As you will recall my parents needed a new drip brewer… because you DID read my earlier post right? If not, go read it now, I will wait.
Great, welcome back… so its been a few weeks since I started to search the pertinent specs for a brewer to recommend to my parents. And here is the shortlist based on the requirements, specs, customer reviews, and… my opinion.
The TLDR: Get this machine.
The Bonavita BV1901TS is an SCA approved brewer with 8 (5oz) cup capacity and a flat bottom filter. A shower head design helps to ensure a good wetting of grinds and a feature that I liked was the amount of coffee to add to the basket is written right on the 1900, which does not appear to be on the Bilingual version available in Canada. Boo.
This unit has a pre-infusion stage that can be enabled by pressing and holding the power button for 5 seconds, which will help YOU with your fresh coffee… my parents will not have to worry about off-gassing their freshly roasted beans, haha. The carafe needs to be removed from the brewer and the lid needs to be put on to keep the coffee at temp, and this is not cool. At about $330CAD, the one year warranty added to the lidless-ness and prevented this unit from gaining the top recommendation.
The OXO Brew, 8 cup Coffee Maker was the next on the short list. It also has a simple interface, and is capable of a pre-infusion brew cycle. The 8 cup Brew is also a 40oz brewer with a thermal carafe. Although this unit has a two year warranty and was the least expensive on this list at about $290CAD, the lack of a sealed lid for the thermal carafe bumped this unit from the top spot as well.
Honorable mention is the Breville Precision brewer. This makes the list because of the 60oz capacity. It is not a top contender because of the complexity and brew options available, features that my parents do not need, and will just muddy the waters.
The fact that it has both cone and flat bottomed baskets available so you can tweak your brew based on taste profiles is exciting. If I could get my hands on one, I would for sure be brewing back to back pots and do blind taste tests and triangle tests all day, till every drop of those 120oz of delicious coffee were consumed. A price tag of about $340CAD and a two year warranty make this brewer an option for someone who wants to try playing around with the different variables involved with making delicious coffee.
The final contender and my top recommendation is the Technivorm Moccamaster KBGT. I have the KBT741 and have been using it 2-3 times a day for the last 6 or 7 years. So I know it lasts. The five year warranty is a great testament to build quality, and the thermal carafe does a good job of keeping the coffee hot enough for long enough. The brew through lid does not allow a lot of heat to be lost, and after pouring off your first coffee, you can always swap it out for the sealed lid and keep your coffee hotter for longer.
The reason I am suggesting the KBGT vs the KBT is because of the auto stop mechanism. The ‘GT will stop the drip if you remove the carafe which will be good for people that just can’t wait the 6 minutes for their cup of coffee. The ‘BT has a selector switch that would do the same thing, but we are looking for simple here.
So its time to send off this list, and I will update back here what they decide to do. It may be possible that they will not listen to me at all but that is ok. It is sometimes a bitter pill for people to swallow when you point out coffee machines that are over twice the price of what they are used to getting… but if they just a good one, would they really be able to get “used to getting” a coffee machine, or would it just… last? I wonder.