The best drip coffee makers we've tested
Best drip coffee maker: Gevi 10-Cup Coffee Maker with Grinder
Best drip coffee maker for full-bodied coffee: De'Longhi TrueBrew
Best drip coffee maker for cold brew: Braun MultiServe
Best drip coffee maker for pour-over coffee lovers: Ratio Six Coffee Maker
Best drip coffee maker for iced coffee: Zojirushi Dome Brew Coffee Maker
Best smart coffee maker: Café Specialty Grind and Brew Coffee Maker
There are many brewing methods to choose from when deciding how you want to enjoy a daily cup of coffee (e.g., dalgona whipped, French press and pour-over). But many java lovers still rely on the classic, automatic drip for their daily fix. There’s something about the familiarity of using one of the best drip coffee makers that so perfectly complements your morning routine.
That’s why we tested a variety of the best-rated drip coffee makers by using a wide range of criteria (outlined below) over several weeks. Put plainly, we drank a lot of coffee to find the best. Bags upon bags of dark roast, light roast and medium roast coffee beans from our favorite coffee subscriptions were ground and brewed. We made full carafes, half carafes and single-serve cups. We tasted the results black, then with cow’s milk, almond milk and sweetened condensed milk, and finally, we tasted the results in cold-brew strength over ice.
After testing this great batch of machines, we settled on several great drip coffee maker recommendations for you, whatever your coffee taste or budget.
The Gevi 10-Cup Coffee Maker delivers a luxurious drip coffee experience for the same price as more basic machines. The built-in grinder and its ability to dial in ground size and strength make it a truly amazing drip coffee maker that would feel at home in almost anybody’s kitchen.
The De’Longhi TrueBrew brings the coffeehouse to your kitchen with the touch of a few buttons. It can grind and brew whole beans or standard grounds, and the Bean Extract technology delivers the strongest, purest flavor out of your coffee to ensure every cup is divine.
The Braun MultiServe is a standard drip coffee maker with some not-so-standard options. The machine lets you dial in your serving size and brew type, and it even allows you to make a delicious batch of cold brew.
The Ratio Six Coffee Maker automates the pour-over coffee process, producing rounded, flavorful coffee without the fuss of keeping track of temperature and pouring rate. It's great for newcomers to the style.
The Zojirushi Dome is among the slowest brewing machines we tested, but it produces strong hot brews and delicate, flavorful iced coffee.
With its built-in burr grinder, the ability to brew anything from a cup to a full carafe of bold coffee and a well-designed, actually useful app, the Cafe Specialty is a great choice if you like to geek out on your morning cup.?
Best drip coffee maker: Gevi 10-Cup Coffee Maker
At first glance Gevi’s 10-Cup Coffee Maker might appear to be a standard, though elegant-looking machine. Then you notice the built-in grinder, the attention to craftsmanship (from the stainless steel to its curving lines), a few knobs to dial in strength and you realize that it’s a cut above most comparably-priced drip coffee machines.
Freshly ground coffee beans enhance any cup of joe but it can be a pain to grind them yourself, and that usually requires a separate device in your kitchen. With Gevi’s 10-Cup Coffee Maker you simply pour the whole beans into the top, fill the reservoir in back, and dial in the grind setting using the knob on top of the machine. You simply have to hit the on button and in 10 minutes you’ve gone from whole beans to roasted, rich coffee.
Temperature-wise it’s also one of the easiest to drink fresh out of the pot. While obviously coffee is supposed to be hot, it’s nice when you can take a sip almost the second you brew it. Don’t think that means it’s cold or will cool down too quickly, though. You can set up the hot plate to keep your 10-cup carafe warm for up to 2 hours.
Even though Gevi’s 10-Cup Coffee Maker has a built-in grinder and the ability to dial in your ground size and your coffee’s strength, the machine requires basically no set up (though they do recommend you run water through it before brewing your beans). After a brew you simply clean out the removable and included reusable filter and you’re ready for the next round.
