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Ask a Coffee Person in your life “what’s the best drip coffee maker?” and there’s a good chance they’ll give you an exhaustive response about why drip coffee makers aren’t ideal. “What you want to use is a Chemex brewer.” “You should really think about an espresso machine.” “I’m not rolling my eyes at you, I’m rolling my eyes with you.” Not only does none of this answer your question, it’s also not entirely true. When it comes to making great coffee, strong opinions are plenty. We could go on and on about an abundance of must-follow coffee methods and gadgets you “absolutely need,” and talk about why different coffee drinkers love them—but the truth is, many professional baristas (and BA staffers) agree that the easiest, most convenient route to brewing a truly delicious batch of coffee is indeed a drip coffee maker.
Many modern day drip coffee makers are equipped with high tech features—like customizable brew modes and ultra-precise temperature controls—that allow them to achieve optimal flavor extraction and create the personalized coffee of your choice, with minimal effort on your end. And while brewing good drip coffee is relatively easy, shopping for the best drip coffee maker can feel daunting. With so many brands, so many features, and so many bells and whistles, it’s hard to know which features actually matter. Below, we help you cut through the noise. Whether you want a smart, high-end machine that gives you full control over your cup, or you want a simple machine that does all of the work for you, our top picks have you covered.
Table of contents
Top Tested Drip Coffee Maker
Bon Appetit Test Kitchen pick
The Pros' pick
What exactly is a drip coffee maker?
How do I make the best coffee with my drip coffee maker?
Top Tested Drip Coffee Maker: The Café Specialty Coffee Maker
The Good: Simple enough for beginners, customizable enough for serious coffee lovers
The Bad: Multiple smart features bring a slight learning curve
After rigorously testing 18 different drip coffee makers including a lot of big names like the Breville Precision Brewer, the Oxo Brew Barista Brain, and the Braun Brewsense, and tasting a number of delicious cups of coffee, we consider the Café Specialty Coffee Maker the crème de la crème. This beautifully modern machine—which is available in stainless steel, matte black, and matte white—is an ideal appliance for coffee drinkers who are very particular about their cup. With the Café Specialty, users can brew a single cup or up to 10 cups, and choose between four different brew strengths: Gold, Light, Medium, Dark, or Bold. They can even set a precise water temperature (ranging from 185°F to 205°F—as a reference pour-over coffee should be made around 205°F). That means you get heightened control over how your coffee turns out—an experience you don’t get from most automatic drip coffee machines. It’s also equipped with a wide shower head that ensures an even distribution of water over the coffee grounds and a replaceable carbon water filter that ensures every pot is brewed with filtered water. All of these features make it one of the best coffee machines for optimal flavor extraction and consistency. It’s no wonder why the Café Specialty has been given the Golden Cup Standard from the Specialty Coffee Association. That designation means, the machine can replicate the same high quality brew every single time.
To add to its expansive list of bells and whistles, this coffee maker has built-in Wi-Fi that works with Alexa and Google, voice-to-brew functions, and an adjustable power cord that you can shorten or lengthen. If you want customizable coffee and an unmatched user experience, this is the machine for you. To read more about the testing methodology that went into crowning the Café the champion, click over to read The Best Drip Coffee Makers, Tested and Reviewed.
Capacity: 10 cups
Carafe style: Thermal or glass carafe
Dimensions: 12.5” x 14” x 7.3”
Weight: 9.5 lbs
Warranty: 1 year
Features: Adjustable brew strength; programmable 24 hr timer; carbon water filter; Wi-Fi connectivity; hot plate; customizable temperature settings; programmable coffee maker; SCA Golden Cup certification
Bon Appetit Test Kitchen Pick: Technivorm Moccamaster Drip Coffee Maker
The Good: A super simple, SCA-certified machine
The Bad: Takes a little extra manual labor to get the best possible coffee
Whenever BA Food Director (and resident coffee connoisseur) Chris Morocco needs to make a big pot of coffee, he turns to the much-loved Technivorm Moccamaster. There are a couple key elements that make this coffee maker so great at its job: First, there’s the copper heating element that keeps the water temperature within the ideal range of 195–205°F. Second, there’s the conical filter basket, which positions the coffee grounds in a way that prevents the water from pooling. What does all of this mean for you, dear reader? Your coffee will never be over or under extracted, rendering a flavor that’s smooth and never bitter. Morocco really appreciates the Technivorm Moccamaster’s speedy brew cycle, which can brew a full pot in six minutes. Compared to the Café Specialty coffee maker, this is a much simpler machine that’s powered by a single on/off switch. While you can’t expect all of the smart features or a zillion customization functions from this coffee machine, you can expect a consistent cup of perfectly brewed coffee. Fun fact: this machine quite literally set the standard for high quality drip coffee, as it was the very first machine to receive the SCA Gold Cup.
