At Epicurious we take our coffee quite seriously. We’ve tested and reviewed close to 100 machines of different styles, sizes, and price points looking for the best coffee makers. From the most complex smart espresso makers to the simplest styles that coffee drinkers have been using in one way or another for centuries, we’ve tried them all.
The best coffee makers
Because there are so many different types of coffee makers, we’ve collected a sort of greatest hits album here. Below you’ll find winners from all our different testing along with some information on the various types of brewers. While we can’t tell you what type of coffee you want to drink, how much work you want to put into making it, or how much space you have for a countertop appliance, we will arm you with recommendations that will allow you to use your answers to those questions and pick the best coffee maker for your routine.
Whether you’re looking for a run-of-the-mill drip coffee machine, a good-looking pour-over tool that connoisseurs swear by, or an espresso machine that even a total noob can operate, you can keep reading for our top picks.
Prime Day coffee maker deals
Amazon Prime Day is back…sort of. The retailer is running their third annual Prime Big Deal days which features a lot of the same sizable deals as the Prime Day event over the summer did. Below are discounts on some of the drip coffee makers, espresso machines, and manual brewers we’ve tested over the years and liked (even if they aren’t are number one, top favorites).
Is it worth buying an expensive coffee maker?
Coffee drinkers are unlikely to agree on what constitutes an “expensive coffee maker,” so the answer to this question is wrapped up in subjectivity. What we can say with some certainty is that you should not buy a notably cheap coffee maker. What constitutes cheap is different for different types of machines. For example, we tested a reasonable drip coffee maker that cost around $100, but found all electric espresso makers that cost less than $300 to be disappointing to the point of being useless. It’s also frequently true that more expensive coffee makers do actually make better coffee. That’s because brewing coffee has a limited number of inputs; things like the quantity of coffee beans, the grind of coffee beans, the quantity of water, the temperature of water, and the brewing time. Expensive coffee machines do a better job of controlling those last three factors because of better water pumps, better temperature monitoring with PIDs, and more precise measurements. Expensive machines with built-in grinders, like super-automatic espresso makers, can also do a good job with the quantity and grind of the beans, although we think stand-alone burr grinders generally work better.
Drip coffee makers
When it comes to ease of use, there is nothing quite like a drip coffee machine. Make sure the water tank is filled the night before, put coffee in the brew basket, push the button, walk away. Drip coffee makers run the gamut from the ultra-budget models found in motels and sold at drug stores to more high-end ones like those from Technivorm, Oxo, and Café. While the number of added features may vary and cheap ones don’t make the best tasting coffee, a drip coffee maker will always be the most convenient system to brew a full pot of coffee. (For more info, read our full review of the best drip coffee makers.)
The absolute best drip coffee maker: Fellow Aiden
Fellow’s first automatic drip coffee maker can do just about everything and do it well. At its heart, what the Fellow tries to do is capture everything you might do if you were making pour-over coffee, but to automate the whole system for you. You can set water temperature, bloom time, the length of the water pulses (you can think of those like the individual pours of water from your pour-over kettle). The result is drip coffee that is as close to pour-over as we have tasted. And yes, we did compare it side-by-side to a carafe from a Chemex. However, despite being endlessly customizable, the Aiden can also be a simple one-button coffee maker using the Instant Brew function. That will simply use however much water is in the tank and brew it until its empty. Fellow found Jake Miller said he wanted using it to be as nice an experience for a coffee professional as it was for his mom (very much not a coffee professional).
Like so many of Fellow’s other products, like it’s Ode burr grinder or its Stagg kettle, the Aiden has a beautiful minimalist look about it that will make you happy to have one on your countertop. It’s got other nice design touches, like a removable side water tank that’s easy to take to the fridge and fill as well as spring-loaded filter basked that seal up when removed from the machine. That means no drips when you go to dump them out. It also makes cold brew, slowly dripping out the water overnight to produce a deliciously smooth pot of coffee. We’ve been testing kitchen products for years and none is absolutely perfect, but as drip coffee makers go, the Fellow Aiden is as close as they come. The only downside is its high price tag. But if you’re getting best in class, sometimes you pay for it.
Specs
Size: 8.9″ x 8.9″ x 12″
Capacity: 10 cups
Carafe style: Thermal
Features: Adjustable brew water ratio; adjustable temperature settings, flavor profile settings, programmable 24-hour timer; Wi-Fi connectivity; cold-brew capable; SCA Golden Cup capabilities
Warranty: 3 years
Read a full review of the Fellow Aiden here.
