The full review is available on Rendeljkinait
The HiBREW H13 Dual Boiler coffee maker is the company's new product, which is trying to earn its place among espresso machines. The pleasant-looking wooden accessories and the modern interface are also interesting, but what is much more exciting is the pressure gauge placed on the front and the double boiler design, which is only available on much more expensive machines. This machine competes in the mid-range and this is reflected in its price: 92,000 Ft are requested by HiBREW-Social 10% with code for the compact coffee maker, from EU warehouse, with free shipping!
This content is originally written in Hungarian and has been automatically translated, so please note that it may contain translation errors and inaccuracies.
The prices, import costs, shipping information, coupon codes, etc. in the article. are valid for orders to a Hungarian address. If you would like to order from another country, first find out about the local legislation, logistics options and prices.
HiBREW H13 Dual Boiler coffee maker test – I've never seen anything like this from the company
HiBREW's offerings we have already tested most of them, but fortunately there is always a new sugar cube that you can use to indulge in the art of coffee drinking. The HiBREW H13 Dual Boiler is a model that I have not come across before, because its name contains the words “dual boiler”, which suggests that works with two heating elements at the same time. We'll explain what exactly this means during the test, and there are other technical niceties, such as adding a multi-hole steam head in addition to the traditional one. These are typically the things that significantly increase the price of coffee makers.
I'll start with how a coffee maker works so you can understand the essence of the HiBREW H13 Dual Boiler. This small kitchen appliance is actually nothing more than a water tank, a pump - usually vibrating -, some kind of water heating solution - I'll come back to this -, a "valve" made from a coffee cake, through which hot water flows under pressure, and a few other accessories like a steam wand and the like. So it's not a magic bullet, but making coffee can still be a very complicated process.
There are many parameters that need to be met to get a creamy, flavorful espresso. A portion of coffee of the right quality and size, coffee beans ground to the ideal grain size, a well-prepared and sealed coffee cake, its soaking, and then pressing at ideal pressure and temperature. So there are an awful lot of variables, one of which is the aforementioned temperature. How do cheap lever espresso machines work?
A simple thermoblock is placed in the machine, which does not store and heat the water, but rather the liquid heats up as it passes through it.
The best design for civilian use is a steel/aluminum/copper boiler design,
where a space with good thermal conductivity is filled with water, making it easy to achieve and maintain a uniform temperature. Double boiler solutions can also produce hot water and steam at the same time, and their temperatures can be controlled separately, so this is the ideal solution. What's the problem with it? It's expensive and takes up a lot of space. We tested this on HiBREW H7A Barista Pro Dual Boiler in person, which is a relatively large piece, but it had two real boilers. After the long introduction, I'll turn to our test subject today, the HiBREW H13 Dual Boiler lever coffee maker.
They packed the H13 package well with accessories, It includes three 58 mm coffee baskets that meet the catering industry standard, two are pressure-boosted and there are single and double-serve versions. The handle of the portafilter is not made of vinyl, but fa, as well as the steam switch lever on the side of the coffee maker. It comes with a steel milk frother with capacity markings, a good-sized coffee tamper and of course the usual instructions, as well as a multi-hole milk frother head, which allows you to create foam much more evenly.
It's not a Panarello, but the tip still works quite well, and you can screw it onto the end of the steam wand.
Of course, the first step in setup is to remove all the adhesive and the silicone plug at the bottom of the nearly 1,5 liter water tank.
The material quality is okay, almost everything is made of metal, which is commendable.
Everything is in place, the assembly quality is not bad either, but more serious coffee makers usually follow a more traditional look. I think the overall effect of the HiBREW H13 Dual Boiler is a confusing mix of forms, although not everyone thinks so, since it won a French Design Award in 2025. I think on the one hand, the metal surfaces with the cup warmer on top are industrial, the wooden inserts reinforce the retro, while the fully digital, touch panel control is more typical of automatic coffee makers. It's an interesting mix, but I prefer physical buttons, they feel good to press, just as the resistance and click of the wheels reinforce the feeling of quality.
However, I ran into an ergonomic flaw: the water tank is darkened, which looks good, but it doesn't show how much liquid is in it.
This is annoying because I had to constantly open it to see if the tank needed to be refilled or if there was still fuel in it. Since it is on the back of the coffee maker anyway, it is practically invisible from the outside and has no design value, so there was no point in darkening the plastic.
There is a pressure gauge on the front, Very rightly so, as one of the most important coffee-making parameters is pressure, otherwise the coffee will not be extracted. The ideal value is somewhere around 9 bar, At least for me, the indicator usually goes up if I grind the coffee properly and fill the coffee grounds. There is a circular, extremely intuitive touch panel on top, around which you can see the coffee types and the functions:
- "black coffee" is best suited for making "Szarvasi-style" flow-through coffee, which is 70 ml of coffee and 180 ml of water, but of course the quantity can be adjusted
- espresso and doppio are available, you can make one or two doses with them
- there is also plain hot water for tea, which is faster than My Siguro kettle, but its temperature is less controllable
- you can also make cold brew, i.e. cold water coffee
- there is an Americano, which we just drink as a very long coffee
- can emit steam while making coffee, which is good for cappuccino, latte, etc.
