Prototype Functionality: so far we have a fully functioning prototype as shown below.  It has not been designed into the final form factor shown in the video which serves to demonstrate the look and feel of the end product.  To do this we need custom-made components such as the heating element and reservoir which requires minimum order quantities.  That's why we're here.

To view a time-lapsed video showing how our prototype can brew a cup of coffee using only battery power, watch the below GIFs or the full YouTube video here: http://bit.ly/2cPnbft

1) Load the Jolt with any temperature water, hot or cold:

2) Once the Jolt reaches the perfect brewing temperature and the light turns green, insert the coffee packet (not shown in this earlier prototype is the reusable stainless steel coffee pod which can house your own coffee grounds or our eco-friendly packets): 

3) After the brewing timer ends and the light turns blue after approximately 4 minutes of brew time, remove the coffee pod, toss out the coffee grounds or packet and enjoy your coffee or tea!

Jolt Indiegogo Technical FAQ

1. What is the brewing method and how does it work?

Our current functional prototype uses an expanding packet of fresh coffee that fills a stainless steel reservoir while brewing.  This allows the coffee to float freely in the water, similar to a French Press except without the press. Instead of pressing the grounds to the bottom like a French Press, the grounds are pulled and extracted from the coffee via removing the reusable coffee pod. This in combination with a gentle swirling motion produces a robust, smooth cup of coffee.  Friends, family and baristas are loving it!  And in addition to coffee you can make tea, hot chocolate, soup, oatmeal, and more!

2. How does the packet work?

The packet is constructed from a porous material that allows water to flow through while the coffee grounds remain inside; this makes cleanup a breeze!  This biodegradable material’s basic component is plant starch and will not alter the drink’s flavor in any way.  

The packets will be available pre-filled with many types of coffee, or empty to be filled by you with your own coffee.  Note: The final packet size is still being adjusted in order to optimize the brewing method.

3. How do I charge the battery?

A battery charger is included in all Jolt bundles; we estimate it will take between 2-3 hours to charge.  The battery is removable from the device and is not required in order to enjoy your finished beverage.  You can charge one battery separately while using a second.  

Unfortunately, there is currently no way to charge the Jolt via USB or a car power socket due to the relatively low power available through these jacks.

We are thinking about a faster charger / docking station design that we've been able to get working in the lab.  This would charge the battery in 30 minutes and it would also allow you to “brew & charge” at the same time!  If there is significant interest in this feature we may choose to add a fast charging station as a future additional priced upgrade.

4. How and when do I add milk and sugar?

Milk and sugar can be poured directly into the inner reservoir after the steeping stage is complete. 

We are also considering incorporating compartments directly into the device to house and administer these items. While this isn’t guaranteed, if time and cost allow, it may be added to the final design.

5. What temperature does the water reach?

Unlike other portable brewers the Jolt is capable of reaching the true industry-accepted brewing temperature of 203°F (95°C).  This value will be configurable, allowing you to select the desired set point using the device’s physical button(s).  We will define these values within the device’s software as we hear feedback from our backers on desired temperature ranges.  Fun fact: during testing we confirmed our device is even capable of boiling water, which is in fact not the same temperature for brewing coffee!

6. How long will my drink stay warm? Is there a warming function?

The Jolt is insulated using a double-walled design that should keep your drink warm for hours. We have tested it and found the Jolt only dropped 10 degrees Fahrenheit multiple hours after brewing. Because of these great results, we decided to not include a warming function in order to keep the battery as light and low cost as possible.

7. How heavy is the Jolt?

With a battery and full reservoir we expect the Jolt to weigh less than 2 lbs.

8. Can I make tea?

Absolutely!  Jolt's single-reservoir design is especially suited to making tea.  We have added the ability for you to adjust and optimize the steeping temperature for perfectly brewing different varieties of tea.

9. How much liquid can it hold?

The Jolt is targeted to produce 8-10 oz of coffee or tea. The size of the reservoir and the resulting volume of water to be heated directly affects the required battery size and how long it takes to heat the water.  We’ve experimented with reservoirs as large as 20 oz but opted to focus on a smaller form factor as shown in our video.

10. Am I supposed to drink directly out of the lid like a travel mug or should I be pouring the beverage into a cup?

The opening at the lid was designed to do both but we expect most people to drink directly out of the Jolt.

11. How many times can I brew on a single charge?

Right now we are targeting a single brew per charge to keep battery manufacturing costs as low as possible.  If there is significant interest, we may explore designing a larger capacity battery pack as an additionally priced upgrade which would be capable of brewing two cups off of a single charge.

12. Can I bring it on a plane?

The largest battery we’ve built so far currently resides in our functional prototype and has a capacity of 90 watt-hours, but the final version of this product will have a smaller battery.  The FAA limit is 100 watt-hours, so you should have no problem bringing any version of this product on a plane.

13. Can the Jolt operate or charge off a 12 Vdc automobile power socket?

Our heating design currently requires voltage-matched heating coils; this allows our device to come up to temperature faster than a Keurig!  An automobile socket is typically not capable of providing the current necessary to do this so we've opted to leave out a 12 Vdc coil.  For this reason the Jolt cannot be operated directly from a 12 Vdc source.  However, we may explore the possibility of a 12 Vdc charger for the battery depending on level of interest.

