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Beanque 3-in-1 Coffee Maker Hands-On Review

The Beanque is a bean-to-cup coffee maker advertised as being ultra-portable and delivering "superior coffee". With USB Type-C charging, a conical ceramic burr grinder, a double-wallled filter, a measuring jug and a travel mug, then Beanque should represent good value for money at US$49. Its ergonomics let it down, in our opinion.

Pitched as a bean-to-cup solution for people on-the-go, the Beanque is a 3-in-1 coffee maker that integrates a conical ceramic burr grinder, a double-wallled filter, a measuring jug and and a travel mug. Having amassed over US$25,000 in funding on Kickstarter, Beanque hopes to ship units to backers in July 2020. In advance of this, we have been testing the Beanque for a few weeks to see whether it is as useful or capable as the company claims it to be.

Our experiences with the Beanque are based on a prototype unit that Beanque sent to us free of charge. All opinions are our own and Beanque did not get a say on the final copy.

Beanque Beanque 3-in-1 Coffee Maker
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 228 x 87 x ( = 8.98 x 3.43 x 0 in)
Battery
1200 mAh, 3.7 V
Additional features
Charging cable, brush, manual
Weight
500 g ( = 17.64 oz / 1.1 pounds) ( = 0 oz / 0 pounds)
Price
98 US$
Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

 

Case - Cheap, cumbersome and compact

The Beanque comprises four elements: the burr grinder, the double-walled filter, a measuring jug and a travel mug. All stack together neatly and securely, with the mug and grinder screwing together. The jug simply fits over the mug, with the latter's silicone bottom keeping them in place.

At 228 x 87 mm at its widest point, the Beanque feels rather large in our hands. While it only weighs 500 g, most of that weight is in the grinder. As such, the Beanque feels a little top heavy too. Nonetheless, the built-in handle makes the Beanque easy to carry around.

With that said, the fit and finish of our prototype is lacking for something said to retail for almost US$100. The grinder has a cheap plastic exterior, which also applies to the filter and handle that doubles as a lid. The cup feels sturdier, but the same cannot be said for the measuring cup. The latter inclues a small circular outlet through which you are supposed to pour water. In our experience though, water would end up spilling over the sides as we tried to pour it through the outlet.

Overall, the Beanque feels and looks cheap. However, the unit does include four parts, so we imagine Beanque had to cut costs somewhere.

Connectivity & Battery Life - USB Type-C charging, but not with our prototype

Beanque states that its eponymously-named unit features a 1,200 mAh battery and USB Type-C charging. While we can confirm the former having taken our unit apart, it has microUSB charging instead. Beanque has confirmed that final units will have USB Type-C charging, though.

The unit also has an LED indicator to let you know when it is switched on and in use or when it is charging. Beanque claims that the grinder should taken two minutes to grind a cup's worth of coffee and up to 20 times before it needs recharging. By our standards, this should mean that the Beanque lasts up to forty minutes per charge. According to the spec sheet, the Beanque's 1,200 mAh battery should be fully recharged in 30 minutes, although the company does not include a power brick in the box.

In our experience, the Beanque takes well over 5 minutes to grind 18 g of coffee. Additionally, it cannot grind a second 18 g before it needs recharging. The discrepancy in battery life between Beanque's estimates and ours could be because we have a prototype unit. However, we are unsure what else Beanque has changed with final units besides switching to USB Type-C charging. Nonetheless, the Beanque does not last up to 20 grinds before it needs recharging, in our experience.

Features - Ultra-fine grind but awkward to use

With that said, the Beanque can grind finely. From our time with a prototype, the grindrer grinds consistently too. However, the process of grinding and brewing is not as easy as it should be.

Beanque recommends grinding into the filter, which grips onto the sides of the travel mug. The travel mug holds over 180 ml of liquid, but the design of the filter means that the mug cannot hold more than 65 ml of liquid before it grazes the bottom of the filter.

Additionally, there is the question of where to store hot water when on-the-move. Beanque claims that the travel mug can keep liquids warm for 10-12 hours, but sealing the mug means carrying the measuring jug, filter and grinder separately. In short, keeping the Beanque as one combined unit requires you to have access to hot water whenever and wherever you want to make a coffee. While this would not be a problem when working from home or in the office, it would make the Beanque difficult to use when camping, an activity for which Beanque advertises the device as being well-suited.

As we mentioned earlier, our unit is slower than advertised. Likewise, the measuring jug is poorly designed. Overall, the Beanque is not as simple to use as it claims to be, nor does it last as long either.

Separately, there is no way to clean the inside of the Beanque without disassembling it. A minor quibble perhaps, but we would have appreciated the ability to clean the grinder.

Pros

+ cheap crowdfunding price
+ ceramic burr grinder
+ USB Type-C charging (on final models)
+ adjustable grind size
+ compact
+ 3-in-1 unit

Cons

- expensive retail price
- poor battery life
- no way to store hot water as a complete unit
- cannot be charged while grinding

Verdict - A mixed bag, but good value at US$49

The Beanque 3-in-1 coffee maker hands-on review. Test device courtesy of Beanque.
The Beanque 3-in-1 coffee maker hands-on review. Test device courtesy of Beanque.

The Beanque is a bean-to-cup coffee maker, just not a very good one. That said, it includes a ceramic burr grinder, a travel cup, a double-walled filter and a measuring jug for as little as US$49 at the time of writing. If you have already ordered the Beanque, then it offers good value for money at that price, although we wish that it ground coffee more quickly and for longer between charges.

The Beanque is awkward and ill-thought-out, but packs in a lot of useful features for US$49.

However, we would not recommend you purchasing one for its retail price of almost US$100. We would only consider paying that much if Beanque somehow resolved the battery life and ergonomic issues affecting the unit. It would be great if the Beanque could be used while charging, too. If that were possible, the it could effectively be turned into a standalone burr grinder to be kept in a kitchen, a filter to use in an adequately-sized mug, a travel mug for drinking on-the-go and a handy measuring cup.

Overall though, we were left frustrated when using the Beanque. It represents good value for money at US$49, but not at closer to US$100.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Beanque 3-in-1 Coffee Maker Hands-On Review
Alex Alderson, 2020-05- 4 (Update: 2020-05- 5)