A roundup of the coolest new gadgets (and coffee) we encountered at this year’s Specialty Coffee Expo in Houston, Texas.

BY JOSH TAVES
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE

Featured photo courtesy of Specialty Coffee Association

The 2025 Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Expo has officially wrapped up, concluding yet another year of smoothies, bean sorters, inflatable costumes, and raucous rabble rousing. And while all the trimmings are what make the event exciting, it’s always important to find time to buckle down and remember why you went: for coffee education and networking, to be specific.

I dug deep this year to find the gems amidst the fluorescent lights and fodder, and in case you missed them, here they are.

1. Duvall’s FC-1 Espresso Machine

I guess I’ve missed Duvall in the past, as their Instagram has posts dating back to 2017, and it’s a shame I did. The espresso machine company showed up in a big way this year with an immaculate and eye-catching version of their FC-1 three group espresso machine.

This machine employs a unique piston-driven chamber that uses variable motor speed and a known mass of water (not a flow restrictor) to vary the pressure at the grouphead with precision and variability that I have not yet seen from other manufacturers. This, of course, leads down the rabbit hole of pressure profiling, coffee shots, and five-minute cold espresso extractions (which I got to try).

One thing is for certain: Regardless of their past, Duvall is not messing around—what was on display was not something built in a back alley garage or needing to be custom-ordered. Duvall is clearly shooting for production-level outputs of their models, with parts and serviceability that claim to match any of the other large espresso machine producers. Oh, and in case you walked by without registering, their booth had the cherry-red espresso machine with clear cutouts showing the belt-driven pulleys in the back and the full-color touchscreen for barista interface. Like I said, they aren’t messing around.

2. RediUV’s Reusable Cup Sanitizing System

There were many gizmos with flashing lights at the show, but this one from RediUV might be the only one I wanted. Simple in its design, the RediUV is a cylindrical chamber, approximately 18” tall, that sits on the counter at your coffee shop. When it senses the presence of a customer in front of it, it opens the chamber on the side facing the customer. The customer can put their travel mug inside the chamber, and RediUV closes around it. Inside the chamber, a UV light is activated and sanitizes the entire inside and out of the coffee mug.

After just a quick few seconds, the chamber opens on the opposite side, now facing the barista, and presents the customer’s travel mug to the barista clean as a whistle and ready for a drink to be made. No transfer of germs, no worries. As we start to see more municipalities crack down on the questionable sanitation of travel mugs being passed back and forth, expect to see RediUV on more and more coffee shop counters.

3. The Series GH-B Grinder by Pinecone

OK, this one is going to stay a bit of a mystery for a few more days because you can’t buy one quite yet (like I said, give it a few days)—but I’ll sum up the important details just enough to get you salivating.

Pinecone is a relatively unknown grinder manufacturer that has been trying to make a push into the U.S. market for the past few years through a distributor known as GHGBS. GHGBS has a great reputation in my book, as they were formerly the exclusive Mahlkönig distributor in the United States, and they are just all around great folks. The “GH” portion of GHGBS represents the founder, Gary Horne (more on that later).

I hadn’t paid Pinecone much mind until my GHGBS sales reps pulled me aside and said, “You gotta check this out.” I asked what was so special about it and his response was basically, “Well, it’s simple, works really well, and is really reasonably priced.” All the things I want to hear!

What really convinced me that these were the grinders for me was what I learned next: A) Pinecone was founded by a group of ex-Mahlkönig engineers, some of the best in the business; and B) the “GH” in the model name GH-B stands for none other than Gary Horne himself! The man, the myth, the Southern-gentleman-legend now has his own grinder, and I want one.

4. Coffee Wallas

This one isn’t a piece of equipment, but it definitely piqued my interest. I’ve been a barista for several generations in dog years and worked as a green buyer for half a decade as well. People often ask me what coffee I get excited about. The answer I give is not some kind of goofy co-ferment or a trendy variety, or even an origin or roaster. In fact, I usually say “one that surprises me.” A low-elevation Ugandan robusta that scored 80 points a few years back comes to mind. Naturally fermented Gesha from Oaxaca is another—I didn’t know farmers in Mexico were doing that when I first tried it 10 years ago.

Anyway, next time I get asked what coffee I’m excited about, I’m going to say, “Coffee Wallas.” Coffee Wallas is a roaster out of Canada that ONLY roasts specialty-grade coffee from Asian countries. I tried washed and natural coffees from China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India at the show, and they were all delicious and clean. Now, let’s be real: Are these $300/lb Brewers Cup-competition-level coffees fermented in a bath of unicorn tears? Nope, but the five coffees I tried were all well-roasted and easily scored between 84 and 88 points in my book—and they were all from Asian countries! Color me impressed; these were my favorites of the show.

5. Nuttii’s OX Portable Coffee Grinder

Notice that the above title doesn’t say “hand grinder.” While the Nuttii OX grinder does indeed fit in your hand, it is powered by a rechargeable battery—and I think that’s just genius. As someone who has literally spent dozens of hours cranking on Hario Skertons and Comandante C40s (amongst others), I, of course, got excited about this product.

Remember how I said the RediUV was the only thing I found that I kinda wanted? Well, I guess I lied because I actually convinced the fella working the Nuttii booth to let me buy one of his demo models, that’s how much I liked it. I mean, come on, a USB-C rechargeable conical burr grinder that’s roughly the size of a travel mug for about $100?!

While I have yet to do any long-term testing, the adjustment points seem solid, the bearing sets are firm, and the overall construction is impressive. The grinder comes in an array of colors, and the fella I bought it from even threw in a matching Geo-C Portable scale to go with it. This might be the only piece of equipment I have ever bought off the show floor, and I am tickled with it.

Until Next Time

As I’ve grown as a professional and continued to attend the SCA Expo for who-even-knows how many years now, I’ve really come to appreciate the fact that the show can be very multifaceted. Sure, the big, flashy booths draw the crowds, but it’s the smaller hidden booths where next year’s trends are made.

While this might not be the Expo recap you expected, with the latest releases from the names you know, I hope you enjoyed this deep dive into what I found were the real gems of the show. Give them some love—you might just be on the cutting edge of the next big thing in the coffee world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josh Taves is the owner of Dialed Coffee Services in Michigan and the creator of the Cupping Brewer. He is also a 2017 USBC finalist, so he knows his way around lots of different coffee gadgets. Josh has been working in the coffee industry since 2006 and enjoys taking advantage of all the great adventures the outdoors have to offer.

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