Moccamaster KBT

I wish I knew about this wonderful coffee maker before I did. I don't know how I survived without it! It makes the best coffee I have ever had. I no longer get coffee from the local or chain coffee shops, and have saved a lot of money. I heard about it through a gourmet coffee shop owner, who told me it is one of the best there is. It is one of the only coffee makers that is approved by the European Coffee Making Centre. It brings out the flavor of the coffee. Medium grind works well. I have used both cheap and expensive brands of coffee, and all have worked well. It suggests using bottled water to avoid the mineral deposits from building up in the machine, and causing problems with brewing.; I have happily adhered to that. I suspect a water filter pitcher would work fine as well. It also recommends that the water be cold going into the brewer, for the perfect saturation time. I have had it for a few years without any problems. Because of the precision and 3 required elements to brew a good coffee (saturation time, aeration of the water, temperature of water when brewing), you cannot set it ahead the night before. To use, you just put in the grinds and the water, and hit the button to on. It only takes a few more minutes to brew the coffee than standard makers, and those couple minutes are well worth your time, believe me! I don't tend to purchase things for myself that are expensive, such as a coffee pot, but couldn't be any happier with my purchase! UPDATE: it's been 7-8 years since I purchased this coffee pot. It is still going strong, without a single problem or issue. It still makes the best coffee I have ever had! ****FYI: I see negative reviews, and each time, it's obvious to me that the person did not read the operation instructions, and is doing exactly what the company says not to do, and what happens is what the manufacturer says will happen. Each thing is so simple and basic, and not something beyond what one would do anyway if operating a coffee maker properly. They have also not read the manual and don't understand how the very basic parts work. I am so surprised that it's the case, but to each their own. I sincerely hope people do not pass this coffee maker up because of something someone said in a review. *Example - there are 4 reasons someone might have the water overflow and not go into the pot, OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, and maybe others. 1. There is a setting to adjust for waterflow on the part that holds the filter. With some grinds you may want to adjust it, so water goes through at a different speed. I just leave it on the fastest flowthrough, and have never had a problem, even with finely ground coffee. If you are sure the adjusting lever is to the top before turning on, you won't have a problem. 2. The company recommends that you don't use really fine grounds (although I do without issue). 3. It says to use very COLD water, which is part of the way it makes such good coffee, via the saturation time. I suspect if your water is not cold, it would heat quickly and may flow through into the grounds quicker. When in a rush, I just throw 3 ice cubes in with the water, and it does the trick. 4. Perhaps it's the filter that is not letting the water flow through properly lol! There are many other simple reasons people have reported trouble with this VERY basic machine - don't pass it up because of those reviews. When I bought it, it was the only coffee maker in the world with the European Coffee Making Centre quality seal on it. I'm willing to bet it's still the best coffee maker on the world market. Just don't buy something made to make a high quality product if you aren't willing to even read the directions lol! Which by the way, are extremely simple.....never had a maker so easy to operate....put in cold water, coffee, and the switch to on....

I should start off by saying, we are not coffee snobs but really enjoy coffee. I cannot tell you anything about bean roasting, or grinding, or notes of some exotic fruit. I just like coffee, preferably with a little cream. I say this because, as much as I can appreciate the coffee snob reviews, the reality is that in the morning I just want a good hot cup without a bunch of worry that I missed some critical step in some elaborate brewing method. It needs to be easy. I almost didn't buy this machine because so many reviews talked about fussing with the machine to get it to produce a good cup of coffee. And maybe they're right. Maybe all that stuff makes the coffee excel. But this thing will still make a great cup of coffee without fuss. We use Fidalgo beans. My husband grinds them the night before (gasp) and sets the machine up so in the morning at 5 AM, he only has to flip the switch. The thermos carafe means that I get a hot cup of coffee at 8 AM since I don't like coffee until later in my morning. This is HUGE. For years, I've been microwaving coffee during the week after it sat on a burner plate for 3 hours. I used to only get fresh coffee on the weekends when we used the Chemex. Now I get fresh hot coffee during the week too, and the flavor is soooo good. An added bonus is that this thing is so easy to clean, quiet, and brews super fast. After I'm done, I'm able to easily clean it up. Seriously, so happy we finally upgraded from our 12-year-old Cuisinart drip machine. That thing was nasty and so hard to clean. Next purchase will be a burr grinder. Maybe I am getting a little snobby?

