Varia VS4: World of Coffee 2026 Best New Consumer Product

We've always thought that the Varia VS4 was an incredible grinder, but this year you could call it award winning. Every year the World of Coffee hosts a competition for the best new consumer product. Manufacturers in attendance at the show can submit products for consideration to be evaluated by a panel of judges. In truth, there are actually several winners as products are grouped into five categories:

• Coffee Accessories & People’s Choice
• Consumer Coffee Preparation & Serving
• Commercial Coffee Preparation & Serving
• Specialty Coffee Consumables
• Open Class

This year Varia Brewing submitted two products, the VS4 grinder, and an all-new multi-format brewer, the Orbi to the Consumer Coffee Preparation & Serving category. In what could be described as a bit of a sweep, Varia wound up taking both the number one and number two spots in the category with the VS4 coming out on top for 2026.

Category Criteria

Taken directly from the World of Coffee website Consumer Coffee Preparation & Serving is described as:

Any equipment used to prepare or serve coffee or tea in a non-commercial environment to enhance the quality of specialty coffee and tea beverages in the consumer marketplace. For example, grinders, brewers, espresso machines, roasters, thermal pots, and servers.

In fact, it was the same category that the Varia VS6 was submitted to in 2025. While we personally think that the VS6 deserved a win last year, it’s no surprise that the VS4 took the top spot this year.

If you’re not familiar with the VS4, it’s an all-purpose single dosing home espresso grinder. It’s fast, efficient, has low retention and is incredibly easy to open and service. The burrs feature a unique quick-release mechanism that can be unlocked to release the top burr assembly without losing your grind size. For an even more in-depth review you can watch our review video below. I’ve also linked our written review in the related articles section:

The Competition

While it's fair to say that the VS4's strongest competition came from the Orbi, several other high profile manufacturers including Fellow and Flair had submitted products for consideration this year as well. From Fellow, the upcoming companion to their Espresso Series 1 machine the Opus 2 grinder was their entry.

Flair on the other hand put forward their eWizard Electric Milk Steaming Wand. This standalone milk frothing wand is more or less exactly what it sounds like, a countertop frothing wand to accompany the manual Flair Espresso Maker.

In no particular order, other entries included: Coffee Is Home Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. | Roma-X: Mago Maga Smart Home Coffee Bean Roaster V3.0, SPARKFE | Portable Electric Grinder & Hand-Pour Coffee Maker - CAP SERIES, OutIn | LattoPro, Shenzhen Staresso Culture Co., Ltd. | Flavor Matrix Manual Outer Adjustment Coffee Grinder.

A Sneak Peek at Orbi

While still firmly in the "coming soon" category at the moment, Orbi is Varia's new multi-format brewer. Designed for portability, the battery powered Orbi is designed for use at home or on the go, and features several brewing cartridges designed for espresso, filter, capsule and tea brewing.

Orbi uses a pair of scales, the TPS or Total Product Scale to weigh all water and coffee added to the device, and a second scale for measuring brewed coffee. The two work in tandem to brew recipes within 98% accuracy. With a vivid color display and app support, Orbi is poised to shake up the status quo for home brewing while keeping specialty coffee affordable and approachable.

We expect to see the Orbi arrive here at Whole Latte Love sometime later this year, likely between fall and winter.

Final Thoughts

Overall we just want to offer big congratulations to our friend Ramsey Gyde of Varia. We are big fans of his products, so this recognition is much deserved. It also goes without saying, but if you're in the market for an all-purpose, single-dose grinder, the VS4 is more than worth your consideration.

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