First, I love my coffee in the morning. So over the years I’ve experimented a lot, with different brews and different methods of brewing. This coffee maker has it all and is a joy to own and use. Yes, somewhat pricey, and I must admit I coaxed my son to buy it for me as a present. I’ve used it for 200 brewing cycles now so I think I can competently write this review. When I first got it I brewed a cup via the pour over method then with the Moccamaster. No perceptible difference in taste. So why spring for the $$ for the Moccamaster? Consistent quality, design esthetics, speed of brewing, quality of construction. Being super-critical, the pour over method took 5 minutes and at the end the temperature of the coffee was cooler than I preferred. The Moccamaster will brew the same 375 grams of water (about 2 cups) and 25 grams of coffee (about 3 Moccamaster scoops) in three minutes - 3.5 if you want the very last drips out. All the time keeping the temperature at the hot plate’s setting of 175 or 185 F. So I get hot coffee when I’m ready for it. I then pour my coffee in to an Ember 14oz mug with 2 ozs of creamer (I hate to admit to the creamer, but just really enjoy it — I do occasionally taste without creamer and enjoy the unadulterated taste as well). The mug keeps the temperature at 145 F (my preference again). I do like hot coffee. Well, that’s my story. The construction of the Moccamaster, the 5-year warranty, and certifications, are standards all coffee makers should aspire to. The copper coil in the Moccamaster is key to fast heating and probably an expensive item. People will look at my black Moccamaster on the counter and know I’m serious about coffee. It is just a lovely design. There is very little to improve upon here. Again, being super-critical, I would make the lid pins in the glass carafe stronger, as the lid comes off most every time in washing the carafe, and I would extend the pour over arm a bit so it centers on the brew basket better. One last tip to the coffee lovers out there: The proportion of water and coffee is really a matter of taste. I’ve presented a starting point here but do not be afraid to experiment. Different coffees and tastes will present different flavors and opportunities to have fun experimenting. Just use freshly ground beans and pure water and enjoy! Read more
[LONG-TERM UPDATE to original review below -- as of June 2017 -- 5 1/2 years after purchase, our Moccamaster is still going strong; only maintenance has been cleaning with soap and water and Cleancaf rinse every few months Urnex Cleancaf Coffee Maker & Espresso Machine Cleaner Powder, 3 Packets ] Our old Braun (made in Germany), auto drip coffeemaker finally died after 30! years... and so began the search for a replacement. I usually prefer to take the time to make coffee with press pot, vac pot, or Eva Solo - all of which can produce great tasting coffee from fresh-ground good quality beans. My wife, however, has an early commute and prefers the convenience of auto drip. Amazingly, the Technivorm is an auto drip machine which makes great tasting coffee every bit comparable to the manual methods. We considered the Bonavita, which, like the Technivorm, appears to be the only other machine tested/certified for ("really does make all the difference") brewing temperature consistency. Initially, the Bonavita seemed to have a bit smaller/better shaped countertop footprint and was around $100 less expensive, while the Technivorm appeared to be a bit clunky to use with all the must-move-or-remove separate parts (water reservoir cover, filter basket, basket top, drip arm). For us, what clinched the deal clearly in favor of Technivorm is their use of copper (just like the pipes in most homes) heating element vs. aluminum in the case of the Bonavita. Having ditched our aluminum cookware years ago, in favor of healthier stainless steel, we did not want to make coffee multiple times a day using a machine with an aluminum thermoblock... particularly given that some water remains in the system between uses in the case of both machines. Other choices - which Technivorm? 1) Glass pot vs. Thermal Carafe - We prefer the "how much coffee is left" visual convenience and ease of cleaning with the glass pot Technivorm. The purists will warn about continued-cooking effects of the hot plate/glass pot system vs. thermal carafe... however as other reviewers note, the "10 cup" pot is a smallish European-sized, so we rarely have much coffee sitting on the hot plate for long. Plus, it is nice for the last cup to be hot rather than merely warm (note that to minimize additional cooking of the coffee, you can adjust the hot plate wattage high/low with the rightmost switch... we leave ours on low and it keeps the pot-minus-first-cup-or-two plenty hot.) Also note that the thermal carafe system has an interlock switch, requiring that the carafe must be tight up against the coffee machine for it to brew... this seemed a bit over the top, running the risk of early morning surprise, as in ...OMG no coffee! who bumped the carafe? 