The 10-Cup Coffee Maker also has a comprehensive 1-year warranty and provides customer service even after that, ensuring a worry-free experience. You do have to clean it out after your first 30 brews and descale it but that helps ensure your 100th cup tastes as good as your first.
Few drip coffee makers offer this much quality and performance for the price. Gevi’s 10-Cup Coffee Maker is sure to be an impressive addition to your kitchen that will elicit wows from your guests as the grinder kicks on to deliver a fresh, delicious cup.
Best drip coffee maker for full-bodied coffee: De’Longhi TrueBrew
If you like full-bodied cups of coffee, De’Longhi’s TrueBrew is the machine you need. The key to the amazing flavor is De’Longhi’s Infuser, a central part of its Bean Extract Technology. Using the TrueBrew is simple enough: pour whole beans into the top, place anything ranging from a cup to a 20-ounce carafe under the drip outlet, then set your brew style and let it get to work.
It’s worth noting that the TrueBrew has a few instructions you need to read, mainly around its warning lights that signal when to fill the reservoir or empty the used grounds container. Cleaning the TrueBrew is quite a process, too. It requires you to pull the Infuser entirely out of the machine to soak it. This isn’t a deal breaker but does add to the machine’s learning curve.
Beyond that, the complexity of the machine is part of its beauty. And I do mean beauty. Its stainless steel complements the sleek black frame, and the fact you can see the bean container on top gives it a nice crown. It’s even quite compact and takes up less room than you’d think.
If you don’t always want freshly ground, whole bean drip, De’Longhi’s TrueBrew has a special funnel for ground coffee too. You do have to use a special setting for pre-ground, and it limits your ability to choose what type of coffee you get, but it’s perfect for that simple pot of standard brew in the morning (though you do need to provide your own carafe to do this, unless you purchase the model that comes with one). The different brew types help dial in your coffee experience, too. You can choose from Light, Gold or, for the strong at heart, Bold settings. There is also a setting for coffee over ice, where the machine adapts the size of the pour to the fact it’s getting poured into an ice-filled container.
I highly recommend reading the manual before setting up this machine, as even setting the clock and timers can be difficult. But once you understand the settings menu, you can set the timer so your brew finishes just as you get up. You may notice how loud the combination of the bean grinder and the Bean Extract tech is in the morning, though it can be a helpful addition to your morning alarm.
The sum of the TrueBrew’s parts adds up to a lot. And that’s exactly what this machine brings to your morning: A lot. On one hand, this coffee maker has many moving parts and proper use requires reading the instruction manual. It’s also got a hefty price tag. But once you understand its operation, the machine executes several complex brew processes smoothly and easily with little more than the push of a few buttons.?The result of those processes is the best-tasting cup of coffee we’ve gotten straight out of our drip coffee machines. If you’re dedicated to that perfect cup of java, De’Longhi’s TrueBrew delivers.
Best drip coffee maker for cold brew: Braun Multiserve
Braun’s MultiServe gives you a whole set of options for dialing in your coffee experience without getting too fancy. The machine is plug-and-play right out of the box, and while it has an easy-to-set clock and timer, the real magic lies in the ability to customize your brew.
You start by choosing your size, from a 5-ounce cup to a full carafe, all by simply turning a dial. Once you know how much coffee you want, it’s time to figure out how you want it. With the hit of a button, you can choose Over Ice, Cold Brew, Gold or Bold, all of which have specific buttons. The drip coffee came through full flavored and free from any residue or flavor-ruining additives, thanks to the gold filter that comes with the MultiServe.
Of course, few things are better on a hot day than a good-tasting cold brew, and this is one of the few drip coffee machines we tried that has such an option. If you’re used to nitro cold brew, I should tell you that this is not that. Think of it as a cold drip coffee, which goes down more smoothly and with less acid than a normal pot of coffee. We timed it at less than 14 minutes for the cold brew (while the hot brew comes out in just under nine minutes), which is considerably less than the standard cold brew steep time of 12 to 24 hours.
Of the machines we tried, the Braun MultiServe is one of the biggest, so if your kitchen counter space is limited, there are other machines we recommend that are thinner. On the other hand, there are few models on this list with such an easy interface that allows so many brew options without changing accessories or parts.
