Bunn Trifecta
The Bunn Trifecta, a café single-cup brewer that stirs coffee with jets of air, then presses it through a metal screen. How it works and its 11 settings.
Contents
How does the Bunn Trifecta work?
The Bunn Trifecta is a commercial single-cup immersion brewer. Ground coffee goes into a brew cup, hot water rises up from below, and the machine pre-infuses the coffee, then jets air into the chamber to stir it ("Air Infusion"). At the end, air pressure presses the coffee out through a fine metal screen. Baristas can set 11 brewing variables.
At a glance
- Grind
- Medium-fine (table salt)
- Water
- 94 °C
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Origin
- United States
Method
Load the brew cup
Grind the coffee and add it to the brew cup, which locks in like a portafilter.
Choose a recipe
Pick a saved recipe; the Trifecta can store up to 15, each with its own settings.
Pre-infusion
Hot water rises from below into the chamber and pre-infuses the coffee.
Air Infusion
Air is jetted into the chamber in timed pulses to stir the coffee as it brews.
Press-out
The chamber is pressurised and the coffee is pressed out through a fine metal screen into the cup.
The Bunn Trifecta is a café brewer that makes one cup at a time in a way no hand method can: it steeps the coffee, jets air into the brew chamber to stir it, then uses air pressure to press the coffee out through a fine metal screen. Bunn calls this Air Infusion. Every step is programmable, with 11 variables per recipe, so a café can dial in each coffee and repeat it exactly. Prima Coffee calls it “a completely new brew method”. Here’s how it works.
The short version
- A single-cup immersion brewer for cafés and bars.
- Air Infusion: jets of air stir the coffee during brewing.
- Press-out: air pressure pushes the coffee through a metal screen.
- 11 adjustable variables, up to 15 saved recipes.
- Fuller, oilier cup, like a French press; brews tea too.
How does the Trifecta brew?
Rusty Angel of Bunn walked through a brew for Prima Coffee:
- Load the brew cup. Ground coffee goes into a brew cup that locks into the machine like a portafilter.
- Choose a recipe. The on-board computer stores up to 15 recipes.
- Pre-infusion. Hot water, fed from the boiler, rises into the chamber from below and saturates the coffee.
- Air Infusion. Once the chamber reaches full volume, air is injected to create turbulence, in pulses that you time and set the strength of.
- Press-out. The chamber is pressurised and the coffee pushed through the metal filter into your cup.
Then you knock out the grounds, rinse or wipe the brew cup and chamber, and the machine is ready for the next cup. It’s plumbed in, with no water reservoir to fill.
What can you adjust?
Prima Coffee lists the Trifecta’s 11 variables:
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Volume | Brew size, in 10 ml steps |
| Pre-wet | A cold-water cycle, mostly for tea |
| Pre-infusion | Share of the water used for pre-infusion |
| Fill-pause | How long pre-infusion lasts |
| Extraction time | Total brewing time |
| Turbulence on | How long each burst of air lasts |
| Turbulence off | The gap between bursts |
| Turbulence power | How strong the air is |
| Press-out power | How hard the coffee is pressed through the screen |
| Press-out time | How long the press-out takes |
| Water temperature | Prima’s example: 94°C |
Bunn’s Rusty Angel says the turbulence force should be matched to each coffee’s density and roast, and that changing the press-out force shapes the finish, from long and lingering to drier.
What does it taste like?
Fuller than paper-filtered coffee. Prima Coffee compares it to a French press or metal cone filter, with “this textured cup”, while the air turbulence “gets really interesting flavors out”. Bunn’s listing says the metal screen preserves “coffee oils and aromatics for a deep-bodied, unique coffee experience”. Prima’s example brewed about 300 ml; it can make anything from about 2 oz to 16 oz.
Who is it for?
Cafés, restaurants and coffee labs. Prima Coffee notes that it lets a café set every recipe in advance and have baristas brew single cups quickly and consistently, and that its isolated variables make it useful for coffee labs testing how each change affects the cup. Bunn markets it for the specialty retail and bar environment, for coffee and tea.
General guidance only. The Trifecta is commercial equipment; follow Bunn’s instructions for installation, plumbing and cleaning.
Bunn Trifecta vs other methods
- Clover: another programmable single-cup café brewer, using vacuum.
- Alpha Dominche Steampunk: a café brewing machine for single cups.
- French press: immersion with a metal mesh, by hand.
- AeroPress: pressing coffee through a filter, by hand.
Explore every machine method in the machine chapter.
What you’ll need
Words in this guide
- Steeping
- Steeping is leaving ground coffee to sit in water so its flavour dissolves out, as in a French press or cold brew.
- Dialling in
- Dialling in means adjusting your recipe, usually the grind size first, until a coffee tastes right.
- Immersion vs percolation
- Immersion brewing steeps all the coffee in all the water at once, as a French press does.
- Portafilter
- A portafilter is the handle-and-holder you fill with ground coffee and lock into an espresso machine.
- Bloom
- The bloom is the first small pour of water in a brew, usually 2–3 times the weight of the coffee, followed by a 30–45 second pause.
- Total dissolved solids (TDS)
- Total dissolved solids (TDS) measures how much coffee is dissolved in the cup, shown as a percentage.
- Metal filter
- A metal filter is a fine stainless-steel mesh that holds back coffee grounds, as used in a French press plunger and some reusable pour-over filters.
- Extraction
- Extraction is the process of water dissolving flavour compounds out of ground coffee.
Questions & answers
What is Air Infusion?
Bunn's name for the Trifecta's method: controlled air is injected into the brew chamber to agitate the coffee at set times, for a uniform extraction, and then air pressure presses the coffee out through a metal screen.
What can you adjust on a Trifecta?
Eleven variables, including brew volume, pre-wet, pre-infusion, fill-pause, extraction time, turbulence on, turbulence off, turbulence power, press-out power, press-out time and water temperature.
What does Trifecta coffee taste like?
Because it uses a metal filter, it lets oils through for a fuller, textured cup, more like a French press than paper filter, according to Prima Coffee.
Can the Trifecta brew tea?
Yes. Bunn markets it for fine coffees and teas, and its pre-wet setting is a cold water cycle mostly used for tea, Prima Coffee says.
How big a cup can it brew?
Prima Coffee says from about 2 oz up to 16 oz at a time, adjustable in 10 ml steps.
Sources
General guidance only. Not medical, food-safety or professional advice. Always follow your equipment's own instructions.