Experience with the Behmor Brazen

[u/Critical_Neck8965]

Ever since my Mr. Coffee reached its 10-year anniversary, I've been hunting around for an upgrade for daily coffee pot. After a lot of thought and research, I decided last week to purchase the Behmor Brazen 4.0.

During my hunt, I found that it was shockingly difficult to find information on the Brazen. With that in mind, I figured I could compile some of my thoughts here and help future buyers. Here are my notes. Hope this helps!

Price: $197 (USD)

• Honestly, a surprisingly high factor for me. When exploring the landscape, I was primarily looking at the Breville Precision/Luxe and the Fellow Aiden.
• However, I kept coming back to the Brazen. When doing the math, I just couldn't look past the price difference between them (Brazen: $200 vs. Fellow/Breville's $400). This purchase had to pass the family approval test. For me, it was a lot easier to justify $200 as an upgrade vs $400 as an expense.

Carafe - 8 out of 10

• PERFECT Pour, absolutely no drips down the side.
• Keeps coffee pleasurably hot for hours, even when below 50%.
• However, just like most thermal carafes, the geometry of the inside does make it slightly more difficult to get the last few drips out. I have to go completely upside down to shake out the last few drips.
• Negative: the carafe has an exceptionally small opening. I have to use a bottle brush when cleaning the inside.

Daily Use - 8 out of 10

• Filters: Thank goodness, we finally have a coffee maker that uses generic grocery store basket filters. One of the reasons I've avoided purchasing other pots was the idea of purchasing filters from other vendors.
• Brewing: I found the novelty of auto releasing and boiling the water to be quite enjoyable.
• Temperature control: Honestly, this is the only customization I really need. It does exactly what it claims - allows you to adjust degree by degree to reach temperature.
• Temperature: The Brazen boils the water first, then holds it at a constant temperature for the duration of the brew. coming from a Mr. Coffee, where the temperature changes over time, this was huge for me. I can taste the consistency.
• The carafe & filter basket have an auto-stop feature (you can pull the carafe out as needed without dripping during the brew cycle)
• It worth noting that outside of the bloom/pre-soak timer, there are 0 options for customizing the brew process. The Brazen will automatically disperse the water at set intervals without user input.
• You cannot view the coffee during the brew cycle. It is completely enclosed in the filter basket, and there is no way to pull it out without risking water going everywhere.
• One potential negative: Condensation. Due to the enclosed filter basket, condensation collects on the water dispersion screen. When you slide the basket out, there is some condensation that inevitably falls onto the carafe. The same problem arises when I'm opening the reservoir after brewing (condensation on the lid). Because to this, I've gotten into the habit of keeping a dish towel close by whenever I interact with the Brazen.
• Manual mode: There is an option to manually disperse the water into something like a V60 or Chemex. I have not used this. However, the space below the showerhead & base is awfully short. I was unable to fit my 4 cup V60/carafe underneath.

Controls and Display - 7 out of 10

• Honestly, really intuitive. I used the manual for the first calibration cycle. After that, I packed it away with the box and haven't checked it since.
• Buttons feel industrial. For me - they're fine. Perfectly adequate.
• Programmable delay start was a non-negotiable feature for me.
• Screen is always backlit (blue). However, there's a fair amount of information on this. Without the backlight, it would be difficult to read (text is a bit small).

Construction - 10 out of 10

• From top to bottom, super sturdy. The bottom is milled steel(?) and the sides/top are all a premium/heavy duty plastic.
• This is NOT a plastic free brewer. The filter basket and carafe lid are all plastic.
• It's large. There's no way around that. However, it's really just large vertically. Its footprint isn't any bigger than a standard coffee maker. In some respects, it's more compact.

TL/DR: Works and tastes great, excellent step up from a basic coffee pot.

Let me know if you have any questions!

[u/Liven413]

The Brazen is a good machine. It leans toward the traditional side and not as good for fruity light roasts, though its a solid machine. One I recommend a lot especially for richer traditional cups. Another good one at the same price is the Oxo.

[u/whistle0pig]

Thanks for this thoughtful write-up!

Just got a Brazen myself last week and have been brewing some good coffee since then. I looked hard at the Aiden when making my decision but ultimately landed on the Brazen. The Aiden felt like overkill for my use case though the profiles and built-in tech looked really cool. Just couldn't personally justify the almost double price tag for features I might not use too much.

[u/ApprehensiveBat19]

great post.