Beyond its benefits, the Braun MultiServe has a three-year limited warranty, and the brand strongly stands behind the quality of its machine and components. If you like to customize your coffee experience and love cold brew, there are few options better than the Braun MultiServe.
Best drip coffee maker for pour-over: Ratio Six Coffee Maker
The Ratio Six Coffee Maker is a sleek brewer that automates the pour-over coffee process. It works more like a traditional drip coffee maker (and does more of the work for you) than the Balmuda Brew pour-over machine — and most importantly, it can brew a whole carafe rather than a single cup at a time, meaning you can serve your whole family or all of your guests at once.
With practice, you can produce a single glorious cup of pour-over coffee by hand, but the Ratio Six lets you get great results immediately by dialing in the water temperature and rate of your pour, which otherwise you’d have to monitor yourself (and learn to do so by trial and error). If you’re early on in your pour-over coffee journey the Ratio Six very likely does a better job than you can, producing a satisfying, rounded cup of coffee right away.
The Ratio Six doesn’t have a timer; but a full pot was ready in under eight minutes. And the simplicity of the design — you hit the button at the base to start or pause the operation — means you’ll quickly know what to do once you’ve unboxed the machine.
Touch the button at the base to start and the Ratio Six has two automatic modes: bloom and brew. The bloom cycle showers down hot water to wet the grounds with a brief pause built in (about 30 seconds) to let the grounds soak up the water. This stage is akin to opening a bottle of wine to let it breathe as the aromas and flavor of the coffee start to be released.
The Ratio Six feels sturdy; but it’s only 8 pounds, so it’s easy to take and off the counter. It’s got a flat bottom filter basket, which helps with water evenly soaking the grounds, that fits a No. 4 paper filter. A heat shield goes on top of the basket and around the brew head to help retain heat.
During the brew cycle, you can see the boiler bubble and water release evenly into the filter basket to run through the presoaked grounds. You can pause the brewing cycle — to grab a cup — by removing the carafe or holding the start button for a few seconds. After the ready button blinks, wait about 30 seconds for the final drips to enter the coffeepot.
The carafe held coffee hot for several hours although coffee did occasionally spill out of the side of the spout if the angle was too steep. The large opening of the carafe made it easy to rinse and towel dry.
The Ratio Six has a high price tag; but a five-year warranty should make you feel better about the investment. The modern machine makes 40 ounces of coffee (eight cups) and comes in matte black, matte stainless or white.
Best drip coffee maker for iced coffee: Zojirushi Dome Brew Coffee Maker
The Zojirushi Dome Brew Coffee Maker requires a bit of patience as?a 12-cup carafe will take nearly 15 minutes to brew, making it one of the slowest machines we tested. But your patience will be rewarded, though, with strong hot brews and delicate iced coffee.
The squared-off, stainless steel machine can be programmed to run up to 24 hours in advance (you can’t set a schedule; you’ll need to set the brew time for first thing in the morning when you load up the machine before you go to bed), which helps because this is a coffee maker that brews significantly slower than the competition. With a dedicated iced coffee setting and button for one to four cups, you can produce coffee in varying amounts and strengths. Smaller batches benefit from the Bold setting, where a slide adjusts how quickly the water is released through the shower head onto the grounds below.
The glass carafe has a wide, sturdy handle and slides under a silicone sheath, which helps trap heat and makes sure you’re pouring a warm cup. The carafe has distinct markings for iced and hot coffee to keep your measurements straight. The Zojirushi uses No. 4 paper cone filters, but those are inexpensive and widely available.
The iced coffee setting, which turns off the heating plate, is noteworthy. It produced iced coffee that accentuated stone fruit notes in light roast coffee without being weak or bitter. The manufacturer recommends 24 ice cubes for six cups of iced coffee (the minimum brew size); but we had better results using two-thirds of their suggested amount, which avoided too much dilution of the flash brew. You can always add more ice to the glass.
