VSSL Nest Pour Over with Java G25 Grinder bundle review – great coffee, anywhere!

REVIEW – I love camping and spending time in the woods.  My favorite time camping is in the mornings, before most people are awake.  Making coffee outside while camping is a bit of a ritual for me and a very special time. The VSSL Nest Pour Over Kit + Java G25 grinder bundle makes it a bit easier, but still makes fantastic coffee.

⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $235
Where to buy: VSSL

What is it?

It’s a bundle containing the VSSL Nest Pour Over Kit, and their renowned Java G25 grinder.  With this kit, you have everything you need to make great coffee except the coffee itself, water, and a heat source.  It all nests together into a single tube about the size of an old-school thermos.

What’s included?

• The VSSL Nest Pour Over Kit
  • 2 insulated coffee cups
  • One splash proof lid
  • Pour over dripper
  • Reusable metal filter
  • Manual

• The Java G25 Grinder
  • The Grinder
  • Felt grinder storage bag
  • Small cleaning brush
  • Manual

Tech specs

Materials:  Mugs and Dripper, 304 Food Grade Stainless Steel 80% Recycled
Materials: Grinder, Machined 6061 Aluminum with 420  tool stainless conical grinding burs
Materials: Filter, 304 Food Grade Stainless Steel with PET Threading
Grind clicks:  50 clicks from espresso to French press
Dimensions: 11.5” Tall / 3.4” Diameter
Weight: 36.6 oz (1038g)

Design and features

I’ll start with the VSSL Nest Pour Over Kit.  This ingeniously designed kit provides two mugs, a dripper, filter, and a splash proof lid.  It also has a container for the grinder, but if you don’t want to keep the grinder in the kit, you can store your coffee beans in this container. It gives you everything you need.

The Java G25 grinder is a wonder of machined aluminum. The threads feel so smooth and precise, and all rotating parts are on high quality bearings. The handle to the grinder collapses to a small carabiner, although I’ve never had the need to clip it to anything.  The knob for the handle stores in the coffee catch under the grinder, which contains the 420 tool stainless steel grinding burs, which are adjustable from coarse to fine in 50 increments.

Performance

My typical at-home coffee kit has many pieces, and there have been a few times that I’ve gone camping and forgotten one or a few of them, making for a very disappointing camping coffee experience. This kit makes that very hard because as long as you have a way to heat water and some good beans, you’ll get great coffee. One thing I always use at home is a precise digital scale.

This is necessary to get my preferred 1:16 coffee to water ratio, by weight.  I had expected to need to bring a scale for use with the VSSL kit, but I found that the kit is so well designed that I didn’t need it, which is fantastic.  As long as you use one of the included 10 oz vacuum insulated cups to measure your water (fill iit completely to the rim so there’s enough water to rinse the filter), and you fill the grinder to the top of the grind stem with beans, you’ll hit the ratio perfectly.  One less thing to forget at home!  So the only thing you really need is a way to heat the water. A goose neck kettle is a requirement for this kit, as you really do need that precision when pouring into the dripper, since it’s small and easily over-filled.

I quickly found that I was not a fan of the included stainless filter, for a few reasons. First, it was a bit hard to clean while camping, and you needed to allow it to dry completely before packing up your kit, which could take some time. Otherwise, you risk a bit of a science experiment the next time you go to use your VSSL Nest.  But I also didn’t like the way it made coffee.  It seemed to be VERY fine which make the coffee come out over-extracted and bitter. I opted for standard #1 paper filters, which solved all of these issues and fit perfectly.

I only had three issues with the kit, but they are all minor.  First, the power coating on one of the insulated cups was quite rough at the rim, right where your lips touch while drinking.  I think this was somewhat of a manufacturing defect and made for a disappointing experience from that cup.  Luckily the other cup is fine. With the grinder, my knuckles kept hitting the connector from the handle knob to the grind stem.  Not a huge deal as long as remember to hold the grind knob a bit differently.

Finally the grinder knob is supposed to store in the coffee catch, attached to the threads on the grind adjustment.  But when I adjust the grinder to my preferred grind size, there are not enough threads left exposed to attach the grind knob to, which just leaves it to rattle around in the catch.  A minor deal, but disappointing that a neat feature that was obviously designed into the grinder is not available at all grind sizes.

Final thoughts

If you love to make great coffee outside, and appreciate good design and manufacturing, the VSSL Nest Pour Over and Java G25 Grinder Bundle is a great option.  It has everything that you need except a heat source to make fantastic coffee just about anywhere!

What I like about the VSSL Nest and Grinder bundle

• Fantastic design
• The grinder just feels amazing to use
• It all nests together so you can’t forget anything!
• No need for a scale!

What needs to be improved?

• Double check the powder coating manufacturing
• Add a few more threads on the grind size adjuster so the grinder knob can be attached

Price: $235
Where to buy: VSSL
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by VSSL VSSL did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.

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