… and that truly is a shame that very few folks are talking about the Melitta Senz V coffee brewer. Because it’s quite unique, and has a ton of super geek out features built in. It comes in two variants: one with bluetooth installed so you can use a special app; and one without. Otherwise, it is absolutely feature packed: It has
- two built in scales
- a hydraulically controlled flow release valve
- two thermometers
- an auto start timer
- a brew analyser (rudimentary, but it relies on mathematical calculations)
- rechargeable battery via USB, and…
- it has a TDS meter, built in.
Crazy, right? So why isn’t anyone talking about this brewer? Well, I have my theories.
Melitta and the Modern Influencer
Melitta is a very old school company. Old school in that they don’t really communicate well with modern, 2020s (or 2010s, or even 2000s era) marketing vibes out there. I mean, just look at their Canadian website; it just reeks of “Madison Avenue Marketers” (google that).
For a century and longer, Melitta were pretty much the only pour over game in town (Chemex was the outlier), but once Hario arrived on scene with the V60 system, getting it into key, influencing cafes, websites, and other “under 30 marketing” circles, it was almost as if the Melitta system didn’t exist, and people started to think Hario invented pour over coffee. (they certainly did not, but they did revitalize it, for sure).
Melitta to this day operates like a company from the 1970s or 80s. They don’t seem to understand the concept of “go viral”, or how to reach out and work with magazines, websites, Youtube influencers and TikTok folks to get their products noticed, recognized, and lusted after.
Sure, Melitta has a few Instagram channels, no doubt run by some third party marketing company. But they do not get involved directly in the specialty coffee industry. I cannot ever recall seeing Melitta at a Specialty Coffee Association Expo. I cannot ever recall them sponsoring barista events, brew competitions, or even fostering competitions and marketing promoting their pour over systems. Perhaps things are different with the company over in Europe, but in North America, they operate like a kind of “commodity coffee company”, via their marketing and advertising, and definitely not like a cutting edge specialty coffee brand.
So when the company comes out with a range of really cool products, like the Melitta Momentum Line over in Europe, or the Melitta Senz V Connected Brewer which is available in Asia and the States, “we” just don’t hear about it. With very few exceptions their products are not featured on any of the popular Youtube channels (3 years ago, they got Hoff to review one Momentum product). They aren’t written up on websites like ours. It’s not featured in Barista Magazine (that I know of). There’s no demos at the 2024 SCA show in Chicago.
And that’s a shame. Because the Melitta Momentum line looks really interesting if you dive into their details on the different brewers. Ditto on the Melitta Senz V. Melitta really needs to do a better job. I feel they missed the boat on the entire pour over resurgence, instead paddling slowly behind the SS Hario’s giant wake.
That said, the Melitta Senz V is such a cool device, that we bought two of them, to test and fully review on CoffeeGeek. And that review is coming very soon.
The Melitta Senz V Connected Pour Over Brewer
I do a ton of research online when reviewing products, writing various histories of coffee, drafting out our how tos and guides, and about 2 years ago, I stumbled across a Taiwanese video (thank the stars for auto-translate) showing this nifty tower pour over system with a built in scale. I noticed the name Melitta on top and thought… “What the…!”. The translation was saying things like TDS readings, scales, temperature readings and the like, but the fellow didn’t have a TDS meter out, or a scale. (sadly, that video is no longer available on Youtube)
Turns out all those things were built directly into the pour over tower, which at first glance looked a lot more simple: a black base plate, wood arms, and a glass and white ceramic top portion. It had all those things inside of that? And it was from Melitta? Get out!
I had a contact from years back at Melitta, so I fired off an email. It bounced back (the person was no longer with the company). I found a press contact email, and sent one there. No response. Months went by, and I forgot about it.
About a year ago, I was going through a chain store in Western Canada called London Drugs. They are famous for getting esoteric, rare and unusual devices and appliances on their shelves for short runs. I even bought a Krups Moka Brew at London Drugs, back in 2005.
