Designing Heirlooms

Aug 27, 2024

By Doug Weber

Product Story

One of the primary goals in our design process is to create objects with a useful lifetime measured in decades rather than years. While designing the Unifilter, we drew inspiration from the manufacturing precision and processes of the watchmaking industry.

In April 2022, Weber Workshops released a new portafilter for espresso preparation called the Unifilter. This, along with the Unibasket, changed an industry trend of portafilter basket construction that had lasted close to a century, spawning an entire new product category of “high extraction baskets."

In June 2024 we released our updated version of the Unifilter, doubling down on the engineering and taking the design to a new level.

The Unifilter™

World's first Unibody portafilter, and world's first "high extraction" basket.

By making a product that's intended to last forever, the heirloom concept of the watch world becomes relevant in coffee.

A byproduct of making a permanent basket was a better extraction. 2-3% on average, while tasting significantly better, was a welcome perk.

Active Area

The top diameter of a traditional basket is around 58mm while the bottom diameter covered by holes or the active area, is only around 48mm. This leads to a less than optimal extraction as it causes a deviation in fluid flow over more than 30 percent of the bottom area. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Unifilter and Unibasket reliably improve extraction yield, thereby directly helping you optimize your precious coffee.

From the beginning the manufacturing of the Unifilter was inspired by the watchmaking industry. I have always loved watches, and during my tenure at Apple I got to learn about much of the behind-the-scenes manufacturing techniques with the Apple Watch development.

Early Prototypes

Super early prototypes had a completely flat bottom. As we tested and adjusted the handle to be a lay-flat design (that came later), we recessed the hole pattern so that the holes would be protected when on a hard, flat surface. Just imagining a grain of sand on a granite surface was enough to convince me.

For example the combination of stainless steel forging, CNC machining, and customized polishing jigs allow the designers and engineers to create mechanically enhanced forms with excruciating attention to detail on the convergence of features within a single piece of metal.

IWC Watches

They've always been my favorite. This one, a Mark XVI, was a present to myself when I shipped my first major product at Apple, the 1st generation iPod nano.

A watch is an object meant to be regarded and used daily, and a good watch is often designated as an heirloom piece. Applying the same care to a portafilter allows for a more pleasurable experience crafting a beverage, and ultimately improves the quality of the espresso in the process.

Unibasket

While the initial version of the Unibasket was expensive to produce, we immediately invested heavily in robotics and automation to further improve quality while dropping the retail cost by fifty percent. This put us far ahead of the competition, both in terms of quality and value.

The Unifilter is an heirloom piece that can be cherished for decades, one that makes espresso instead of marking the time.