The best simple drip coffee maker: Ratio Six
Our coffee testers tend to prefer pour-over to even very good drip coffee machines. The Ratio Six is a drip machine that does a good job mimicking the pour-over technique. As a company, Ratio has only been around since 2012, but in that short amount of time it has created a line of machines that leapfrogged right to the top of the drip coffee world—and done it in style. The Ratio Six (don’t be fooled, this is actually an 8-cup coffee maker) won the same Golden Cup certification that the Café and Technivorm have from the SCA—and it is a looker of a machine. But it’s also technically proficient. It fully saturates the grounds with water at the right temperature and allows them to bloom at the beginning of the brewing process. Choosing the ratio also means there’s no need for an insulated travel mug. It comes with a thermal carafe that we found kept coffee warm for hours and didn’t spill a drop during a car ride to the park. It lands here as a personal choice instead of an objective winner just because the Café machine offers more value in the way of extra features and convenience.
Specs
Size: 13.5″ x 6.5″ x 14.25″
Capacity: 8 cups
Carafe style: Thermal
Features: Blooms coffee, SCA Golden Cup capabilities
Warranty: 5 years
The best budget drip coffee maker: Braun Brewsense 12-Cup Coffee Maker
In the most recent update to our drip coffee maker tests, we wanted to go deep on what we consider to be budget picks—those that cost $100 or less. We added another half dozen affordable, programmable coffee makers to the bunch and after batches and batches of mostly mediocre coffee, Braun’s Brewsense distinguished itself from competitors like Mr. Coffee and Ninja. The Braun comes with several nice extra features, like the ability to brew smaller batches of coffee (1 to 4 cups) or full carafes, two brew strength settings, an auto shutoff if you remove the glass carafe, and three different settings for the warming plate. This last feature is particularly nice because one of the worst parts of cheap drip coffee makers is that they tend to make undrinkable hot coffee that tastes increasingly burnt the longer it sits on a hot plate. We won’t go so far as to say that the coffee you get from the Braun is “great tasting,” but then again, it’s not fair to expect the same results from something that costs $95 as you do from something that costs $350. If you want a machine that’s affordable, easy to use, and makes a good cup of coffee, the Braun is for you.
Specs
Size: 7.9” x 7.9” x 14.2”
Capacity: 12 cups
Carafe style: Glass
Features: 1-4 cup options, adjustable brew strength, programmable timer, water filter, adjustable hot plate temperature
Warranty: 3 years
Espresso machines
There is actually much more to consider when buying an espresso machine than simply “does this make good coffee?” That’s because the discrepancy in price, size, and functionality of espresso makers is so vast. If you wanted to, you could pay as much for one of these as you would for a used car. And you do generally get more for your money. The temperature control, pressure, and quality of the steam wand (or milk frother) are higher on pricier machines. But for most people the differences are not so great that they cannot get everything they need from a less expensive machine (read our full espresso maker review here).
The best espresso machine, full stop: Lelit Mara X
The simple truth is that, after testing nearly 30 different espresso makers, Lelit’s beautiful Mara X machine made the most delicious shot of espresso of them all. The body on it was so full it will coat your mouth, the crema so rich it made drinking the espresso a luscious, layered experience. Now, this is a machine that could be classified as a prosumer model. For the uninitiated, it’s a term that refers to machines that are good enough you could find them in a fancy coffee shop, but scaled down in a way that they fit in most kitchens and cost much less than actual café espresso machines that can run over $10,000. And as a high-end machine the Mara X offers a lot of other nice features. It’s a heat exchanger machine, which means that water for brewing coffee is separate from water used to steam milk. They need to be at two drastically different temperatures, and using a heat exchanger means there is no waiting between pulling a shot and frothing milk. Speaking of frothing milk, the steam wand offers a very controlled experience compared to some other prosumer machines we tested, which were so powerful they didn’t leave any room for adjustment or error because by the time you figured out what you needed to do the milk was too hot. The Mara X also comes with a hot water dispenser for americanos and gorgeous wooden accents that make a machine you’ll be proud to have sit permanently on your counter. It offers 4.5 inches of cup clearance (the space between the portafilter and the base of the machine), which means that you can brew directly into a larger cup for a cappuccino or latte and a large, easy-to-read gauge lets you know you’re pulling a shot with the right pressure and how much power is in the steam boiler.
