When I was a kid, my dad pulled off one of the all time cool-dad moves by connecting the family’s Atari 2600 game console and a small black and white TV to the car battery so my brother and I could play video games in the backseat during a long family trip.
Nowadays, if I saw some mom or dad had gone through such an effort to MacGyver a way for their kids play vids in the car, I would think that’s pretty cool, but I would also think it’s completely unnecessary in an era where we can bring the games along in our pocket.
Which brings me to the BrüMachen, a portable coffee machine that allows you to brew coffee wherever you go by plugging it into car power and brew up a cup of joe on the go.
To use the BrüMachen, the user simply drops in a K-cup (or uses a refillable pod with their favorite grind), adds water, and then brews a cup of coffee. Once brewed, the user can just drink out of the plastic vessel the coffee was brewed in.
It all sounds pretty cool, but I can’t help but wonder why wouldn’t I just bring a thermos or stop at the local AM/PM for coffee? After all, since brewed coffee is as widely available and as easily accessible today as a game of Angry Birds, isn’t the BrüMachen just a modern day coffee equivalent of hooking up a video game console to a car battery?
Admittedly, there are some situations where you can’t actually instantly have a cup of Joe sitting in your cupholder. Maybe you’re camping or on a road trip and have a very specific grind of coffee you prefer that would otherwise be impossible to get on the road. Or, maybe you just are really frugal and are a long road trip and just don’t want to spend a couple bucks for brewed coffee. In those scenarios, I can certainly see where BrüMachen would come in handy.
If and when the people behind the BrüMachen deliver, it will be interesting to see if they can find enough people interested in brewing on the go beyond Kickstarter to make it a successful product. Like they say, there are riches in niches, and the BrüMachen is betting there are enough car campers, remote workers, or fussy coffee drinkers who will like the idea of brewing in their car.
If the product’s early success in any indication, there might just be. So far, the product has 400 backers and has raised over $34 thousand in funding, an indication there is potential demand for a BrüMachen, at least on Kickstarter.
For me, I’ll just keep paying a little more for convenience at my local grab and go, but if you are interested in the idea of a coffee car maker, you can find the BrüMachen here on Kickstarter.
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