I have to say that some of the reviews of this product make me despair of the whole review process. They seem to fall into "no coffee maker should cost this much," or "it's not made of platinum." In either case, my advice is this: don't buy it! For those interested in a review of the thing itself, so you can decide if it's worth the (high) price here it is. My wife and I like coffee. It's one of the day's regular pleasures and we drink coffee every day. So we think our regular use justifies some extravagance. We buy good coffee. For years we used a small plastic Krupps grinder and a Krupps then Cusineart coffee maker. And it was fine. But then I took a flier on a burr grinder--way more expensive than the Krupps grinder (c. $100 vs $25 or so). And it was a revelation!! So then, with some Christmas money in hand we did research and were persuaded by a Cooks' Illustrated review and bought the Technivorm. Wow! My idea of coffee is entirely changed. I get all that stuff about "notes of chocolate," and all that. It is just terrific coffee. What excellent wine is to table wine (and we drink a lot of table wine; so this is not about snobbism). The whole Technivorm schtick is simple: a good pump, and keep the coffee at c. 200F until it comes out the nozzle over the coffee. Who would think it would make such a difference? But it does. The machine itself is perfectly durable, but it's not fancy and is largely plastic, not metal. Whatever. The thermos keeps the coffee hot (if, as the instructions suggest, you rinse it first with hot water) for at least 5 hours. After that you should make a new pot anyway. It is fast, and it is quiet. It makes 10.5 cups, which is a little less than we'd like when company comes (12 is good). The question is, and it's a real question--is this indulgence the way you want to spend your money? And of course, its durability is unproven--we've only had it for a month. But it makes wonderful coffee. If that's really important to you, and you've got the money, then this machine won't disappoint you. ===== A couple of years later: The TV is still going strong, still making wonderful coffee. It has slowed a bit despite occasional white-vinegar treatments. Most notable: the carafe has colored on the inside and has a sort of brown glaze on the bottom. It seems not to affect the taste, but looks a bit grotty. Otherwise, still well worth the money! ======= 13 (!!) years on and still going strong. DO be sure and use both the descaler and the cleaner recommended by the company. I didn't descale thoroughly enough and that might mean the boiler (no pump, as someone kindly pointed out) is less efficient. Another TVMM may be in our future. But that's on me. The cleaner removes a shocking amount of gunk! Still wonderful coffee, quickly brewed and utterly reliable. Some reviews still strike me as foolish but whatever. Most are enthusiastic as positive as is mine—still, after more than a decade!

Coffee quality is great without a doubt. But the construction has 4 mind boggling deficiencies 1. The thing where you put coffee in doesn't sit stably on a kitchen counter - does not have a flat base. 2. And when mounted on the machine, the water piece obstructs the container. Either way, adding coffee power isn't without some serious cognitive overhead when you're supposed to be half asleep. 3. And when you do place the coffee powder container where it's supposed to go on the machine, it's just sitting there with no structural support, no clicking etc to tell you it's in place. Just floats around. 4. Sometimes, the exit hole for the drip gets blocked by the filter and water accumulates in the coffee powder area. Happened more than a few times in 2 months. So I must say that the core coffee making tech which is mainly the water temperature control is excellent. The thermos system is excellent. But the mechanical side is just poor. They need some design/UX guys to come and fix the otherwise great product.