2) Newer "Automatic No-Drip" vs. Prior "Drip Switch" Filter Basket - If you've dug into the online research you may have noticed that some of the Technivorm pictures show a 3 position lever on a filter basket with round base, while others show a filter basket with a rectangular base and no lever. As far as we could tell you can still buy both versions. The theory behind the lever (which has positions to turn the drip off, halfway, or full flow) is that you leave the drip off for a minute to fill the filter basket with water and thereby completely saturate the coffee grounds, then flip it to halfway if brewing a small amount of coffee, or to full if brewing a whole pot. You can also flip the lever to off when you want a cup of coffee before brewing has finished. The other, newer filter basket is like a conventional coffee machine... with an automatic mechanism to stop the drip flow when you pull the coffee pot out. Not wanting to mess around with turning the drip off and on (...OMG no coffee! who forgot to flip the lever? or worse... why is there coffee overflowing everywhere!), we chose to get the newer rectangular filter basket version and give up the theoretical advantages of saturating the grounds or optimizing half-a-pot flow rates. We're really glad we went this way... in practice the machine operates so fast that very little coffee drips through to the pot before the grounds are saturated, and given the small European pot size, it will be a rare event for us to make a half pot (most American households will probably make a couple of pots each morning.) So far, after brewing many dozens of pots, we have only a few minor cautionary observations - (A) seems advisable to load the filter and coffee into the filter basket by first removing the basket from its cantilevered plastic perch over the pot... to avoid pressing down on the perch and perhaps breaking it. This is no big deal, but does require paying a bit of attention when you put the filter basket back on, as it needs to match up with a couple of hooks at the inner end. (B) the Technivorm is not the most guest-friendly coffeemaker... you will need to briefly show the "Mr. Coffee" folks how to use it and familiarize them with some of the nuances (like the filter basket hooks)... but this can actually be entertaining, as watching the swirling bubbles/water (that almost immediately rise up through the clear water tube) is surprisingly mesmerizing to the pre-coffee'd mind in the morning. (C) being handbuilt in Europe (if you search the 3rd party reviews you can actually find an online video of the factory showing careful Dutch people hard at work making your machine) the Technivorm has one mostly-charming quirk... typical countertop appliances these days have a short power cord and/or under-machine storage spool for excess length... not so with Techivorm. This baby comes with a longish power cord, seemingly thick enough to handle, say... your stove or a plug-in hybrid car. So, you will need a bit of room behind the machine for the cord. But the good news here, is that the sideways layout of the machine gives it an equally unusual small front to back depth, so there is room for the mother of all power cords. Overall, the Technivorm indeed seems to be the best auto drip coffee maker that you can buy in the USA - if you ever taste the difference between a typical coffeemaker and one that consistently holds the critical just-beneath-boiling temperature, you may not be able to go back. Assuming good beans, controlled/sufficiently high temperature is the key to great coffee... it's not rocket science but only Technivorm and Bonavita do it, as far as I can tell from reading a lot of third party reviews. Parting thought... first thing in the morning, it's actually wonderfully refreshing to use a machine that is elegantly mechanical in that old-school form-follows-function way, and that has just two simple switches, on/off and high/low ...with... wait for it... simple red lights! to show if they're on ...and NOTHING ELSE. All in all, this is a stark contrast to "interacting" with a microprocessor-controlled, back-lit LCD displayed, high knobs-to-dollar ratio, fourteen function, how-DO-I-set-the-time, yet-another computing device thingy - all before your first cup of coffee ;-) (but... what if Siri could make great coffee...?) Read more