The cord is short, so you’ll want to have an outlet close to where you’ll put your coffee maker. If you don’t need a timer, a classic option? is available for about $40 less — but we think the long brew time makes it worth investing in the programmable machine that gets started as you’re waking up.
Best smart coffee maker: Café Specialty Grind and Brew Coffee Maker
The Café Specialty Grind and Brew Coffee Maker, a new model from GE’s high-end appliance line, has a striking design that looks like it belongs at the center of your coffee bar, and it backs that up with a bold, bright brew. It’s also the rare smart appliance that actually benefits from app control.?The gleaming machine takes care of everything but buying the beans, with a built-in burr grinder and options for adjusting the temperature, brew strength and batch size from a cup on up to a pot.
The brewer can brew either a full pot (it comes with a thermal carafe that holds up to 10 cups) or can brew a single cup or travel mug from 6 to 24 ounces. Both options produced bright, hot coffee without bitterness. The heavy-duty thermal carafe kept our coffee warm for two hours and a handy timer tells you how many minutes ago the coffee was brewed.
The built-in coffee grinder holds roughly 6 ounces of beans (the manufacturer says its total capacity is 7 ounces or 200 grams), and provides six settings. You can also skip the grinder and add pre-ground coffee. The grinder was effective, giving us good results as we’d expect from a grinder meant to work as part of a system like this, and reasonably quiet.
The Café Specialty Grind and Brew Coffee Maker can sync to your smart device via the Smart HQ app; it can also be set up to respond to Alexa or Google voice controls. The app lets you adjust the brew strength (light, medium or bold) and temperature (between 185 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit), add on bloom time and select the number of cups you’ll brew. Once you’ve got your coffee dialed in using these parameters (strength, temperature and amount of coffee), you can save everything for later use — the machine lets you save three different favorite presets.
You can even fill the Café Specialty with beans and water and program the app to prepare coffee up to a week ahead of time (if you’re making a cup for yourself in the morning it’ll have it ready for you every day — though you still have to wash the filter and empty the grounds, so you’re not quite living in the future yet). The machine can also remind you when to reorder a new charcoal filter for the water and if it needs to be descaled. The app is easy to operate and also really useful.
There are a few minor downsides. The menu interface on the machine itself is a bit less impressive than the app. There are a lot of buttons that let you access the features, and manually cycling through the options to get to what you want isn’t difficult, but we felt there was a lot of button-pushing compared to the app. If you’re someone who wants to regularly adjust the temperature or strength to account for different beans, you might find yourself relying on your phone rather than the onboard interface.
We also found that the grinder was a little messy to use —?each time we used it, a small amount of coffee grounds became trapped between the grinder and the top of the filter basket. We found it somewhat irritating to wipe it clean after each use, a small additional — but necessary — step beyond rinsing the included reusable filter (which is also dishwasher-safe).
The wide array of features comes with a higher price tag, but the machine only has a one-year limited warranty. It also has a big footprint and takes up a lot of space, roughly the size of a superautomatic espresso machine like the Philips 3200 LatteGo. At nearly 17 inches tall, this coffee machine will not fit under every cabinet and is more suited to sitting on an island or on a coffee bar than a small galley kitchen.
Still, we found the Café Speciality got the important things right, and smart appliance fans will enjoy a hot, strong brew that is only a few taps of your phone away.
How we tested
The testing process for these coffee makers was intensive, lasting several weeks. We evaluated each machine based on what would be most important to the user — namely, functionality, durability and design. We tested each machine at least twice (four to eight times for some) with both dark and light roast freshly ground beans. We did a programmed/timed brew when available, and tested the additional functions of the more specialty machines (single-cup, cold brew, tea, milk frothing). We took notes about every machine’s unboxing, read every instruction manual, handled each machine’s hardware, timed the brew of each machine and noted the temperature of the resulting coffee.