Edit******** changed from 2 stars to 3 stars. The unit can make a good cup of coffee if you're willing to put in the effort. At this price point, effort should not be a requirement, but I don't mind a bit of effort for good coffee. What I have learned : this unit requires a finer grind than typical . On a baratza encore, setting 13. I also recommend closing the drip stop valve for the first 30 seconds or so to get a nice bloom going. The coffee is still somewhat weak, but my leading theory is the filters are too thick. They trap important oils and flavonoids that provide coffee with taste. The moccamaster filters make too "clean" of a cup. Ultimately, I will keep the unit because I like that I can play with it, and all it really does is send hot water over a basket. Not a whole lot to the process that can be blamed on it. Once I swap out the filters with something less aggressive, I think the brew will be really good. I hate to write this review, because I have looked forward to owning a moccamaster for years. Everyone speaks highly of it , whether it be coffee aficionados , cooking blogs, and kitchen appliance experts. My experience calls into question their taste in coffee. First, the unit itself is underwhelming. The plastics are cheap, flimsy, and warped. The water reservoir cover has a huge gap in its side that would allow all manner of debris and bugs into it. The cover is also a cheap and flimsy plastic that warps easily, preventing a seal with the edges of the reservoir. Similar lack of quality can be seen with the coffee basket as well. It's a low grade plastic basket that sits loosely and haphazardly on an equally flimsy bracket sticking out of the unit. The unit itself has a nice finish, and the aluminum paneling feels like good quality. I will say the carafe is great. The best I've seen in a coffee maker. It will keep coffee hot for atleast 2 hours. Now for the real purpose of this review and the reason for such a low rating. The design is fundamentally flawed , and guaranteed to produce a weak brew. As seen in the photo, the shower arm is off center. Only the half of the grounds closest to the unit will get properly saturated. The result is water will oversaturate half of the grounds, and under saturate the other half. The only way to remedy this is to drastically reduce the grind size to slow down the flow, or to manually baby sit the flow stop in order to force it to bloom. Neither of these are desirable. For one, you want the coarsest grind you can get away with when brewing coffee, and two, you pay for an auto drop so you don't have to baby sit it. After much experimentation with different beans and comparing to my Oxo 8 cup, blind tastings have repeatedly proven the moccamaster produces a flatter, weaker and more astringent brew. My guess, the poor design of the shower head leads to only half of the grounds being extracted, and the half being extracted is over extracted. Sadly, I don't feel this unit is worth the fuss. My Oxo was almost half the cost and produces a consistently better coffee. I have no idea why this unit is so highly rated when it's design flaws are plain as day, for all to see and taste. Further more, the material quality is objectively poor compared to rivals. The manufacturer claims this is to ensure their plastics are safe and environmentally friendly, but " environmentally friendly" is just code word for cost cutting at the customer's expense. The best part about this unit is the carafe, which is insanely good. If anyone is curious: I brewed 40 oz water to 69g coffee with two separate beans. I played with the manual flow stopper to induce bloom ( a unit at this price should bloom for you).

