If You Prefer Chic to Cheap, Try the Technivorm Moccamaster Coffee Maker

Our readers have expressed lots of love for Moccamasters in the comments section of our drip coffee maker guide, and many Wirecutter staffers agree. The Technivorm Moccamaster KBT, which comes in three neutral shades and has a thermal carafe, is a good choice if you want something stylish and relatively compact, with a simple interface and a five-year warranty (longer coverage than on any of our picks). And a unique switch that closes the hole in the filter basket lets you manually control how your coffee blooms, by letting it steep briefly at the start of brewing to ensure it’s evenly saturated.

Senior staff writer Lesley Stockton, one of our resident experts on all things kitchen, used her “beloved” Technivorm Moccamaster KBT for years, generally choosing it over a Chemex or the espresso machine on her counter.

And Wirecutter Deals senior editor Nathan Burrow loves that Technivorm sells a variety of replacement parts on its site, making the machine more easily repairable than competitors. A self-professed coffee purist who owns the KBT, he recently bought the glass-lined carafe as a present to himself. (Coffee snobs claim that a glass-lined carafe is easier to clean and doesn’t impart a metallic taste, as stainless steel might.) Erin Price, Wirecutter alum and former barista, highly recommended the retro-looking Moccamaster KBG.

“Even though I prefer pour-over, it’s not the most convenient brew method for serving guests. So ... in preparation for a string of overnight visitors, I bought the Moccamaster KBG,” Erin writes in a love letter to her favorite coffee-making gear. “Three things make it a perfect fit for my household: For an electric coffee maker, it brews great coffee; it’s stripped of fancy doodads I won’t use, such as settings or timers; and it looks lovely on my counter (it comes in 27 different colors!).”

And supervising editor Daniela Gorny had the exact same experience: She originally bought hers to serve guests, but now it’s her daily coffee brewer because the coffee it produces matches the quality of her pour-over results. Daniela uses the hot plate on the low setting (the unit has a simple high/low switch), and the machine keeps her coffee hot enough without scorching it like other coffee makers she has had in the past.

All of our tasters enjoyed the coffee from the Moccamaster KBT, but not more than the coffee made by our other picks. And for a brewer that lacks user-friendly features (like Bonavita Enthusiast’s removable water tank, or the OXO brewer’s programmable auto-brew timer and descaling reminders), the KBT is quite pricey.

Also, the glass carafe on the KBG isn’t durable or insulating.

But if those downsides aren’t dealbreakers for you, a Moccamaster model could be the right coffee maker for you.

The current version of this article was edited by Rachelle Bergstein and Marguerite Preston.