We tasted and weighed in on (and had others taste and weigh in on) the user experience. We got acquainted as much as possible with each of these machines, becoming fond of a good many of them. These were our testing categories and their breakdowns:
Brew function
- Optimal temperature: We didn’t take the actual temperature of the coffee from each machine because we don’t think that’s how the average coffee drinker evaluates home brewing — experts recommend that coffee be brewed at between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit and served immediately at 180 to 185 degrees — but we scored the perceived temp of each brew against all the others. We tasted each cup immediately after brewing, black and then with added cold milk, and we recorded the results.
- Taste: The taste of coffee is, obviously, subjective. Two people could spend a lifetime tasting the different coffee varietals and never agree on one. That being said, we tested each machine with both a dark roast and a light roast, keeping the amount of grounds consistent to the machine’s directions. As a result, some machines that recommended using more grounds yielded stronger brews; in those instances, we retested with less grounds accordingly.
- Time to brew: For each carafe brewed, we timed the process on an iPhone timer, both for a full carafe and half. For those machines that made single cups, we timed that process as well.
- Heat retention: We noted whether the machine brewed into a glass or a thermal carafe, and how hot the coffee remained a half hour to an hour after brewing.
- User-friendliness: We did an initial scan of each machine, evaluating whether a new customer would be able to brew coffee without reading the instruction manual. We then assessed whether the design of each machine is immediately intuitive, and on a more micro level, we assessed the settings and buttons on the face of the machine, the markings on the water tank and carafe, how easy the carafe is to fill and the design of the brew basket.
- Volume yield: We noted how many ounces each machine can brew.
- Programmability: We recorded if you can program the machine to brew at a set time.
Durability
- Everyday durability: For this category, we assessed how the machine responded to being handled during setup, filling the water tank, adding the grounds, removing and replacing carafe to serve, and cleanup as well as how durable the hardware felt.
- Build quality: We noted what materials the machine is built from (e.g., plastic, metal, brushed metal, glass, etc.) and the tangible feel of each machine in a user’s hands.
- Serviceability: We noted the ease of opening and taking apart the removable parts of each machine, in the case it would need to be serviced.
Setup and breakdown
- Ease of assembly: We observed how long it took to unbox the machine, put it together and do an initial water flush before the product could be used.
- Size of machine: We assessed how much counter space each machine took up and how easy it is to move and store.
- Ease of clean: After each brewing, we took note of how easy it was to clean the brew basket, the carafe and the surrounding hardware.
Aesthetics
- First impression: We observed our first impression of each machine, noting details of design, color, size and feel as well as if this machine looked attractive on our counter.
- Color options: We researched if the machine came in any colors besides black.
Warranty
- We checked the number of years of warranty of each machine.
Other drip coffee makers we tested
We brewed countless pots of coffee with the BrewSense, ranging from light to dark roast, and each one yielded a strong, delicious cup with no sediment, thanks to the gold-tone filter designed to remove the bitterness from coffee as well reduce single-use paper-filter waste. The machine we tested was white — a nice option for those with a more modern kitchen design — but it also comes in black, and it’s compact enough to fit under the cabinets in a smaller space, compared to some of the more cumbersome machines we tested.
The BrewSense is straightforward to operate. It’s designed like a traditional automatic drip machine with manual operating buttons, but with a sleek, modern upgrade. The hardware is a sophisticated combination of brushed metal and plastic, with a glass carafe that feels comfortable in the hand.
The Braun BrewSense Drip Coffee Maker produced consistently delicious, hot cups of coffee, brewed efficiently and cleanly, from sleek, relatively compact hardware that is turnkey to operate, and all for a reasonable price.
The BrewSense doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles compared to some of the machines we tested, but we still liked its functional ease. You could unbox this machine, flush it with water once and have a freshly brewed cup within 15 minutes, all without reading the manual. Brewing is also a nearly silent process, which can be pleasing on early mornings. Some consumers may want a machine loaded with special features, but for those who want delicious, hot coffee every morning, without spending over a hundred bucks, this is your best bet.