On this particular model, the KBT 79112, there is a lot of stock still floating around with the old style double insulated stainless steel carafe. If you got that carafe and are satisfied, that's great. I was not. I actually bought one of these during Prime Days 2023 at a substantial discount at $220. It had been a wish list item for three years. I snatched it up and it arrived a few days later. I didn't really know that the newest stock had a glass insulated carafe until I received the one I ordered during Prime Days. Once I knew it came with a glass insulated carafe I was hooked. I've had double wall stainless steel insulated containers before and they're much more prone to holding old coffee flavors and oils. Even when clean they aren't completely rid of the old oils and as soon as you put fresh hot coffee in them, you get the old rancid tastes to taint your perfect brew. After cleaning everything up, I put in the recommended weight of grounds listed on the Moccamaster manual, filled the reservoir with mineral balanced RO water, and brewed a pot. It was delicious! Perfect! Literally it was everything I'd hoped it would be. I decided this would be going to work with me. But then I needed one for home and Prime Days was over. So I thought I'd buy a 'Like New' from the Amazon Warehouse for $65 off the regular price. It arrived and there was not the glass lined carafe I expected, but a double wall stainless steel carafe instead. I thought it was a super old model that had just gotten recycled. I went to the Moccamaster website and found that in October 2022 they started supplying the glass insulated carafe with the KBT models. Anything before that it would be the stainless steel double wall carafe which is easily distinguished by the stainless steel rim on the carafe without a defined spout. Just a stainless steel ring at the top. That is the old version. I returned it. I ordered a brand new Moccamaster KBT expecting it to have the new glass installed carafe. No luck. It was brand new, shipped by Amazon, but from a third party vendor. I returned that one. I then decided to buy the Moccamaster sold and shipped by Amazon. It arrived just today and voila! the glass insulated carafe! I don't know if that's the trick to getting the newest stock, but it worked for me. The new glass insulated carafe is an $85 item on Amazon, so if you don't get it with your order, you're going to be disappointed if that's what you were wanting. That's really my only quibble. The coffee the Moccamaster makes is exquisite. Perfect. If you're buying one of these coffeemakers you're probably already buying specialty coffee. The Moccamaster will not disappoint. It's a great machine. I grind with a Baratza Virtuoso on grind number 26 and used the Moccamaster No. 4 filters. You can experiment with the grind setting, but hopefully that's helpful information. I haven't used the half carafe setting on the filter basket yet. Some have said you can actually get a bloom going on your grounds if you start on the 'X' setting and then opening the filter basket to the open circle setting. I haven't tried the either. It makes a perfect pot of coffee. If that's what you want, that's what you'll get. Just beware you might have to try a couple times on ordering to get the glass insulated carafe. Maybe order it using your credit card so you can float the cost while you wait for any returns to come through if you have to order more than one.

My previous coffee pot was a Bonavita. Honestly, it brewed outstanding coffee for half the price of the Moccamaster. However, it began to malfunction 90 days after I bought it. Unfortunately, I did not buy this on Amazon, but from an authorized retailer because it was a little cheaper. I contacted the seller and did not receive a reply. I contacted Bonavita directly and did not receive a reply. I will never buy another one of their products again because they don't stand behind them. After that experience, I decided to spend the money and get a Moccamaster, which is universally recognized as one of the best home coffee brewing machines. The Moccamaster makes great coffee at the perfect temperature. It brews quickly and consistently. It's easy to use and to clean. I really enjoy it every day of my life and it was well worth the money. Some people have complained about the carafe not keeping the coffee hot, but I have no issue with that at all. Some people like the modern design. I don't care at all about that. I just want to enjoy great coffee and the Moccamaster does that flawlessly and consistently. I am very pleased to have it. One further note, I use a Wexnub #4 cone reusable filter which fits the Moccamaster basket perfectly. I reviewed that separately.

Arrived quickly, undamaged. Makes good coffee. Pro: Easy to use, no user interface to learn, no computer and display to fail. Consistent, 6 min. brew, steady at 201 - 203 F, makes a well- (but not over-) extracted pot, no bitterness. Using 65 g medium roast, blend of Latin American (not further specified) from a local roaster, medium grind through a Breville burr grinder. Quiet and almost no steam compared to a 17-year-old Portuguese Capresso which finally scaled up enough to be unusable for more than half a pot. Thermal carafe holds coffee hot enough for at least an hour, haven't tested it beyond that. You could use a different carafe if the opening lines up under the basket. Overall construction looks and feels solid. Con: Not much to adjust regarding brew cycle, which might not be a con if you want simplicity. Carafe is heavy (over 1 kg empty) and always has a little drip on the end. We'll see on the reliability of the glass carafe liner. The 3-position bottom valve in the basket is problematic: you can close it to avoid a drip when dumping the grounds but could just use a towel; the half-closed position is to increase residence time for making a smaller amount but it made weak coffee using half the coffee and half the water; the basket wiggles around on the counter because the valve doesn't let it sit flat. The machine is just over the standard 15-inch counter-to-cabinet height in USA with electric stoves, but it's not too big to sit at the front of the counter.