Ratio Four coffee brewer

Ratio Eight was, in my opinion, the best coffee brewer we ever sold. Yeah, it's expensive, but it is also beautiful and the simplicity and functionality are unmatched. The build quality, everything about it is great. So I was disappointed when Ratio got a contract to sell their brewers in Williams Sonoma, and suddenly their supply dried up where we couldn't get any for several years. They came out with the Six, which is a more plastic-y version of the Eight, but it seems to lack the style, substance, and refinement of its bigger brother. So I was intrigued when someone told me about the Ratio Four. 

This is a smaller brewer, which holds around 20 ounces max, so it's perfect for someone like me – needing only enough for myself and sometimes a guest. Ratio sent me one to try out and I used it off-and-on for a few months. I brewed with the stock filter basket, but mostly used a V60 on the glass carafe. I actually really like the carafe. It's sleek, the lid is good, and it pours perfectly without dripping. That's attention to detail. I didn't read the instructions out the gate, but found out through email exchanges that the unit brews more the way I want it to if you hold the button down until it starts. A simple touch of the button brews more like a mister coffee. 

Another thing I wasn't sure about is the external water reservoir. But this is brilliant. I like brewing by the gram, not eyeballing a measurement line on the boiler. So the Four allows me to put the detachable tank on a scale and pour exactly the amount of water in for the ratio of coffee I'm using. Because I'm not brewing a "four cup" batch. I'm usually grinding 32.5 grams of coffee and I want 390 grams of water, sometimes 422 grams, depending how I'm feeling. 

What do I not like about the Ratio Four? Well, supposedly they fixed this since I got mine, but the pump makes a whine that could be annoying if my tinnitus wasn't so loud. But they are using a pump. Most brewers work by boiling the water, sending it up a tube, decreasing temp as it descends toward the grounds. This one heats to temp and pumps the water to the showerhead. The brew temp is good and the brew cycle is passable, but the original shower screen was lacking. I actually fabricated my own shower head, and I think I can make an even better one that distributes water evenly and purposefully. But while I was tinkering around, the team at Ratio came out with an improved version of their screen, and it does work better - though it still tends to drip off the front, and no amount of shimming can reroute the water to the back of the screen effectively. I tried.

All in all, this is a bad-ass brewer. When I'm feeling too lazy to brew a cup by hand or I want coffee brewing while I chat with my amiguita, the Four does a good enough job that I'm not ashamed to serve it and to drink it. And that's really saying something.