Why the Technivorm Moccamaster Coffee Maker Is My Go-To Drip Brewer

One of my favorite Serious Eats personal stories is this piece by Keith Pandolfi titled The Case for Bad Coffee. He writes about how he went from being a coffee snob to someone who realized that in the end, coffee is just bean juice. 

I can relate. While I love a well-made latte, for me, coffee is a warm welcome to the morning rather than something I want to agonize over perfecting. Avert your eyes, coffee nerds: My daily brew beans are often one of the more affordable coffees I can buy, pre-ground and in bulk quantity. Yes, I do everything you shouldn’t do. Our crew of coffee experts would wring their hands if they knew this (sorry!). 

So for a long time, I couldn’t give two figs about my coffee brewer; it’s just making bean juice after all. But when I got my hands on the Technivorm Moccamaster KBT Coffee Brewer for long-term testing, it threw some of my long-held, slightly proud, dissident feelings about coffee for a loop. 

I recently went to New York’s Hudson Valley for some hiking with friends. We stayed in a cute Airbnb and had a hearty breakfast before hitting the hills. Our meal of eggs, toast, and bacon was, of course, accompanied by a pot of coffee. I welcomed that mug like a hug from a good friend—but as I sipped, the warm glow faded: It was musty, dank, and stale. 

While this was most likely due to the old coffee grounds provided, the other issue was the brewer. It took forever to brew a pot, used a glass carafe, and had a hot plate to keep the coffee warm (read: burnt). Everything I had ever read about coffee on Serious Eats flashed before my eyes, and I groused to my husband that I missed our Technivorm back home. 

Why I Love the Technivorm MoccaMaster

Technivorm Moccamaster 79112 KBT Coffee Brewer

$339 $301 at Amazon $340 at Williams Sonoma $339 at Target

You see, while I am certainly not the type to buy a $35 pound of coffee beans and grind them myself, I do want my cup of coffee to, at minimum, not taste like dirty water. I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but the speedy brew time on the Moccamaster ensures a perfectly extracted pot without any bitterness or muddled flavors. It also means I can wake up, add water and grounds, and my coffee will be ready in less than two minutes. Seriously, we timed it in our review of drip coffee makers: “It…has a copper heating element that gets water up to 205ºF in less than a minute.” Morning brew, here I come. 

The insulated carafe on this model is another boon: It keeps coffee piping hot without cooking it like a brewer with a hot plate does. While I’m a one- or two-cup person, my husband frequently goes back for refills, so the metal carafe is essential. 

Everything else about the Moccamaster is the cherry atop the sundae, the dusting of Parmesan over a plate of pasta: Its spray head is easy to remove for cleaning, it has a stainless steel body that will outlast a plastic one, and it can brew up to 10 cups of coffee. Oh, and if you’re nerdy about your brew like our coffee writers and want the most excruciatingly, evenly extracted result you can get, there’s a simple method to follow: The filter basket has a manually adjustable drip stop, so you can, per our review, “close it for the first 30 to 60 seconds of brewing, letting the coffee saturate fully. Then, you can then open the stopper to let the coffee flow into the carafe.” Et voilà—an excellent brew is on its way. My husband is much more into coffee culture than me and delights in this simple trick for a stellar carafe. But even if you’re like me and just want a solid cup of coffee, the Technivorm Moccamaster delivers—without any fuss. 

Why We’re the Experts

• Grace Kelly is an editor at Serious Eats, where she focuses on testing and reviewing kitchen gear. 
• She previously tested kitchen equipment at America’s Test Kitchen. 
• She’s been using the Technivorm Moccamaster KBT for over a year now and loves how streamlined and speedy it is, as well as the excellent pot of coffee it brews.