Tag: best coffee maker

Technivorm Moccamaster 79312 KBGT Coffee Brewer Review

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Moccamasters are iconic coffee brewers, they are SCA certified home brewers and many people love their styling to accent their kitchen countertops. They come in at a premium price point but don’t feel overpriced since they have a solid build quality and reputation. These brewers are hand made in the Netherlands and backed by a five year warranty, something that is unheard of for countertop home appliances. After the five year warranty they will repair any brewer for life (for a fee), something to consider for those of you who hate that most kitchen appliances end up in a landfill after their serviceable life. Most other brewers we review have a one year warranty, after which internal replacement parts are usually impossible to find. You may be able to find a carafe or filter basket, but if the machine’s internals fail you can only throw it out.

The Technivorm Moccamaster 79312 KBGT Coffee Brewer is the version of their brewer with a thermal carafe and has an auto-drip stop feature. The Technivorm Moccamaster 79112 KBT Coffee Brewer version has a manual drip stop that has a full, half open and closed toggle. This is useful if you want to be able to better control the flow rate from the filter basket for different brew sizes. However, as I have said the best way to modulate our coffee’s taste is by adjusting the grind size. I adjust the grind size as needed and allow the more automated KGBT to do its job with brewing, finer for smaller brews and coarser for larger brews. These machines also use a pulse brew method from a shower head that is similar to the way the Oxo and Zojirushi brew, which takes a little longer and yields higher extraction. For this reason if you are using pre-ground coffee, it may tend to be over extracted. 

The KBT has a manual drip stop on the filter basket. We reviewed the KBGT with auto drip stop.

The Moccamaster 53933 KBGV Select Coffee Maker is the classic model with a glass carafe and comes in about 20 different colors to match any decor. However, we advise against using a glass carafe and heat plate as it will start to cook your coffee and degrade the taste after about 20 minutes, for this really we usually recommend brewers that either include a thermal carafe or allow you to brew into your own. Brewers with auto drip stop require that you use the provided carafe or they won’t work. 

The KBGV comes in many colors, but only has a glass carafe.

Bottom line is the brewer makes great coffee as you would expect from any SCA certified home brewer. The carafe has a brew straw to prevent stratification and keep the coffee mixed as it brews. The carafe is solid build quality and no complaints other than the round top makes it hard to do precise pouring, but I never had any issues with spilling or dripping. 

The water tank is attached to the brewer and not removable, the lid is removable. The standing filter basket has its own lid that sits on a perch over the carafe. Once you insert the carafe into the KBGT it will lift the drip stop lever to allow coffee to flow down from the filter basket. There are no settings on the machine other than on and off, however as it is a physical button you can set the machine up the night before and use it with a smart switch if you want to add an aftermarket timer function. 

If you have standard height kitchen cabinets this brewer is not friendly and would need to be pulled out for refilling water. Overall the workflow is decent, but not as easy as other brewers we have recommended on this site. The filter basket needs to be set a certain way and then you have to place the cover on both the water tank and the filter basket. It is really nit picky and most people who don’t review as many coffee makers as I do won’t even notice, but compared to the Ninja and Oxo I just preferred the workflow on those better. 

I think this machine is worth it if you really like the style as well and appreciate high build quality and a long warranty with continuing commitment to service for the machine’s life. The lack of programming options may be a downside for some, but that can be overcome with a timer or smart switch. I may be unique in that I only brew for 1-2 cups of coffee at a time and do not brew traditional large batches of coffee that I use to refill, for this reason I always find myself going back to use my Ninja to brew directly into a mug or else my AeroPress or Pour Over.

See the KBGT user manual here. 

The Best Batch Brewer – Oxo Brew 9 Cup Coffee Maker

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The OXO Brew 9 Cup Coffee Maker is a popular option that has a price point that lands it firmly between high-end and mid-range, however it’s build quality and features lean more toward the high-end. The brewer is SCA Certified, which is an important feature and brews by pulsing hot water over the grounds, rather than having a pre-infusion followed by a constant flow of water like many other brewers we have reviewed. This results in high levels of extraction which means you will likely need to refine your grind size. I noticed this when using the same grind size between my Ninja CM401 and the OXO Brew 9 Cup that the OXO tended to be much more extracted. OXO also makes an 8 Cup brewer that is non-programmable, however we liked the fact you could program the OXO 9 Cup to brew automatically at a set time. 

