Voga Coffee's Ground Control

#1: Post by **weavdaddy** » April 2nd, 2016, 2:59 pm

Anyone else see this and go hmmm?

#2: Post by **yakster** » April 2nd, 2016, 3:03 pm

I thought it sounded like something you could hack a Steampunk to do, then I read this part of the article:

Salomon has plenty of experience with envelope-pushing coffee equipment, having been a part of Alpha Dominche's strategic team in launching the Steampunk back in 2012.

#3: Post by **ira** » April 2nd, 2016, 6:07 pm

The best cup of coffee I've ever had was from a brewer that used vacuum so from my perspective, the idea has merit.

Ira

#4: Post by **Stereo Heathen** » May 11th, 2016, 12:04 am

I had a taste of a coffee from the Ground Control brewer in Atlanta. While the coffee I had tasted definitely overextracted, for being brewed at a 1:25 ratio the strength was what I would expect from a 1:16 drip coffee. I made a point to walk by a few more times over the weekend, intending to try different coffees from it, but for the many reputable roasters' bags I saw on a shelf in the booth, I only seemed to catch them serving Illy.

September 18th, 2016, 2:02 pm

Hey Guys,

I went to Birdrock a few months ago to try this out, but the machine wasn't in service. I'm very eager to check it out soon, but I had some questions regarding the brewing process in the meantime.

1. When the coffee dwell time is finished, is it possible to control the flow rate of the suction from the lower brew chamber to the top glass carafe? This type of control could be useful since the strength and the structural integrity of certain filter papers vary between papers. In my experience, repeated flowthrough+stress can reduce the efficiency (load and porocity) of some filter types.

2. When the coffee is drained into the top carafe there seems to be a lot of aeration. In theory this promotes premature release of volatiles, reducing the aromatic content of the final cup (another reason why suction control could be useful). Have you tested whether or not less aeration effects the final cup quality in any way?

3. If stirring or agitation is mechanical, can the amount of turbulence (not length of time) be controlled to balance out the rate of dissolution? This would be a good parameter to control to throttle the particle stratification (suspended in the slurry) for reducing fines accumulation on the filter cake.

Thanks!

Ray Murakawa
melodrip.co

#6: Post by **rand** » March 2nd, 2017, 12:53 am

Bumping this thread with a bit of new info.

Barista Magazine just posted on instagram about this machine and linked this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUbXJj3sJB4

This looks really interesting, and I have no idea how it would taste but I imagine it would be similar to how people do pour overs in pulses. Add a certain amount of water, let it drain a bit, then add more on top. I might try out something similar tomorrow.... add 100g water, let it drain all the way down, repeat x3 or x4 til I get to my desired yield.

EDIT: Does anyone know the target price point for this machine? It is a real looker for sure, what with that large glass cylinder on top!

#7: Post by **borisblank** » March 2nd, 2017, 11:17 am

Yikes, that video. Just a tad...over the top.

#8: Post by **redbone** » March 2nd, 2017, 11:48 am

Stereo Heathen wrote:I had a taste of a coffee from the Ground Control brewer in Atlanta. While the coffee I had tasted definitely overextracted, for being brewed at a 1:25 ratio the strength was what I would expect from a 1:16 drip coffee. I made a point to walk by a few more times over the weekend, intending to try different coffees from it, but for the many reputable roasters' bags I saw on a shelf in the booth, I only seemed to catch them serving Illy.

I never understood that either. I've seen expensive espresso setups only to see bags of coffee roasted months ago on the counter from Italy.
I'm sure Illy blends and roasts some very good beans but it becomes a moot point if that coffee is post 5 weeks (if that) from roast date.

I do like the frankenstein beer keg visual one get's from the Voga C.G.C. system. I nice show for the retail customer.

#9: Post by **rand** » March 2nd, 2017, 12:35 pm

redbone wrote:I do like the frankenstein beer keg visual one get's from the Voga C.G.C. system. I nice show for the retail customer.

I'm thinking like farmer's markets, trade shows, etc. that the glass on top would really draw people in. It's really wild!

#10: Post by **TomC** » March 6th, 2017, 4:59 pm

ira wrote:The best cup of coffee I've ever had was from a brewer that used vacuum so from my perspective, the idea has merit.

Ira

The vacuum is only used to transfer the already brewed coffee from the bottom to the top of the brewer. It doesn't function like a typical siphon/vacuum brewer.

rand wrote:
This looks really interesting, and I have no idea how it would taste but I imagine it would be similar to how people do pour overs in pulses. Add a certain amount of water, let it drain a bit, then add more on top. I might try out something similar tomorrow.... add 100g water, let it drain all the way down, repeat x3 or x4 til I get to my desired yield.

EDIT: Does anyone know the target price point for this machine? It is a real looker for sure, what with that large glass cylinder on top!

I was extremely impressed when I tried it yesterday, with Eli giving me hands on tour of the Ground Control. There's clearly a "signature" extraction style it has, that I haven't had in any other brewer. I'd say about 80% of that extraction is the best I've ever had. The remaining 20% may need some tweaks. I'll write more on it shortly.

The machine is about the same price of a commercial single group espresso machine. Under $10,000, but not by much. They're also hand assembled here in the US.

redbone wrote:I never understood that either. I've seen expensive espresso setups only to see bags of coffee roasted months ago on the counter from Italy.
I'm sure Illy blends and roasts some very good beans but it becomes a moot point if that coffee is post 5 weeks (if that) from roast date.

There's a specific reason they're using Illy instead of lighter roast 3rd wave coffees, to demonstrate it's extraction capabilities in avoiding bitterness and astringency. I brought several coffees with me to the demo, and he offered to run across the street to buy a can of Illy to demonstrate, but we only had about 2 hours and that time got quickly swallowed up by trying other coffees and talking about the system in general.