barista interface for everything needed for manual brew
- No kettles needed!
- Accommodates all types of manual brew methods
- Great for coffee cuppings
Cons:
- Temperature stability only lasts up to the boiler capacity (6 liters), after which you must turn off the boost mode and allow the boiler to refill with cold water. During this filling and heating cycle, the system will lock the user out from dispensing any hot water.
- If the barista has used all 6 liters of hot water in one use, the refilling/reheating cycle and lock out may last up to 14 minutes (with a 2800W heating element)
- Designed for single cup brewing; not t for filling up 4 one liter press pots at time
Conclusion:
The Uber Boiler is a precise instrument, build around a specific set of usage parameters, and doesn’t deviate much from that. The Uber Boiler may be right for you if you:
- Want to focus on and prominently showcase quality, single cup brewing
- Have small quantity, precision hot water needs
- Have an alternate hot water dispenser if you have large volume hot water applications e.g. multiple press pots, rinsing, etc.
- Have the undercounter space
Should your brewing needs fall outside of this, definitely check out Marco’s other hot water dispensers – the Ecoboiler and Ecosmart. They are more temperature stable, precise, and energy efficient than the typical hot water towers.
As a company that strongly values R&D and market feedback, Marco continues to work on new products based on technologies and lessons learned from the Uber Boiler. Stay tuned for new developments on the Uber Boiler or other new products Marco may introduce.
