Ever need a glass of wine so badly that you truly cannot wait for the bottle to chill in the fridge? At CES 2020, we found something that could very well solve this first-world problem, and it's called Juno.
At first glance, you probably can't tell this thing is actually a countertop appliance that rapidly cools your beverages faster than you can say, "I need a drink." But the sleek-looking device comes equipped with a lid on top and a compartment inside for bottles and cans.
Juno is capable of cooling a 25-ounce bottle to its optimal temperature of 49 degrees Fahrenheit in under five minutes, and a 12-ounce can of beer to 39 degrees Fahrenheit in less than two minutes—basically, every frat boy's dream. This will, of course, cost you: $299, to be exact.
The new device comes from Matrix, the company behind the PowerWatch, which charges itself with your body heat via thermoelectric technology, harvesting the energy that's formed when temperature changes to generate electricity.
With Juno, we're dealing with the opposite effect. It uses thermoelectric cooling (TEC) to remove heat quickly. In conjunction with the TEC, the appliance uses a cold bath as its cooling mechanism, located in the front.
I know, that's a lot of technology that you probably don't care about. So, let's get to the actual process of it.
On the outside, Juno looks sort of like a futuristic computer tower. You'll need to dedicate some counter space for this bad boy, especially if you already have things like a coffee maker or toaster oven.
At the top of the machine are three buttons: One is for power; the other two you can preset with your preferred temperatures.
To set the temperatures, hold down one of the two buttons until it gets to your desired temperature. (The more times you push the button, the colder your drink will be.) As you continue to press the button, the LED bar in the middle will glow to indicate that you're getting toward cooler temperature levels. Repeat the same steps for the second button to choose another preset temperature.
Once preset, every time you press one of the buttons, it will automatically cool your drink to that specific temperature. If you want to reset the one of the buttons, you can just hold it down for a few seconds rather than pressing it once.
The prototype looks a little confusing at first glance, but the final production unit will have indicators alongside the LED light so that it's easy to identify the temperature levels.
Unlike most appliances these days, Juno doesn't have a companion app. The company purposely left it out in an effort to minimize the amount of steps in the process. Which makes sense, considering you're just cooling a drink.
When you're ready to pop in a bottle of wine or can of soda (you can also stack two cans at once), all you need to do is open the lid of the device, slide the drink in, and press one of the preset temperature buttons. It's that easy.
The LED will light up red when it's ready to go and quickly transition to blue as it's cooling, to indicate where it's at in the process. As with a microwave, if it's not exactly how you like it, you can just pop it back in.
I had the chance to experience Juno firsthand. In only a few minutes, my can of Dr. Pepper went from uncomfortably warm to crisp and cool. Even though it was only, like, 9:30 a.m., I reluctantly took a sip (you're welcome), and boy, was it refreshing.
But $299 is a lot. I kept asking myself how much I'd have to drink in order to justify spending that much money. Especially when refrigerators and wine coolers exist.
Not to brag or anything, but I barely drink alcohol during the week, and I grew up on the idea that soda rots your teeth (minus the occasional morning Dr. Pepper).
But when the team brought up coffee... let's just say, I really started listening.
The Juno will come with custom tumblers, which will likely look like your standard travel mugs. You can place the mug inside the Juno to instantly transform a hot cup of coffee into iced coffee—without a bunch of ice diluting the flavor. You can do the same for iced tea, if that's more your vibe.
Juno is currently available for preorder on its website starting at $199. That's a nice $100 off if you act now.
Topics CES
