Varia has been busy again, and we got to pull the first espressos on their new machine right at the World of Coffee stand in Brussels. The Orbi isn't a bulky portafilter machine, but a small, portable espresso machine with a stand. It brings to mind the likes of the Outin and similar devices, but plays in a different league: gear pump, two built-in scales, pressure and flow profiling, 58mm portafilter. That sounds like a lot of machine packed into very little space.
What is the Varia Orbi?
Varia is based in Hong Kong, has New Zealand roots, and has so far been best known for its grinders. The Orbi is now the brand's first electric brewing system: an upright cylinder that Varia says can do espresso, filter, capsules and tea. It was unveiled at World of Coffee in Brussels.
In terms of build, the Orbi is a portable machine, considerably sturdier and more feature-packed than the usual small handheld espresso devices. Varia itself positions it as a compact, fully-fledged espresso machine suited to coffee labs, training, the office and home use alike.
Tech: gear pump, two scales, 58mm portafilter
At the heart of it sits a kind of mini gear pump. You heard that right, a gear pump. It allows genuine pressure and flow profiling, and pre-infusion along with it. Varia developed the pump together with a pump manufacturer, and sensors monitor flow and pressure throughout. That's the real difference from the many simple portables out there that just build up pressure.
Brewing happens through a 58mm portafilter, compatible with standard shower screens and baskets. Heating comes from a thermoblock with PID control, drawing from a small tank. They've put real emphasis on stainless steel for the materials: no plastic in contact with the water circuit, according to Varia.
The two built-in scales are the interesting part. One up top measures how much water flows through, and a second underneath (in the version with the stand and scale cup) measures what actually lands in the cup. That lets you dial in a specific brew ratio: the machine keeps adding water until it hits the target amount you've set. Brew by weight, then, built right into the machine. It's controlled via a small base unit on top of the device, alongside an app connection over Bluetooth.
Battery, power and shot count
Charging happens over USB-C, and this is where it gets interesting. You can run the Orbi on battery power on the move, or leave it permanently plugged in. That's exactly what we like about it: heated continuously via USB-C, the Orbi becomes a fully-fledged little espresso machine that's always ready to go.
On battery power, after around 1.5 hours of fast charging, you get roughly three to four shots. Heating up from room temperature to brewing temperature takes about 3.5 to 5 minutes. Starting with hot water gets you there faster and lets you pull more shots.
With this kind of device, we always start with hot water rather than cold. It saves the long warm-up time and goes easier on the battery. Cold water works too, of course, but then you need to factor in those three to five minutes of heating.
Price and availability
There are two versions: the larger Pro, with stand, scale cup and the full set of accessories, and a smaller, cheaper variant. Varia hasn't officially confirmed pricing yet. When we asked at the stand, we were told the Pro would come in at around 600 euros, with the smaller variant at roughly 300 to 400 euros. Take that as a rough guide rather than a final price.
For launch timing, Varia says "later in the summer", though some retailers are expecting autumn or winter instead. As soon as we have solid figures and dates, we'll add them here.
Verdict
After the first shots at the stand: this looks genuinely exciting. A small machine that can do what the big ones do. Gear pump, pressure and flow profiling, brew by weight via two scales, and the option to run permanently on mains power. We find devices like this appealing whenever a small machine suddenly matches what a much bigger one can do.
But, and this matters to us: first shots aren't a review. Whether the temperature genuinely stays stable, how the pump performs day to day, and how clean the profiling really is in the end – that will only show up in the Kaffeemacher test protocol. As soon as we've been able to run an Orbi through our protocol, we'll follow up with the proper review. Until then: curious, yes, but not yet rated.
Transparency note: we haven't bought the Orbi yet – we tried it out at the Varia stand and pulled our first espressos there. An independent review with a machine we've bought ourselves will follow once one is available.