Other than setting the brewer for large or small brews, auto brew is the only programmable feature on this machine. You do not have the option to adjust brew temperature or length of brew. The operation of the machine is simple, but not intuitive. I had to refer to the manual to learn the basic features. I own other OXO products as well and with those, I am able to operate the machine intuitively. Brew temperatures were very good and held between 190F-195F, SCA certified machines need to brew within a certain range in order to obtain their certification. 

The brewer itself has a pretty large footpoint and is quite tall, if you are placing it under a standard height kitchen cabinet you will need to pull the machine out in order to open the water tank (non-removable) or filter basket housing, not a big deal normally, but I like to keep them open to air dry, however on this brewer you cannot open both at the same time and opening either would interfere with opening/closing of your kitchen cabinets. 

The included thermal carafe feels high quality compared to the Zojirushi carafes that I have. However, as is the case with many thermal carafes, it is hard to pour out the last bit of coffee without removing the lid and turning it almost all the way upside down. The carafe includes a silicone straw to help prevent stratification in the brewed coffee to mix the coffee as it goes through the #4 size cone filters. The brewer has an auto drip stop so you can only brew into the provided carafe.

Overall, a solid brewer at a good price point. If I mostly brewed larger batches, I would definitely consider this machine. I normally only brew 1-2 mugs worth of coffee at a time so I use the Ninja CM401 quite a lot to brew directly into a mug or small server. This machine will brew until the water tank is empty, so have a look at our recipe charts for how much water and coffee to use with this machine. This brewer’s cup units are 5 oz of water so you can brew a maximum batch size of 45 oz.

Click here to read the manual.

Zojirushi Coffee Maker – 10 Cup with Thermal Carafe Review

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As someone who is a big fan of Zojirushi rice cookers, water boilers/warmers, travel mugs and carafes I wanted to check out the Zojirushi EC-YTC100XB Coffee Maker. I was able to find this brewer at a good discount and at the time I was actually shopping for one of their thermal carafes when I saw this. 

A common complaint about thermal carafe coffee makers is that their carafes are low build quality or poorly executed, I figured this should be an area where the Zojirushi shines. The brewer is not SCA certified as most of the other brewers that I review are, however one of their marketing features is high brew temperature of 200F, in my testing I found brew temperatures at the filter basket to be around 190-195F.  

The machine is programmable for timed brewed, but other than that only has options for muting the beep and a faster “time saver” brew mode. It is thoughtfully designed to have a removable water tank and a swing out design for the flat bottom filter basket, which makes it a great choice for placing under a kitchen cabinet. Most other brewers have lids that flip up and will interfere with a standard height kitchen cabinet. 

As expected, the brewer comes with a high quality thermal carafe, it doesn’t drip and feels solid. As with many other carafes it does retain a little bit of coffee inside where you almost have to turn the carafe upside down or remove the top in order to get the last few drops out. The brewer has an auto drop stop feature were you can only brew into the provided carafe. 

I personally don’t find the brewer to be aesthetically pleasing or displeasing, it is pretty much neutral as you would expect with other Zojirushi home appliances. I had this sitting next to my Ninja CM401 during this testing period and found myself using the Zojirushi more often because of the thermal carafe. The Ninja CM407 is the version of the Ninja Specialty Brewer with the thermal carafe, but when I was shopping and even now, the thermal carafe version is much harder to find and costs a lot more.

The brew cycle is slower than most as it uses pulse brewing through the entire brew, you can use the time saver mode to make this go faster which has a more continuous flow of water. I read another review where it said this brewer made very bitter coffee, I did not find this to be the case. With every coffee and every brewer you will need to adjust your grind size to get optimal taste and extraction. Perhaps if you were using this pre-ground coffee you might have some issues with bitterness due to the longer brew cycle, that is why we recommend that you always freshly grind your own beans using a burr grinder. This brewer’s cup units are 150 ml for a maximum brew size of 1.5 liters or approximately 51 fluid ounces.

Overall, I really like this brewer and would recommend it for people who want a good brewer with a high quality thermal carafe. I use this for mornings where I used timed brew because I know the coffee will still be hot and not have to get cooked on a hot plate like other brewers. I still turn to my Ninja brewer with its option for smaller brew directly into a mug, but for batch brewing I pick the Zojirushi EC-YTC100XB Coffee Maker.

Download the user manual here.