The idea behind the Barsys Coaster is simple – you pour the drink and the coaster tells you when to stop. Mix the correct ingredients and you’ve got yourself a breezy cocktail in no time. Sure, an ordinary cocktail jigger and a half-decent recipe will get you there as well, while saving you Rs 8,000 along the way. But would it grab eyeballs and make a cool addition to your bar? Probably not. The Coaster 2.0 leans into its flashy gimmick while also nailing the basic measurement tasks to perfection. We used it for a few days for all our mixology needs – be it shaking up a martini or stirring an old fashioned. Here is our in-depth review of the Barsys Coaster 2.0.
Read Also: Samsung Galaxy A55 5G, Galaxy A35 India pricing revealed: Details
In This Article
Barsys Coaster 2.0 review: Design
Inside the Barsys Coaster 2.0 retail box, you will find the following items.
- Smart coaster
- USB Type-C to Type-C cable
- User manual
The Coaster 2.0’s design is neater and more streamlined than its previous iteration. The aluminium body brings rigidity to the device and its brushed texture offers a nice contrast to the glass panel in the middle. This aluminium frame is separated by an LED light that runs around the circumference and acts as a measurement indicator. The glass panel in the middle of the coaster is bordered by this LED light strip as well.
The bottom of the coaster has a rubber-like panel which keeps it firmly fixed to the bar or kitchen counter. There is no display on the device. The aluminium frame houses the USB Type-C port in a small protruding notch. The coaster has a diameter of 127mm. It is 22mm high. There are two colour variants on offer – Matte Black and Silver.
While Barsys has not mentioned any IP rating for this coaster, it remained unaffected by small splashes during the review period. The surface of the coaster is easy to wipe in case of an accidental spill. The product comes with a 1-year warranty.
Barsys Coaster 2.0 review: Performance
Connecting the Barsys Coaster 2.0 to your smartphone is an easy process. The companion app for the coaster is available on Android and iOS platforms. Once installed, all you need to do is hit the Bluetooth icon on the app to pair it with the coaster.
The Barsys Coaster app unlocks the true potential of the device. You can find tons of recipes sorted by liquor, mixer, flavour, and other useful categories. You can also follow your favourite mixologists and look up their recipes in the app itself. Each recipe lists the ingredients, required measurements, glass type, garnishes, and crafting instructions.
To use the coaster for measuring your pours, you need to hit ‘Craft’. Once that’s done, the app will prompt you to place the glass on the coaster, followed by the liquors and mixers you need to pour. If you’re using a plastic glass to make a drink, they need to have ice in them to register on the device.
When you start pouring the liquor into the glass, the white LED light around the coaster starts turning blue like a progress bar. A green light indicates that the correct measurement has been poured. After that, the app prompts you to pour the next ingredient, following the same process. While this works seamlessly for the most part, extra pours are not too uncommon, given it takes the LED a fraction of a second to turn green.
We did run into a slight bug while using the Android app for the Barsys Coaster. After pouring the final ingredient, the app failed to register that the drink had been completed. We experienced this issue on two different Android devices. Other than that, the coaster did not measure 1oz pours when it wasn’t connected to the app, something that Barsys claims it can do. Hopefully, these issues will be patched in an OTA update.
The companion app for the coaster has a ‘My Bar’ section which lets you list your bar inventory and catalogue your bar collection. You can scan the barcode on your bottle or enter it manually. The former takes some time to register the bottle in the inventory. Once you’ve entered your liquor and mixers, the app recommends you drink recipes based on those ingredients. You can upload your recipes and save them on the app as well.
This is about as far as you can stretch the Coaster 2.0 when it comes to functionality. The LED lighting around the device stays on when it is connected to the power source. However, there is no option to customise the lighting on this device. Given it supports multiple colours, Barsys could have added them to standby mode as well.
Read Also: Top 5 ways to track the price history of any Amazon product (2024)
Verdict
Even though the functional value of the Coaster 2.0 doesn’t exceed that of a cocktail jigger, its aesthetics deserve some props. We’d like it if the device leaned more into the novelty item bit and offered more customisation options. Even without that, the Coaster 2.0 brings a lot of flair to your bar setup. If it’s worth splurging Rs 8,000 is something for you to decide.
Barsys Coaster 2.0: Pros
- Great design
- Tons of recipes in the companion app
- Attractive guiding mechanism
Barsys Coaster 2.0: Cons
- No options to customise the LED lighting while the device is on standby
- Buggy Android app
- Pricey
