Our Bunn Trifecta Experience

At the recent World Tea East event in Philly, Bunn was exhibiting its newest device, the Trifecta, as a method for brewing tea. "Unlock the Nuances," they said. They prepared some impressive samples, and we bit. Adagio's third Tea Experience retail shop recently opened on State Street in Chicago, and is featuring this flashy new toy as one method of preparing our favorite beverage. Preparing an excellent cup of tea quickly is one perk. Having enthusiastic staff and equally intrigued and engaged customers is another.

By all measures, tea is low tech. Leaves grow, are plucked, dried, and steeped in hot water. Care and precision are involved in each step, but its ease of preparation has no doubt contributed to tea's epic worldwide appeal. In many places, leaves are simply thrown into a cup, hot water poured in, and the beverage is drunk unfiltered. Convenience and convention have forced our leaves into various cramped quarters, but even then, water and time are tea's only real requirements.

While we continue to tout the benefits of taking a few minutes to slow down and enjoy a nice cup (indeed, this cannot be separated from the growing list of tea's health benefits), the opportunity to shave time and add convenience while maintaining the integrity of the leaf, ie, not crushing it to a semblance of its former self, is appealing, especially in a downtown retail setting where a 5+ min steep time can be a dealbreaker for a customer on the go.

The Trifecta (The Trifecta Experience, formally) was released about 2 years ago, presumably to compete with, and then to fill the Clover void. While Starbucks may have made Cappuccino and Macchiato part of The People's vernacular, the Clover put focus on the bean in its simplest form, no foam, no whip, no sprinkles, no half-pumps of anything.

Though it is functionally a different machine, Trifecta's intention and capabilities are similar: to produce one extremely fine cup at a time by allowing it's master to dial in specific parameters for every variable of brewing a cup: time, temperature, volume, frequency and strength of agitation, and force of extraction. It is entertaining to watch leaves fluff up and settle with the precisely measured water, tumble meditatively through the chamber, and then release the brew with eager ambition. It is satisfying to drink the nice cup it produces, and it is exciting to have it all done in 1/2 to 1/5 the typical brew time, with minimal prep or cleanup to boot.

In our experimenting, we've found that it doesn't work for everything. Silver Needle for one, the princess she is, will not play along. But by dialing in different parameters, we can get some interesting notes out of other teas (Dragonwell and Gyokuro have been surprisingly delightful) that don't come through in standard brewing, and we can do it quickly. At the very least, we're having fun bringing a new level of exploration and enjoyment to old standard methods, and our customers are too- and this is inherent to our mission as tea retailers. Once set up (creating the recipes is the lengthiest challenge), the machine is easy to use, simple to maintain, and mesmerizing to behold.

According to Adagio Operations Manager, Chris Bourgea, having the Trifecta provides a unique experience for his customers. A couple came in recently, he said, and each ordered a cup of tea to go. Though he ordered his first, she was happily sipping her Trifecta-prepared tea before his was even done steeping. That's pretty cool.

You can see some of our recipes on Bunn's website and if learning more is of interest to you, feel free to email me, I'll be glad to go into more detail about our testing and rationale for taking this on.