14. Can I use other pre-made coffee pods such as K-cups or Nespresso Pods?

Although we considered accommodating existing pod designs, we wanted to unchain the Jolt from the single, proprietary packet paradigm.  Thus we are giving you the ability to purchase our eco-friendly pre-filled packets for on-the-go convenience or use your own coffee.  Choice is yours.

15. Can I brew without the battery?

Possibly.  We have a patent-pending dual-coil heating element design that contains one coil for use with a battery and a second for use with a wall outlet.  This style of heating element takes up additional space inside the device and may cause the outer diameter of the cup to increase, however this would allow you to plug the device directly into a wall outlet and brew without the use of a battery. Our original prototypes did have this functionality but in order to keep the price of the device low, we chose to pursue a battery-only final design. If there is significant interest, we may include this as a new product model with a slightly higher price.

16. Can the Jolt charge my phone?

Potentially.  This would require adding a USB port to the side of the Jolt and is a feature we have built and tested in the lab. If there is significant interest, this may be included as a feature on a new product model with a slightly higher price.

17. Once brewing is complete can I detach the battery?

Yes!  Once brewing is complete the battery is no longer needed and can be detached from the cup.  This makes the Jolt no larger than a typical travel mug!

18. What do I do with the used coffee packet?

To ensure a perfect brew most people will prefer to remove the packet from the reservoir after the steeping stage.  It can then be disposed of in a trash can and due to the biodegradable material is completely broken down by microorganisms.

19. Can the Jolt be used to heat up other foods?

The Jolt contains a stainless steel reservoir that is capable of heating other items such as soup, oatmeal or hot chocolate!

20. You mentioned the word software, can I adjust settings and create my own brewing profiles?

We’re exploring adding Bluetooth so the device can be paired to a phone or tablet, however iOS and Android app creation is not currently planned.  If there is significant interest, this may be included in a new product model with a higher price.

21. You have mentioned a lot of new features in these FAQs and in the Community Design Team section, will these be included with the current model I purchase with the existing perks? Can I upgrade to these new features with the pledge I give today?

The current model included in the perks is what we envision to be the widest reaching set of features needed by the most amount of people. So the current perks do not account for any of these additionally mentioned features. However, if we receive significant feedback asking for these features, we may introduce a new model that you can upgrade your existing pledge to. Because our existing model is our simplest, lowest cost design, a new model would likely be a higher priced model. Therefore, you would be able to upgrade your pledge by paying the additional amount needed.

Jolt Community Design Team

We have way too many ideas and simply not enough time to incorporate them all. That’s where you come in. We want to know what features YOU think are important. The existing campaign price of $85 does not include any of these additional features. However, these are all features we have considered and some we have even tested and proven in the lab. If there is significant interest and feedback from the community, we may integrate these into a new, higher-priced model which you may upgrade your pledge to. Read on to discover all the brainstorming we’ve done throughout the last few years and why we pursued some ideas and not others.  We’re hoping this will spark your imagination and we look forward to hearing your suggestions. Welcome to the Jolt Community Design Team!

1. Brewing Mechanism - Over the last 3 years we’ve considered many coffee brewing methods such as drip, vacuum, pour-over, and more.  We knew that controlling size and simplicity would be the best way to achieve the lowest cost and fastest time-to-market.  Ultimately we decided that a single reservoir was an important early design decision to keep the size as small as possible and that led us to focus on steeping methods for brewing coffee such as French Press.  However, we also considered using the drip method by incorporating a small pump that would pull water from the bottom of the reservoir and disburse it over a coffee-filled conical filter at the top.  We chose not to pursue this because the pump could re-circulate coffee through the grounds a second time and because of the design complexity of this type of system.  We’d love to hear feedback from the community on this and any other brewing methods you think might work in our design!

2. Battery - our battery design uses 10 lithium-ion cells to provide 37 Vdc.  Depending on the size and capacity of each individual cell, the battery can be capable of one or two brews on a full charge.  Battery capacity is synonymous with physical size, so a battery capable of 2 brews will roughly be 1.5x to 2.0x the size.  For those who envision needing a second brew via battery, we’d love to hear your feedback and preference here.  Would you rather have a larger battery pack or just carry two smaller batteries?

3. Brew & Charge - are you interested in a docking station that allows you to both brew coffee or tea AND charge the battery at the same time?  If so, how many of these stations would you need and use?

4. Milk & Sugar - how useful would you find dedicated compartments for milk and sugar packets?  Do you mind carrying these items separate from the Jolt and pouring them in yourself?

5. Warming Function - how important is this function to you?  How long do you plan on leaving your beverage in the Jolt before finishing it?

6. Other beverages - what else can you envision making in the Jolt?

7. Existing Coffee Pods - would you prefer to use existing coffee pods with the Jolt ?  How important is this to you?

8. Packet Disposal - some of our early concepts included a tray that allowed you to put the packet inside the reservoir but kept it out of the water.  A mechanism, either a knob or slide, would have to be operated in order to drop the packet into the water.  This same mechanism could then be used to lift the packet out of the water, effectively stopping the brewing process.  It could be left inside the reservoir indefinitely since the coffee would be designed to bypass it while pouring or drinking.  Does this interest you?  Would you mind if the device grew in size to accommodate this feature?

9. Software - if made available would you adjust brewing settings and create your own profiles?  Or are you okay with using preset profiles?

10. USB - some of our prototypes have an external USB port for charging mobile devices.  This is a natural addition to any device with a sizable battery, but we wonder how many people would actually use it.  Can you envision yourself in a scenario where your only option would be to charge your phone from the Jolt?