The BrewSense isn’t perfect. It’s not the fastest we tested: To brew a full pot of 12 cups took upwards of 11 minutes. And we found an annoying error in the instruction manual around how to program the clock (call us rigid, but we insisted on programming the time before using each of the machines!); the directions read to press and hold Clock and then Set, but that didn’t work. We had to simply press and hold the Clock button and then sort of trial-and-error our way through the hours and minutes. Meanwhile, the auto-program setup is not as obvious as we’d have liked. Though once we got it, it worked like a dream. But otherwise, we found this machine intuitive and easy to operate, even without the instruction manual.
Cleanup could, at times, be a little messier than some of our other machines. The hot water comes up through the filter basket and spreads the grounds up to the top of the cone, and during one brewing, a tiny bit rose up outside the cone so the top of the brew apparatus needed a little wipedown. Overall, though, for less than $80, this machine delivers the best bang for your buck of anything on the market.
This was, to our eye, the most handsome and minimally designed of the straightforward auto-brewers, delivering a clean, tasty cup. It lost first place only because the touch screen itself may not be for every consumer, and brew time is significantly longer than the other machines we tried out.
We rated all three Cuisinarts highly but the Touchscreen ranked highest for its combination of progressive design and everyday efficacy. All the Cuisinart products we encountered were well designed but this feels special, like when you unbox a brand-new Apple product: Its all-black, shiny surfaces and touchscreen control panel look and feel next-level for an everyday coffee maker.
But this isn’t just a fancy, aesthetically pleasing machine: It brewed strong, delicious coffee that tasted cleanly filtered but rich. It’s also relatively easy to program and use. The touchscreen panel features cute little icons signifying one-touch commands to help customize your brew: If you like your coffee bolder, you can select the BOLD feature; if you’re brewing less than half a pot, select the one to four cups feature for a slower brew with the proper extraction time; adjust the hot plate temperature to low, medium or high; turn the audible brew-cycle-finished tone on or off.
As exciting and different as this machine felt, it is less intuitive and more laborious than some consumers would want as part of their morning coffee routine. The touch screen goes dark during the brewing process which feels a bit jarring. The settings and operating buttons are clear enough when illuminated but it did take us a few times brewing to get used to how much pressure you need to apply with your fingertip to the touch screen.
Also, like its Cuisinart cousins we tested, this one’s a slower brewer. We clocked 11 minutes for eight cups which seemed like forever. We understand the appeal of a slower brewing process (pour-over and Chemex fans, we hear you) but 12 to 14 minutes for a full pot of coffee seems like a long time to wait when you’re thirsty for your morning Joe and not doing it by hand. Finally, not everyone will want to spend more than $200 on a coffee maker.
An upgrade to an old favorite, the Technivorm Moccamaster KBGV Coffee Brewer can turn out a half or full carafe of perfectly brewed coffee, and the process is just as entrancing to watch.
This streamlined machine, handmade in the Netherlands since 1968, is a thoughtful mix of industrial and modern design that will appeal to coffee fanatics and design enthusiasts alike. It comes in various eye-popping colors ranging from pink (the model we tested) to a bright orange that will wake you up before you even take your first sip of coffee.
The machine is a joy to watch in action too. Once you turn it on, the brew starts immediately. Then, seeing the water heat in the tank and bubble up through the water transfer tube into the brewer was a throwback to middle-school science experiments in the most pleasing way, like if a lava lamp produced fresh hot coffee after a few mesmerizing undulations.
And after all that, the Moccamaster produces superior drip coffee — it’s not just popular for its looks. Any setting gets you a bright java with a great aroma. The coffee was best when drunk fresh, but a second cup after an hour retained a lot of the subtle notes in lighter roasts.
The Moccamaster KBGV does require a bit of effort to use when compared to simpler drip coffee machines. As with all these devices, you’ll have to add the grounds and a paper filter (a No. 4 in this case). You’ll also need to take some care as you remove the basket so you don’t dislodge the outlet arm and reservoir lid. It’s less than 30 seconds of effort and you’ll quickly get used to it. But it is more time and thought than you’ll put in with more traditional designs.
