The Better Vessel Removes Espresso's Crema, and Reviewers Can't Agree Whether That's an Upgrade

US$80, or ₱3,880 locally — Ownership costs about US$79.99 (Eight Ounce), or ₱3,880 in the Philippines (The Vault), and the early units were 3D-printed. Production versions are injection-moulded ECOZEN T110 PRO — a BPA-free copolyester with a stainless ball-lock valve and about 50 g of capacity — and Eight Ounce showed it sold out. Rivals are already on sale, from Tough Coffee and LVXIAO to the @coffeecollectif cups that have been scooping crema since 2017.

Used at the 2025 WBC — Michael Harris Conlin used the tool in his 2025 World Barista Championship routine in Milan, finishing 13th overall and taking Best Espresso in Round One. The community shorthand of a “highest ever” score is not documented.

Objection · Instagram · Scott Rao — An advocate who also sells it — A prominent advocate for the tool is also one of its sellers, named in his own launch post. The June 2026 post (3.7K likes, 663 comments) says the shot “completely changed my view of what espresso could be” and casts the tool as finally scaling @jimseven's 2009 “crema is rubbish”; Rao calls Conlin's shot “the highest-scoring espresso in the first round of the finals” and answers the plastics question by citing the maker's claim of no microplastics under normal conditions.

Reaction · Instagram · creators and comment sections — Creators endorse, comments reject — Its Instagram creators endorse the tool while its comment sections reject it. CoffeeCupSeries, Jeeves De Veyra and Lui Selorio all published positive side-by-side tastings, though some captions reuse vendor-supplied wording; the most-liked replies to the endorsements are “They gentrified the spoon” and “The accessorization of espresso pulling has got to stop”, with 40 likes on “zero chance that I'm brewing hot liquid into a 3D printed cup”.

Voice · Verdict · YouTube · Morgan Eckroth — Works, but not worth paying for — Crema removal makes a real difference that she would not pay for. The crema-free espresso was “a little bit sweeter and a little bit more acidic”, but she called the price high for what it is and said it earns a place only for the convenience.

Voice · Verdict · YouTube · Daryl Bueno and Lance Hedrick — Two reviewers, two verdicts — The two reviewers split the case between taste and chemistry. Bueno's split shot kept the same sweetness without crema and was “a lot more complex”, the crema-topped half sweet with a flat finish, though he still reads crema as a sign of fresh beans and real pressure; Hedrick supplies the mechanism — crema is carbon-dioxide foam, flavourless itself but triggering the same receptors as wasabi to raise perceived bitterness, and concentrating hydrophobic phenolics such as guaiacol behind dark roast's smoky notes.

Voice · Verdict · Trade press · Barista Magazine (Vasileia Fanarioti) — Gain depends on the shot — The gain depends on the shot, and her test unit was a 3D-printed prototype. Short, intense shots came out cleaner, but longer extractions “highlighted that bitterness even more clearly” and she preferred leaving crema on; handled cups sat unevenly and one handle-less cup would not drain.

Voice · Objection · Reddit · r/espresso and r/CoffeePH — A spoon does the same job — Skeptics say a spoon already does the work, and owners who bought the tool say the opposite. Top replies in a “Crema remover” thread (167 upvotes, 273 comments) are “You guys will buy 1000 gadgets and then wonder why it takes an hour to make a coffee. Spoons also work for removing crema” and “where can I order this special ‘spoon’?”, and one commenter argues a crema-free shot is a different beverage; a r/CoffeePH taster instead found espresso without crema “mas juicy”, while the 3D-printed units drew jokes about “maximum micro plastic infusion”.