Spiced Coffee - Disappointed this was in the collection instead of bringing something new to table. I do not like the Spiced Coffee, so I saved them for a friend that likes this drink with a splash of Bailey's Every week, I clean the capsule holder and drip tray under hot, soapy water. The capsule holder is easily removable—just make sure to “pop” it up from the bottom to avoid poking yourself with the puncture needle on the inside. It’s also important to clean the water reservoir when it’s empty. I wipe the rest of the machine down with a microfiber cloth. When it comes time to refill the liquor reservoirs, I will definitely clean them with warm, soapy water before refilling. FAQ Is the Bartesian machine worth it?

The Bartesian provides a stupidly simple way to enhance your adult beverage drinking enjoyment with an assortment of capsules for drinks you might not otherwise have the patience, desire or knowledge on how to make. Paper plane - It reminds me of a whiskey sour I had at a restaurant. Tastes of citrus, sour, herbal and bitter. Unusual but pretty good. It's like a sour patch kid for adults. This drink is not for everyone. All of my guest have said it tastes like medicine, but I like it (but the herbal notes can be a bit overpowering). Decent drink output. Bartesian’s machine requires you to decant your liquor into five (included) glass bottles. After you screw the lid on you flip them over and insert them into labeled holders. There are two deal-breaking issues here. Ginger Peach Iced Tea - Summery and refreshing. I do find the ginger to be a bit overpowering, so I add a dash of Peach Schnapps to provide more of that peach flavor I'm looking for. This is a substantial drink! It fills my 16 ounce glass on regular. This drink sneaks up on you since you can't taste the alcohol.As mentioned above, Drinkworks suggests that you keep the machine plugged in at all times to keep the water cool. The machine will automatically go into sleep mode when not in use. Yes, it’s plastic but I’m guessing if it was metal it’ll cost a lot more. Someone will make a different model once. At this point, I have been using the Bartesian for a full year. While I do enjoy my device, I cannot recommend it to family and friends without letting them know the caveats. Next, I selected whether I'd like the drinks to be made with a light, regular or strong amount of booze (I chose regular for all).

In a month or three I’m planning on flushing it out (there’s a both a first time cycle and a flush cycle). There is a bit of splashing depending on the cup and ice, but I wiped those drops off easily with water and a cloth. I threw the drip mat and liquor canisters through the dishwasher after multiple uses, though full descaling is recommended especially if you’re not filling the machine with filtered water. The cleaning process is similar to how to descale a kettle. Bartesian Duet review: Drink selection and taste Yuletide Hurricane - Also needs to be a year round drink. It tastes like topical Hawaiian punch (for adults). Lots of orange flavor - if you don't like orange or citrus then this is not the drink for you. It has edible glitter which makes this drink visually beautiful. VERY SWEET - made on strong always to balance the sweet. Love!Sazerac - This drink is slightly sweet and has subtle hints of licorice. All I could taste is whiskey when I made this drink using a regular strength. The flavor comes thorough much better on light, but I'm just not a fan of this one. Small drink output. Sex on the Beach- Another fruity but dangerous favorite. I primarily taste cranberry, peach and pineapple in this one. This pod makes a substantial drink. Rum Breeze - My absolute favorite!! Fruity, refreshing, but dangerous. It doesn't taste 'strong' (even on the strong setting), but this sure does sneak up on you!). This drink has a strong coconut flavor, with hints of strawberry. I go through these pods like water. YUM!! This pod makes a substantial drink. The machine is not smart enough on its own, without human interaction, to know if you have inserted the correct alcohol container into the correct position. The 4 slots on the base are as follows: Rum/Gin, Vodka, Tequila and Whisky. Depending on capsule inserted, the machine will pump liquid from the correct container. When a Rum or Gin based capsule is inserted, the machine prompts you to confirm if you have either the required Rum or Gin. This is a perfect opportunity for the lids to potentially house RFID sensors or some other tech for the machine to auto detect the proper container. The pod area. The pods work like a Keurig machine, where it punches a whole into it. It also reads a bar code on top of the pod to know how to mix it. Water can splash in the pod area and make it so the reader cannot read the bar code. This will especially happen when you do a cleaning cycle so you need to also manually wipe the bar code reader area. The way the pods are punctured is not consistent. Sometimes the puncture will have the drink spitting out like a fountain all over the place. This has nothing to do with the device being cleaned (as suggested in the manual). Because of these, regardless of the glass suggestion for the drink, I always use a tall glass to minimize potential randomness of when the pod is not punctured the expected way.

Mai Thai - "Bermuda, Jamaica, Ooooo I wanna take ya...". Tropical, pineapp-ly, coconut and almond goodness. This tastes exactly like a drink you would get at the beach. Delicious and my absolute favorite of the new releases but the drink output is absolutely pitiful - a few sips and it's gone. You would need to make 2-3 pods for a full drink. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. See how we test.When you want to clean the Drinkworks machine, you can do so by removing the pod basket, water container and drip tray and washing them with warm, soapy water. Every so often, wipe the outside of the machine down with a damp cloth and run a cleaning cycle with the included cleaning tabs. If you forget to clean your device, the machine will prompt you to run a cleaning cycle. The touchscreen graphics are basic... I mean VERY basic. The graphics could have been programmed by a 6 year old on an iPad. Ok, the graphics would have looked better if they were programmed by a 6 year old on an iPad! I suppose Bartesian didn't really need to make fancy graphics for their inaugural machine but for the cost of it and the day and age of technology I would have expected far more... maybe something like an animated pictured of the beverage being made along with it's progress or a video even of the beverage. Instead, we have a simple progress bar that if you look hard enough, you can count the pixels used to create the graphic on the low cost screen! For a quality mixed drink in the Bartesian, you've got to do more than pop the capsules into the machine and press mix. To clean the Bartesian, wipe down the machine with a damp cloth. Remove the capsule holder, water container, spirit reservoirs and drip tray from the machine, wash with warm, soapy water and allow to dry before replacing. There is also a “Rinse/Clean” setting on the machine that you can run if you haven’t used your Bartesian in a while.

Seemingly inexpensive, painted plastic that all too easily can scratch and buff given the high retail price. So, overall, it's a great product in theory. I've wasted pods from them spraying all over - without any indication Bart is fixing that. I've had to clean "pod juice" off of other pods because they arrive broken. I've had to go hunting throughout my house looking for a small silicon washer because one fell off which shouldn't.Spiced Old Fashioned - this was in last years collection - disappointed it was included. It's not bad, but you really have to like drinks that are basically just whiskey. Like last year, I add a good bit of apple cider, which makes it taste similar to the apple pie, so I don't waste the pods. Wouldn't want it again, but it's in the collection again..whomp whomp. Bartesian sent me several different drink pods for testing. The pods are largely sugar-based, with natural flavors. This is reassuring, as I was a little worried the syrups might be corn-based or otherwise laden with artificial flavoring. The cosmopolitan pods use cranberry juice concentrate, the margarita pods use lime juice concentrate, the rum breeze pods use pineapple juice concentrate, and there's not a hint of corn syrup to be found anywhere. Sure, it isn’t fresh-squeezed juice, but these are shelf-stable pods. I enjoy entertaining and cooking and mixing drinks. With this it’s like having help. I show people how to use it and they help themselves. They even make me drinks. Mint Julip - Tastes like toothpaste. If you're a fan of mint, or Mojito-like drinks then this one is for you. Decent drink output, but threw it away.