Thais Wilson-Soler, who wrote the original version of this guide, was a barista in several high-volume Brooklyn restaurants and coffee shops before coming to Wirecutter. She conducted her tests with the help of the team behind Sey Coffee (who then ran Lofted Coffee in Brooklyn). Justin Vassallo, who wrote the 2019 update, is a former lead barista with 10 years of experience working in high-volume coffee shops in New York and Boston.
Mr. Coffee is a well-known brand, and this coffee maker lives up to the name. ✓ Mr Coffee 12 cup SK13 is fully programmable, with an auto on and auto off features. With that, I was able to program the coffee maker 24 hours in advance to start brewing at my desired time. In the mornings, I never had to wake up too early to enjoy a cup of coffee. I was waking up to the aroma of coffee permeating my apartment. My only complaint is that the machine turns off only after 2 hours.
No, this automatic drip machine won’t be cheap, but since it’ll be a part of your coffee routine for years to come, you can think of it as a long-term investment. However, the latter has some key features you won’t find on the former, like a two-hour automatic shutoff setting and a programmable clock so you can schedule your brews ahead of time. Many of the more expensive coffee makers use showerheads with lots of holes and can spread over a wide area to saturate the ground beans. Those mean even coffee extraction and, in turn, a better-tasting brew than what the Mr. Coffee machine can produce.
Replaceable parts are one way to prolong a machine’s utility, so you don’t have to toss a functioning coffee maker if, say, the carafe shatters. The manufacturers of our picks sell a variety of replacement parts (including glass carafes). (Which might make you feel better about getting a new machine if yours dies within warranty.) Another mr coffee espresso way to lengthen the life of your coffee maker is to clean it regularly. Cheap coffee makers are designed with both cost and convenience in mind. Most can be programmed to automatically brew in the morning (or whenever you want your coffee), and are designed to make bigger batches (about 60 ounces or more), which is a draw for many people.
It can also be programmed to make cups on a schedule so you can always wake up to your favourite brew. If you can’t tell by now, I’m truly over the moon about this iced coffee maker. It is so convenient and is saving me money by not running to Starbucks three times a week 😆. I’m not looking back and recommend this to any iced coffee lover! First step to great-tasting coffee is getting all the old grime and nastiness out of that coffee maker. I recommend using Urnex Cleancaf and running it through your machine several times, followed by a few cycles with clean water.
Further features include automatic pause and serve, front access filling and a swing out basket. A favorite of many, this Keurig K-Slim coffee maker comes in both black and white. It’s ideal for smaller kitchen spaces and can brew 8, 10, or 12 ounce cups. If you still need more convincing, this nespresso makes both espresso and regular coffee. Best of all, you can pour your drink over ice to enjoy a cool brew.
One bad thing about them is that they can be tiresome to make. The alternative, canned cold brews, can be quite good, but there’s nothing as good as making your own. When it comes to iced coffee, making one the way you like it is priceless. Thanks to Mr. Coffee you will be able to enjoy a flavorful iced coffee or cold brew when you want it and how you want it. The best part of it is that you will be able to enjoy coffee that’s never watered.
Some people may think it’s a cheap coffee maker, but I think it’s a great little machine simply because of its easy use. Of the models we tested, the Cuisinart has our favorite carafe handle and pour spout. The handle is comfortable to hold even when the pot is at maximum capacity, and the sharper pour spout provides greater precision. As with the Ninja, the Cuisinart’s carafe does not have a hinged lid. But instead of screwing on and off, it simply snaps into place, which during our testing made it harder to remove for filling and cleaning the carafe. But we liked that the carafe is replaceable, and the machine comes with a three-year warranty, the best of all the models tested.
All of these machines use steam-vapor expansion in order to draw water from the reservoir into the brew; as the water heats up, it produces steam, which takes up more room than liquid does. This expansion forces the water through the tubing in the machine, dispensing it over the coffee grounds. Losing too much liquid in that process can dramatically impact the flavor of the final product, making a stronger, or less-diluted, coffee. To avoid consistently too-strong coffee, we looked for a machine that has less water loss through evaporation. When the machine offered multiple settings—such as for brewing a classic, rich, or even smaller batch—we tried them using both pre-ground coffee and whole bean coffee that we ground fresh. There are a number of reasons a person might want a lower-cost coffee maker, including, simply, budget limitations.