- It also shows what's happening in a section in the middle
In the settings menu, you can adjust the length of the coffee, the temperature, the pre-soaking, the steam temperature, and the "length" of the coffee, i.e. the amount of water, in the middle of the display. A big advantage of this design is that you don't have to look for anything, there are very few button combinations, which two buttons you press and hold, and the third one twice, because these are largely unmemorable.
Another important extra is that there is an OPV, or overpressure valve, which will release if there is a problem.
The coffee maker has PID control, i.e. works with an electronic temperature control model, which maintains the temperature much more accurately than a traditional thermostat. The point is that they regulate the water temperature with correction values, which cheap coffee makers never know how to do. However, you can't touch the controls.
As for the dual boiler design, it's actually two thermoblocks,
which is the cheaper solution, but this could already be guessed from the compact size: two boilers simply would not fit in such a large floor space. This is advantageous in that heats up incredibly quickly, After about 40 seconds, the coffee can be ready. I think that in home conditions, what is used inside is not very important, unlike the size, for example, the HiBREW H7A Barista Pro Dual Boiler was simply too big for our kitchens. Why is the double thermoblock good? Because while the coffee is brewing, you can froth milk or barista milk substitutes and cappuccinos, Make a latte and have fun with Latte Art molds. You don't have to wait for the coffee maker to cool down after steaming, like with solutions that contain 1 thermal block.
Source: HiBREW Official Page, HiBREW H13 Dual Boiler
HiBREW H13 Dual Boiler coffee maker test – flavorful, non-acidic coffee
Now came the real test, i.e. making coffee. I started with the usual espresso/doppio pair. Since the HiBREW H13 Dual Boiler works with a 58 mm portafilter and not the 51 mm one that comes with its own BlitzHome BH-CM1503-I increased the amount of coffee from 8-9 to 10-12 grams. For grinding, the HiBREW G3-am I used. After grinding, the usual puck prep followed, i.e. leveling the coffee with a coffee needle, then sealing it with a tamper.
It's worth mentioning here that the stopper fits perfectly into the coffee basket, it doesn't get in the way, but there are no areas left out either. You could play around with the amount of coffee and the strength of the stopper.
I turned off the pre-infusion, or pre-soaking,
I also alternated between coffee baskets with and without pressure booster. What worked for me was a load of around 11 grams, with a pressure-boosting, 1-dose basket, and a brewing pressure of around 9 bar or a little higher, but I have experienced this with previous machines as well. This allows you to make a tasty espresso with a thick crema, not too acidic. Since the HiBREW H13 Dual Boiler is mostly made of aluminum and is rust-free, those who are afraid of plastic parts breaking down during heating don't have to worry.
Milk drinks are coming, if we already have two thermoblocks, then let's steam while brewing. I usually spend more time with the barista drink than it takes to brew the coffee, so I usually start with that first, I turn the steamer tube all the way out, and then I can start frothing. I changed the head to the multi-hole head because it creates bubbles much better than the smooth one, and it's easier to froth. It is worth knowing that traditional, lactose-free milk substitutes such as coconut, rice, and oat milk do not foam, except for the barista variants, as already mentioned in the plain version HiBREW H13A I presented it in my test, so get this version of the drinks.
Source: Order China
I'm a novice at Latte Art, so there won't be any heart-shaped palm tree images in the article, but those who are more skilled can have fun with that too. What I still got used to during the test was making tea, which consists of nothing more than hot water poured into a filter. Even large glasses can fit under the steel spout with a little skill. There is one problem with using a kettle: you can't lower the temperature enough, so if you want to drink tea at 60 degrees Celsius, the juice will come out at 85, so you have to wait quite a while for it to cool down, but modern kettles work better than that. Fortunately, there is a separate hot water outlet on the left side, so coffee grounds don't get into the hot water either.
Finally, there is a flaw: there is no solenoid valve to block the flow of coffee after preparation,
So you will experience some dripping after use, but the drip tray is quite large and easy to clean.
Summary
The HiBREW H13 Dual Boiler coffee maker is a more advanced machine than the average. I can only really relate to the slightly eclectic design, but that's a matter of taste, some people like this, some don't. Tmaybe I missed the solenoid valve, because that way some coffee drips out after taking the cup. And that's the end of my tears, double thermal block, fast heating, two types of heads for the steam wand, lots of accessories, which also fit the 58 mm catering industry standard. The coffee is tasty - if the grind is good - with a thick, thick crema, the controls are intuitive and the wooden parts look good. In addition, it also has a service center in Hungary. For HiBREW, so I can't even relate to this.
However, they ask for a price for the very attractive package, which seems justified given the technical parameters: 92 000 Ft. They ask for it HiBREW-Social 10% with code from the EU warehouse, with free shipping. Competitors are more expensive, so if you want something like this, look no further.
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