Impress Coffee Brewer, reviewed
The Impress Coffee Brewer is a new product that french press fans will immediately be attracted to. It is one coffee maker that can be quite a match to the hottest coffee maker in the market. It’s a single serve coffee brewer that also doubles as an insulated cup, so you can brew your coffee and take it with you without compromising on time or the quality of your coffee. Gamila, the maker of the Impress, recently sent me an Impress to try out at home and I couldn’t wait to test it out. I had a bad experience with another product that promised to do something similar, so I kept my fingers crossed that the Impress would live up to my expectations.
The brewer works like a french press. You place your grounds in the cup, fill it with hot water and allow it to brew for a few minutes. Then, you press down a filter canister into the cup, trapping the grounds, and you’re ready to enjoy your freshly brewed coffee. The primary difference between this and a traditional french press is the size of that filter. The holes on it are tiny – so tiny that not only will coffee grounds will not be able to get through it into your cup, but they will force so much water out of the grounds that brewing will cease completely. This means that, unlike a french press, you can really take your time drinking the coffee without worrying about it over-brewing. The Impress is also heavily insulated, so it will keep your coffee piping hot while you slowly savor it.
I used a medium roast coffee and a medium grind (the grind size was recommended by the Impress instructions) and followed the directions exactly. The cup worked even better than I had hoped. The coffee tasted fantastic after just three short minutes of brewing. The cup kept the coffee very hot for at least an hour, and kept it very warm for at least another hour after that. That is better performance than most insulated cups and, frankly, I know that I will always finish off its 14-oz capacity in under an hour. I left coffee sitting in the mug while I drank a previously brewed batch and it never changed its flavor. I was definitely impressed!
The Impress is probably going to become one of my new favorite ways to make coffee, since it makes a perfect single-serving portion and comes in a very handy container that I can take with me on the go. It also was easy to take apart, easy to clean (it is even dishwasher safe!) and easy to put back together. It’s available in black and silver for just under $40, and would make a fantastic gift for yourself – or some other coffee lover in your life.