Xbloom works with a number of roasters to make its coffee pods. The pods contain beans and double as the filter; the machine does all the grinding and pouring for you. Image Credits:<\/strong>\u00a0TechCrunch \/ Haje Kamps<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The water reservoir might have been a little bigger, and when I reviewed it the app wasn\u2019t fully completed yet, but the company is currently working on fulfilling its Kickstarter orders, before shipping machines to its preorder customers next month. Xbloom says that its app will be fully brewed by the time the machines start shipping to new customers.<\/p>\n

In addition to its $800 flagship coffee machine, it\u2019s also working on machines that can work well in restaurant settings.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are still serving very bad coffee in Michelin three-star restaurants,\u201d Xu notes, and suggests that the company is working on versions of its machine that can work well in higher-volume restaurant settings: Larger water tanks or the option to plumb it in means that anyone can make high-end pour-over coffee with beans from specialty roasters, without having to learn any of the actual coffee-making skills.<\/p>\n

The company says it is also working on a more affordable machine with a lower price point later this year.<\/p>\n

In use, I enjoyed that the Xbloom made making pour-over coffee foolproof, but I also found myself wondering whether that\u2019s worth $800 \u2014 that amount of money buys you a lot of coffee-making equipment that wouldn\u2019t force you to use a single supplier for your coffee beans. I also found myself missing the ritual of making myself a cup of pour-over coffee: The five minutes it takes to mindfully prepare a beverage is a lovely pause in the work day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this machine was never designed to replace the ritual of making coffee. We want people to buy this machine and eventually involve themselves. We always see ourselves being the gateway of specialty coffee,\u201d Xu explained. \u201cWe aren\u2019t trying to have yet another machine for the 2 million people who already make bean-to-cup coffee. The problem we are trying to solve is to introduce the rest of the 200 million coffee drinkers into this world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The machine is fantastic. It looks great, and has one of the best amount-of-work-to-coffee-quality ratios I\u2019ve ever experienced from a coffee machine. What I\u2019m struggling with, however, is whether that is enough.<\/p>\n

Personally, I think the price point is a major stumbling block for this product \u2014 yes, there are many people who can afford $800, but I\u2019m struggling to imagine what the market looks like; it\u2019s a very specific Venn diagram of customer needs. Xbloom is targeting people who care enough about coffee to spend $800, but that don\u2019t care enough to spend that same money on an assortment of coffee-making equipment so they can make it themselves. I have to admit I\u2019m a little impressed that the company was able to find 1,300 backers for its crowdfunding campaign. My business prediction is that until Xbloom launches its more affordable version of the machine, I\u2019m not sure it\u2019ll be able to find the next 10,000 customers.<\/p>\n

But, should that be wrong, and if Xbloom can find a way to reach its target audience, I forecast that the people who do end up buying one because they see the value of quality coffee and don\u2019t want to spend the time making it at home will be very happy with the machine and the coffee it can create.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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