Spinn Coffee Maker Review: Pros, Cons, and Verdict

One of the best things about writing about coffee is that the entire industry seems to be moving at an incredible pace. It feels like every couple of weeks I get tasked with writing about a new type of coffee, or a new type of coffee maker, or a new coffee company – there is always something new to talk about, and I love it.

The latest product that has dropped into my inbox is from the much-hyped San Francisco-based company, Spinn. Initially, a coffee-subscription business, founded in 2014, they specialized in bringing together over 150 roasters to give their users as much choice as possible when it comes to finding their perfect bean.

However, providing people with great coffee beans was not the limit of their ambitions – they want people to be able to make the perfect drink. For the last few years, they have been working on this Alexa enabled coffee maker with grinder and the buzz around this machine has been going on for a long time.

They have been taking orders from their loyal fanbase ever since 2016, even though the product was years off completion. In fact, it would be years and years until Spinn was in a position to satisfy these orders.

The buildup has created a lot of excitement within the industry, so I was delighted to finally get my hands on one of these to give it a test drive. Let’s see how it performed.

Spinn Coffee Maker Specifications

Okay, before we get into what it can do, a quick word on how it looks. Aesthetically, they have hit this out of the park. The sleek, cylindrical design would look at home in any kitchen, and the silver finish just oozes class.

In terms of its size, it’s not as big as you might expect. Measuring H13.29 x W8.24 x D13.12 inches, it doesn’t take up much kitchen ‘real estate’, so you will be able to fit it around your other kitchen appliances.

If you’re like me and have far too many kitchen gadgets, this will be quite an essential factor when buying something new!

Okay, now onto the real meat of the issue – what this bad boy can do. We were fortunate enough to try out the Original Pro model, the most expensive option of the three models available (the others being (Original and Original Plus).

The main difference between the three is that the Plus comes with a carafe, which you don’t get with the Original, for making filter coffee-style drinks, while the Pro has all that plus a milk frother and can be plumbed directly to a waterline.

All three models are equipped with a NANO water filter, which will filter out any fluoride or chloride. This ensures that you get the same, perfect water every time you make a coffee, and really get the most out of your beans.

As these machines are bean-to-cup, they are all fitted with a conical burr grinder on the top, where you pour your beans. As you would expect from a machine of this quality, the grinder is fully automatic and adjustable, ranging from 35 to 220 microns – this will suit any type of coffee that you are able to make with these machines.

One of the standout attributes of the Spinn Coffee maker is the brewer. Using a patented centrifugal force spinner, the coffee grounds are spun at up to 6000RPM, which creates an enormous amount of pressure.

This is what gives you an incredible crema on your espressos. As with all of the other settings, this is of course adjustable to the amount of pressure you would like, so you can lower it if you are making an americano, for example.

A first for me now, when reviewing a coffee maker – the software. Yep – this is the real USP with these machines. The Spinn app works with IOS and Android and you can control the machine fully from your phone.

The machine itself will connect to your WiFi, and is compatible with Alexa. It will even detect when you are low on coffee and, using the database from the Spinn subscription service, you can order more coffee through the app from a roaster of your choice – local or nationwide.

Don’t worry though, you can just use the machine manually with the buttons on the front. We recommend reading the Spinn coffee maker manual that comes with the machine before you start tinkering with the software, as it can be a little daunting at first if you are not used to this kind of thing!

What It’s Like To Use The Spinn Coffee Maker

There is a lot going on with this machine, so let’s take it step by step.

First of all, it’s important to load the beans into the top of your machine, ready to be ground. Whatever drink you are going to make, you’ll need to make sure this is fully loaded and ready to go. This may seem obvious, but it’s more important to emphasize here because, as we’ll get on to, you won’t necessarily be in the same room as your machine when you make your coffee.

You’ll want to make sure that the water tank is filled, as well, and it can be straight from the faucet – the filter will make sure the water is free from fluoride and chloride and will be the same every time.

This is where things start to get interesting. When the machine is fully loaded and ready to go, take out your phone and open the Spinn app. You’ll see a world of opportunity before you!

What drink do you fancy? Espresso? Cappuccino? Americano? Doppio? Lungo? Flat white? Macchiato? Classic Joe? Maybe a 16oz carafe? All these options and many more are available at the touch of a button, from anywhere in your house.

Spinn themselves highlight how great it is to be able to set your coffee machine to work before you’ve even got out of bed in the morning, and they’re right, it really is great.

It’s not just first thing in the morning that you really feel the benefit of this functionality though – working from home I often find myself in the middle of something, but also craving a hit of coffee.

With a few taps of my phone (or even just asking Alexa) and the drink is ready for me to collect from the kitchen and then I’m right back to work.

There’s more though – Spinn hasn’t forgotten its roots and has fully integrated the subscription coffee service into the app.

Of course, this means that you can order fresh coffee directly through the app, but also you can scan whichever coffee you are using in the machine with the app, and you will then be guided as to which recipes are best (we’re talking grain size, brew temperature, volume, etc) for that specific blend of coffee. All done automatically.

Of course, you can take full control of the settings yourself if you’d rather. I love experimenting with different ways of making coffee; it is so easy to do with the Spinn Coffee Maker. All on the app. Double check the Spinn coffee manual if you’re not sure about anything, but it is very straightforward.

You won’t be surprised to learn that there is also an integrated brew timer, which means you can set the time that your coffee is made – it’ll fit in perfectly with your morning routine.

Spinn Taste test

Okay, I may have been getting a little overexcited with all the possibilities of the various features, but ultimately this is what it comes down to, right? No point in being able to make a coffee from the comfort of your bed if the result is like drinking tepid dishwater…

Well, let me reassure you then that this machine makes really good coffee. With so many different options of what sort of coffee you could make (I don’t have the space on here to detail every one I tried!) I always think a solid guide is a crema on an espresso. If a machine can produce a decent espresso, it’s on to a winner.

This machine produces excellent crema. It’s thick, creamy, and silky smooth. Just a delightful drink. On top of that, the carafe of coffee is also a delightful drink, although make sure you are inputting a really nice coffee bean – this machine deserves the best!

Verdict

Okay, full disclosure – I love little gadgets around the house. As you will also know, I also love coffee and different ways to make coffee. I feel that I should make it abundantly clear at this point that I was predisposed to love this coffee machine.

And love it! Honestly, this machine could genuinely change my life. It is such a great piece of technology, and there is so much fun to be had with it. It’s so easy to use that there is almost nothing that can go wrong.

Crucially, though, the results are fantastic. You are encouraged to use quality, fresh coffee and it self calibrates to make sure you get the most out of whichever coffee you use. You end up with a wide range of delicious coffees that would suit any coffee drinker’s taste. I’m not sure there is anything currently available on the market that could rival this machine.