During my visit about a year ago, I saw on the shelf the same Melitta Senz V brewer that I had seen in the Taiwanese video a year earlier. It was just $99, so I bought one right away. When I got home, I was disappointed to find out it was the non-bluetooth version of the device, so it was initially set aside.
Half a year ago, I stumbled across another Asian barista video showing the Melitta Senz in action. This one without the app involved, and it seemed the device had a lot of features that didn’t rely on the app. So I dug the unopened box out of storage, and put the brewer to use. That’s when I discovered it had a TDS meter built in. Two scales. Temperature probes. Even a hydraulically controlled flow valve. Pretty cool!
I knew I had to review it, but I felt I had to get the bluetooth version before I did. It’s not available in Canada, so I ended up buying from the US Amazon store, and had it shipped up here to Canada. (sidenote – as of this blog post, the bluetooth “Connected” Melita Senz V isn’t available any longer on Amazon; the link above is to the non-bluetooth version).
Once it arrived, the Senz V app (by a third party, called Wabilogic) was loaded on my Android phone, and I went to town. After several months of using the devices and doing a lot of comparisons and real life walk throughs, it turns out the app and bluetooth are kind of just an added gimmick; you can actually get a lot out of the brewer without the app.
In fact, I had a bit of a love-hate thing with the Wabilogic App, to the point where it reminded me of the Acaia apps. When they work, they actually present some really good timeline info about your brew. But it didn’t always work. I will cover this a lot more in the full review.
Why the Melitta Senz V is Good
I want to save most of my info for the full review, but consider this a bit of the TL:DR version.
For around $150 or less, you’re getting a pour over brewer device that includes a) a scale, b) temperature readers, c) timers, and d) most importantly, a TDS meter, all built in.
I put Melitta Senz V’s built in TDS meter up against a DiFluid R2 refractometer and was kind of amazed to find out the Melitta unit wasn’t far off the hyper-accurate R2. When the R2 was reading 1.32 extractions (after temperature balancing the refractometer), the Melitta scale display was showing ranges of 1.28 to 1.35. Certainly enough to be a good reference point.
The Melitta Senz V has a programmed workflow in the device as well; turn it on, press the start button once, and it asks you to add your ground coffee. Press it again, and the scale zeros out and indicates it is ready for brewing water to be poured. As soon as you start pouring, the timer starts automatically. When you’re done the brew, if it detects no change in 1 minute, it will finish the brew cycle, presenting you with the TDS, the average brewing temperature, brewing time, and its estimate on what the finished cup is like, saying things like balanced, bright, mild, strong, bitter etc. You can also complete the brew and get these numbers by pressing the start / stop soft button one more time.
Here is the manual if you want to see more about the features and what the brewer is capable of.
I also happen to think the brewer looks gorgeous. Very Scandinavian in design. I almost never use the carafe with it – instead preferring to brew directly into a ceramic mug – but the carafe too is very pretty. Just don’t put it in the dishwasher.
Of course, it uses Melitta #2 filters only (though there is an Asian version of this brewer with a round ceramic filter holder that can accommodate V60 and Kalitta Wave filters). I happen to like Melitta’s paper filters a lot, so this definitely works for me.
Our full review will have a workflow video, and a lot more details about this brewer, including the Wabilogic app and the good and bad about that. But I’m confident enough to recommend you buy one of these if you want an interesting, and feature rich, all in one pourover system, especially if you like to geek out on TDS numbers and such.
Mark has certified as a Canadian, USA, and World Barista Championship Judge in both sensory and technical fields, as well as working as an instructor in coffee and espresso training. He started CoffeeGeek in 2001.
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Mark Princehttps://coffeegeek.com/author/markprince/
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Mark Princehttps://coffeegeek.com/author/markprince/
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Mark Princehttps://coffeegeek.com/author/markprince/
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Mark Princehttps://coffeegeek.com/author/markprince/