Morocco says, “The only fault I would give it is for water distribution, because you need to stir the grounds by hand partway through the cycle to get an even extraction, but that’s a fairly small sacrifice.” He’s had his Technivorm Moccamaster for over 10 years and it still works like new. If your household drinks a lot of coffee, you can see yourself brewing a full carafe often, and you have a lot of countertop space—this is one of the best coffee makers you can buy.
Capacity: 10 cups
Carafe style: Thermal or glass carafe
Dimensions: 6.75"D x 11.5"W x 15.25"H
Weight: 6.5 lbs.
Warranty: 5 years
Features: Manual-adjust drip-stop; copper heating element; hot plate; auto-shut off when water tank is empty; SCA Golden Cup certification
The Pros’ Pick: Bonavita One-Touch Coffee Brewer
The Good: Fast brew time and compact footprint
The Bad: Setting the filter basket requires a balancing act
If you don’t need a gigantic coffee maker, or you simply want something more compact that won’t take up too much counter space, consider the Bonavita One-Touch 8-cup coffee maker. It’s the coffee maker Areli Barrera de Grodski, co-owner of Little Waves Coffee Roasters and Cocoa Cinnamon coffee shop in Durham, NC, uses at home. Like the Café Specialty and Technivorm Moccamaster, the Bonavita has a fast brew time and it’s SCA certified—and it’s proven to make a cup that’s “well-balanced, slightly sweet, and so good that it doesn’t need milk or sugar,” says Barrera de Grodski. Two key features set this drip coffee maker apart: A showerhead dripper that ensures the water is evenly dispersed onto the bed of coffee, and a flat filter basket that allows for more even extraction.
In testing, my colleagues at Epicurious learned that the Bonavita One-Touch does indeed make some good tasting coffee. But they found the filter basket and carafe setup to be a bit finicky, because users have to balance the filter basket on top of the thermal carafe (instead of sliding the filter basket into a holder on the machine, as with other drip coffee makers). That said, Bonavita released a newer version of the One-Touch, called the Bonavita Connoisseur One-Touch, which features a hanging brewer basket that alleviates a lot of the fuss, at roughly the same price point. Bonus: All the parts are dishwasher-safe.
Capacity: 8 cups
Carafe style: Thermal or glass carafe
Dimensions: 12.40" Width: 6.80" Height: 12.20"
Weight: 6.13 lb.
Warranty: 1 year
Features: Showerhead-style dripper, flat bottom filter basket, hot plate; pre-infusion mode to wet ground coffee and allow degassing before brewing
What exactly is a drip coffee maker?
If someone asked you to picture a coffee maker, a drip coffee maker is probably what would come to mind. Faster than cold brew, more environmentally friendly than most single-serve coffee makers, capable of brewing four French presses worth of coffee with a single button push, drip machines are popular for a reason. These machines feature a water reservoir, a water heating element, and a showerhead that slowly disperses the water onto coffee grounds in a brew basket, typically lined with a paper filter. The brewed coffee then flows through the brew basket into a carafe, coffee cup, or travel mug below. The biggest benefit of drip coffee makers is their ease of use. They handle the entire brewing process: You don’t have to monitor the temperature of the water or worry about the pouring speed and flow rate. Drip coffee makers are also among the most efficient ways to brew a large amount of coffee.
How do I make the best coffee with my drip coffee maker?
While your drip coffee maker will handle a lot of the work for you, the flavor of your drink will largely depend on the coffee you’re using, the quality of the hot water you’re using (this really does make a difference), and the ratio of coffee to water. Specific brew temperature is also important for proper flavor extraction, so if you can go with a drip coffee maker that has precise temperature controls or at least an accurate thermostat that controls the temperature within a small window, like one our top picks.
To make the best-tasting cup, start with freshly roasted, high-quality coffee beans at a medium grind size—buy whole beans and grind them right before you brew your coffee (here are our favorite coffee grinders). Use filtered water; some drip coffee machines, like the Café Specialty, have a built-in water filter that will take care of this for you. You’ll also want to use a scale to measure a coffee-to-water ratio of 1-to-16, or 16 grams of water for every gram of coffee. Start with this ratio, then feel free to play around and adjust according to your preference.
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