The KRUVE Sifter makes brewing consistent and delicious coffee easy for everyone—from home brewers to coffee professionals.
BY ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Baristas are constantly asked how to brew better coffee at home. “Why doesn’t my coffee taste as good at home as it does in the cafe?” or, “What tools do I need to make better coffee?” are common questions every barista has answered. And for gear heads and home enthusiasts, the question most often asked is, “What tools do I need to make better coffee at home?”
The KRUVE Sifter—which is available for purchase both at their site and from our friends at Prima Coffee—should be the next tool you recommend. Most baristas emphasize the importance of using a burr grinder or grinding your coffee to order, but don’t talk about grind size. Every grinder produces at least some percentage of boulders (particulates that are bigger than your desired grind setting) and fines (particulates that are smaller) that can mess up your coffee brewing.
The folks at KRUVE focused on grind uniformity after rigorous testing. “Essentially, our new product tackles the science behind grind size,” shares Mark Vecchiarelli, co-founder of KRUVE. “We experimented with a number of factors that improve flavor, but none seemed to impact the flavor as much as grind uniformity.” The KRUVE Sifter is designed to ensure that all the boulders and fines are removed from your ground coffee, resulting in all the particles being the same size. “Using two tiers and up to 12 interchangeable sieves, the KRUVE Sifter is able to provide micron-level grind precision,” he shares.
When boulders and fines are left in a sample of ground coffee, it can taste both over-extracted, or bitter, (due to the fines) and under-extracted, or sour (due to the boulders). “No different than cooking your favorite meal—if you have ingredients of multiple sizes, the smaller pieces will be overcooked or burnt and the larger pieces will be undercooked or raw,” Mark adds. All grinders, no matter how advanced or expensive, produce some amount of boulders and fines, and while most companies leading coffee innovation have attempted to tackle this problem by looking at the grinders, KRUVE goes directly to the coffee. “Many have tried to perfect the grinder, but we perfected the grind,” Mark notes.
The KRUVE Sifter uses two tiers of sifting so you can remove both the boulders and the fines, and users can purchase sets with up to twelve different sieves to get as technical and specific as they want. Furthermore, the KRUVE helps to establish a standardized vocabulary of grind sizes—instead of saying ‘sea salt’ or ‘medium-coarse,’ users can look to the micron size of the sifter they’re using, and describe the grind size they like based on a uniform number. “Arbitrary grind sizes no longer need to be accepted as the norm,” shares Mark.
The KRUVE Sifter is a useful tool for both coffee novices and experts. Home users can simply put their coffee in the KRUVE and sift to get a uniform grind sample. International barista champions and brewers in multiple competitions—including Ben Put, the Canadian Barista Champion, and Sasa Sestic, the 2015 World Barista Champion—have used the KRUVE in their competition routines. During CoffeeChamps in Austin earlier this month, many brewers competing in the Brewers Cup used the KRUVE to sift their coffees and ensure uniformity in their grind settings.
The KRUVE sifter is available at their site online, as well as from Prima Coffee, and you can learn more about it and different brewing methods by visiting kruveinc.com.