While it doesn’t have a timer, the Moccamaster KBGV is blazing fast at brewing: it can brew a full carafe in six minutes (or up to six cups in roughly four minutes) and will pause brewing if you need to grab a cup before the coffee is done. The hot plate is programmed to stay on for 100 minutes after brewing is finished, and the glass carafe holds heat well.
The Moccamaster KBGV is expensive (though a five-year warranty eases the sting). But the bottom line is that its superior coffee justifies the higher price and the rainbow of colors makes this coffee machine stand out.
Budget-friendly and reliable, the Krups Simply Brew coffee maker won't wow you with any smart features, but it will brew a quality cup of java. It is a little smaller than others in this guide, so keep that in mind before purchasing.
The Krups Simply Brew Coffee Maker is aptly named as once you turn on the power, the petite 10-cup coffee maker gets brewing.
The small profile makes this the kind of lightweight coffee machine you could tuck into a drawer when you’re not using it. But it’s priced slightly higher than comparable machines and doesn’t offer any features other than a permanent filter (you can also use No. 4 paper filters).
The lid of the carafe is fine for pouring, but gets in the way if you’re using the carafe to fill the water tank. Coffee brews quickly — a whole pot is ready in under 10 minutes — but the brew was a bit thin. The Krups get points for allowing you to sneak a cup mid-brew without dripping onto the hot plate below. The hot plate runs for 60 minutes and the thin glass carafe did a surprisingly good job of holding heat.
The Oxo Brew 9-Cup Coffee Maker has the slim profile of a single-serving coffee machine with the ability to make enough for a cup and a refill for your brunch crowd.
The Oxo brewed strong, hot coffee in larger batches (five to nine cups); but the results were less consistent with smaller batches (two cups is the smallest pot you can make). One four-cup pot was thin while another had the right depth. The design is similar to the Ratio Six, but the coffee wasn’t at the same level as the other machine.
The Oxo is convenient. You can program it to brew coffee for your morning or remove the carafe amid the brew cycle to pour yourself a cup. The carafe did an effective job of keeping coffee warm for 60 minutes. The machine shuts off the hot plate after an hour.
The carafe and lid have to be hand-washed but the internal parts (the brew basket, showerhead, and silicone mixing tube) can all be cleaned on the top shelf of the dishwasher. After brewing there’s condensation in the brew chamber and water tank, so you’ll have to flip the top open on one and come back later in the day to let the other side air dry. It’s a bit more effort than we wanted to keep the machine clean, although you could speed the process up with a quick wipe of a soft towel.
The control knob took a minute to figure out but it was easy to switch between choices once the clock was set. The Oxo is a subdued mix of black and stainless steel, well-suited to brewing bigger batches of coffee that let you sneak a cup if you need it.
The Smeg Drip Coffee Maker is like a gleaming Easter egg, a rounded coffee machine that sticks out in a crowd of boxy, stainless steel competitors. It makes decent coffee too.
The Smeg Drip Coffee Maker is a unique, vintage-looking machine that makes reliable tasty coffee. The reusable filter is easy to clean, the glass carafe is a slick reincarnation of a diner coffeepot and the 60-minute warmer feature effectively keeps coffee hot for a full hour.
The Smeg is easy to learn but the controls are clunky. The toggle on the side to set the clock felt like a carnival game too difficult to win. The water tank, while tucked in back, has a slightly narrow opening making it likely you’ll splash a bit of water onto the grounds. The water line set against a gray background can be difficult to read in early morning sunlight.
The coffee was robust and hot and the option to make a half carafe of four cups was effective. This is a handsome coffee machine — one meant to be displayed — but enough steam releases out of the top of the machine that you wouldn’t want to store this under a cabinet.
The Hot and Cold Brewed System from Ninja brewed an excellent pot of hot coffee in less than five minutes, as well as a tasty single cup (in multiple sizes). It also brews coffee intended to be served directly over ice, an option many consumers will like.
We tested two Ninja machines, both of which have some very appealing features. We love the cool, minimalist glass carafe of the Hot and Cold Brewed System, though the lid features a big hole in the middle for pouring, which can lead to some splashing.
