DAVIS, CA— A shocking new study put out by UC Davis’s coffee campus has found that batch brew coffee comes with a dangerously common brewing error: not turning on the machine.
After a series of rigorous testing over the last six months, the results are, according to the report, undeniable: at least one in five batches of batch brew coffee fall prey to this error, leading to a complete lack of extraction. This costly error was found to be equally common to both Fetco and Curtis batch brewers.
Cafes are reacting fast to this alarming news, which broke this morning and is already sparking serious conversations about whether batch brew should even continue to hold a place on the menu of high-quality cafes across the country.
“We’re seriously considering ditching batch brew altogether and going to just pourover,” said Helena Wayne, owner of a popular third-wave coffee shop in San Francisco. “If there’s such a high chance of the coffee not even being extracted at all, is it really worth the risk?”
John Heath, owner of a small Miami cafe, agrees and feels that the situation is urgent. “I’ve already pulled the Fetco from our menu. I’d rather stick with pourovers until we reassess, but right now it’s just too risky to have batch brew malfunctioning at that high a rate.”
Leanna Tang, owner of a Dallas/Fort Worth coffee chain, is more skeptical of the risk. “I’m trying to think about cost and benefit here,” she told us. “What if there was a way we could prevent that machine from not being turned on, rather than dumping it entirely?”
The fallout of this looks to be deep and severe even after just a few hours. We’ll be following this story closely as it moves forward.
If you laughed, support The Knockbox with a monthly or one-time donation through our Patreon or Cashapp.
