On the playing field of high end kitchen stuff, many of our readers may have heard of Alessi, and possibly even Koziol. But a relatively new player to the "design and function are both beautiful" scene is a brand called Eva Solo. They've been around for a while, but around CoffeeGeek we really sat up and took notice when we first saw the Eva Solo Cafe Solo coffee maker.

At first glance, several things seemed wrong with the Cafe Solo, from a pure "CoffeeGeek" standpoint. One: the device was beautiful, but what the heck is it doing with a model-like jacket on it. Second: the price point, at over $100 was a bit too much for something just made out of glass and a few steel and rubber bits.

But first impressions as a pure CoffeeGeek gave away to more lasting impressions by someone who appreciates fine design that is also finely functional.

A few months ago, I got to finally check out some Eva Solo products up close and personal when a local Vancouver store called Motif started importing them. I saw the design and sensibility behind the Cafe Solo brewer and was hooked. It sold at the time for $107 Cdn dollars (about $80 US equiv), which was still expensive, but closer to my comfort level. Then one day Motif had a 50% off sale on all Eva Solo products, bringing the brewer down to $53 Cdn (about $40 USD), which made it actually affordable and cheap for the price.

I jumped in and bought the brewer at Motif (along with a bunch of other Eva Solo products, including the Milk and Sugar Set, the 1.1 Litre Steel Carafe, Ice Cube Cooler (this one's very frivolous, but cool none the less), and two of the Wine Rack Systems).

This QuickShot review will focus on the coffee brewer, with some mention of the thermal carafe I also picked up. The brewer is available in two sizes: the Eva Solo Cafe Solo 1 litre model, and the smaller Cafe Solo 0.6 litre model. Current best prices are $77 for the large model and $60 for the smaller version (US Dollars).

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