This machine, though prolific in function, lost points because the water tank — plastic with prominent ridges — feels cheap and devolves the user experience a bit (with this machine, thankfully, the plastic tank is in the back, hidden from view, but does need to be handled every time you add water). Another problem with this machine: The water tank doesn’t have marking measurements, only half carafe, and full carafe, and two sizes of single cup. Without ounce or cup markings, how does one know how much water to add versus the amount of coffee grounds?
The Ninja machines come with a special-sized coffee scoop, different amounts on each end of the scoop but it was bothersome that the water and the coffee amounts couldn’t be more standardized without relying only on the provided removable accessories (which, for the record, are cute — there’s a removable frothing wand). A lot of performance features with this machine also mean a busy control panel that also feels a bit high-maintenance.
The Ninja Specialty 10-Cup Coffee Maker brews a very nice cup of hot fresh coffee and has nifty added functions like various sizes of individual cups, half and full carafes, and an over-ice option.
The Ninja Specialty is similar to the Hot and Cold Brewed System but with one major difference: The water tank is adjacent to the brew basket and visible. This brews a very nice cup of coffee and even has an over-ice option for those who prefer iced coffee. The placement of the water tank makes this one less appealing than the hot and cold option, though, and the tank feels flimsy and cheap, a factor that’s difficult to overlook in user experience. For those who like the Ninja brand products (it makes blenders and other items), there’s a lot of function for your buck here.
The PerfecTemp from Cuisinart is one of the more basic coffee machines we tested but it routinely churned out quality cups of hot coffee. It takes a long time to brew, though.
The most basic of the Cuisinart options we tested, this one brewed a nearly perfect cup at, for this reviewer, a perfectly hot temp (even after adding significant cold milk, we still had a steaming hot cup), thanks to an adjustable carafe temp. This machine is solid and well-designed, with one downside: Brewing time was 14 minutes for eight cups, nearly double the time of some of the other brewers we tested.
This is a quality option for anyone who is shopping for a drip coffee maker on a budget. It's basic but straightforward and easy to operate. Plus, it churns out quality pots of coffee.
The most affordable automatic drip machine we tested, the Black & Decker 12-cup, is also a solid choice. It brewed eight tasty cups in eight short minutes — overall a good user experience. Hardware-wise, it felt a bit less durable than its closest rival, the Mr. Coffee but it’s programmable and super easy for near the cost of two lattes with an extra shot.
The Breville Precision Brewer brewed a good pot of coffee but we didn’t find it hot enough. The apparatus is beautifully designed, with sleek brushed metal and a lightweight, handsome carafe lovely enough to join a brunch table.
We were giddy upon opening this fancy brewer with much to offer: standard brew, fast, gold (what even is that, I wondered at first glance!), cold brew, single cup (with a sold-separately attachment), and a customizable to your preferences setting. The options are exciting, but also overwhelming. The user is prompted to enter the consistency of their water, on a hard to soft scale — do all home coffee drinkers know the texture of their tap water? Also, does the average coffee drinker know what Gold Cup certification is? These feel like niche details for an automatic drip machine.
Big picture, the Breville brewed a nice pot of coffee but for some reason, we just didn’t find it near hot enough to our liking. We also found this machine to be… well, too much. Too much hardware — it doesn’t fit easily under our cabinets. Too many options — we needed to read up on a bunch of coffee wisdom before we could even set up the machine to our preferences. There are lots of users who would find this machine hits the sweet spot of function and sophistication, and enjoy exploring all of its specialties, but for those looking for turnkey coffee-making, this is a little extra.
The Balmuda The Brew lets you make pour-over quality coffee in a process as simple as using an ordinary drip coffee machine.
A true single-serve coffee maker, Balmuda The Brew occupies a unique spot in the coffee universe. It offers easy — if expensive — access to craft pour-over coffee. It’s really for serious coffee enthusiasts, those who already own a good grinder, maybe already have a great?espresso machine?and want equally good pour-over coffee from a similarly interesting device. Its ability to make great iced coffee is also a real bonus in warm weather, though you’ll have to decide if it’s worth the price of admission.