The Technivorm Moccamaster is pretty famous in the coffee world, but somehow we at Coffee Affection had not yet given it a try. Does this coffee maker live up to the hype, and is it worth the high price? Take a look!
The bottom line is that we were very impressed with this coffee maker. If you are looking for the ease of a drip coffee maker with the flavor of a better brewer, you’ll want to take a close look at the Moccamaster KBGV Select. This machine is simple to set up, use, and clean, and the coffee is miles better than most drip coffee machines. The brewer has an unusual, modular look (and comes in an amazing range of colors).
The downside is that this coffee maker is pretty pricey, especially compared to many drip machines. You’ll also need paper filters and the water reservoir is small and non-removable. But if you can make your budget work, we think you’ll really enjoy this well-designed machine.
Technivorm-Moccamaster is a Dutch company founded in the 1960s by Gerard Clement Smit, who collaborated heavily with the Norwegian Coffee Association to design the best possible coffee brewing methods.
First sold in 1968, the Moccamaster has appeared in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City, just like another famous brewer – the Chemex! The Moccamaster is certified by the European Coffee Brewing Center (ECBC) and the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). In 2017, Technivorm sold its 10-millionth Moccamaster.
Appearance
The Moccamaster comes in a fun range of colors, including vibrant options like pink, yellow, and teal and more staid options like silver, black, and white. It has an unusual, modular look – not the sleek modern design of many high-end espresso machines and coffee makers nor the clunkier design of basic coffee brewers. Particularly in colors like orange, the Moccamaster evokes workshop tools or scientific devices, which is appropriate considering the technical effort and research behind this evolved coffee maker.
If you’re interested in a drip coffee machine that doesn’t look like a drip coffee machine, this could be the brewer for you!
Features
This coffee maker doesn’t offer many settings – you won’t find a timer or temperature control – but that doesn’t mean you can’t control your brew. The Moccamaster only has two buttons, an on/off switch and a full/half pot switch, plus automatic shutoff and a warming pad. You control the coffee beans and grind size, and the only additional accessories you’ll need are #4 filters and a coffee grinder. We love that this machine uses regular filters (though Technivorm sells Moccamaster-branded filters as well), so you’re not stuck buying expensive specialized filters.
Ease of Use
If you’ve ever operated a drip coffee maker, you won’t need to spend much time with the Moccamaster’s user manual. Fill the water reservoir, add a filter and ground coffee to the brew basket, and slot everything together. Switch the machine on and select the pot size, then wait while your coffee brews! The process is amazingly fast, brewing a complete pot in about 6 minutes. The copper heating element brings water to 212 F, at which point it bubbles up the tube in the center of the reservoir. A metal arm carries the water over to the brew basket, where it drips directly onto your coffee grounds.
Technivorm also recommends stirring the coffee partway through the brewing process to ensure even extraction, as you would on a pour-over brewer like the Chemex. When you lift the lid to do this, you’ll notice the machine’s unique water pouring style, a pulsing rainshower that helps the coffee extract correctly.
Another smart innovation is in the carafe, which has a funneling lid that pulls the freshest coffee to the bottom of the pot. This helps to minimize heat loss as the coffee brews, keeping your pot of joe hot without flattening the flavor. It also mixes the coffee so that the extra strong coffee from the beginning of the brew combines smoothly with the weaker coffee from those last few drips.
Coffee Quality
Enough about the machine: how’s the coffee? Here at Coffee Affection, we have tried all kinds of different coffee brewing methods, including the simple Mr. Coffee, the feature-heavy Ninja Coffee Bar, the sleek Diletta Mio espresso machine, and the beloved Chemex. But the Technivorm Moccamaster impressed us by offering something none of those other brewers did: amazing flavor combined with incredible ease of use. In short, the coffee is absolutely delicious! You can expect full-bodied, complex flavors, no matter what kind of beans you use (we particularly recommend these delicious beans). And another benefit of this brewer is that you need less coffee per cup than a pour-over brewer, which will save you plenty of money!
We’re not going to sugar-coat it: the Technivorm Moccamaster is a fairly pricey coffee machine. You can certainly pick up a much cheaper model that will produce decent coffee. However, the Moccamaster offers a unique combination of convenience and flavor: the complex flavor of a pour-over with the set-it-and-forget-it ease of a drip machine.
In terms of durability, we give this machine a thumbs up. The main section is sturdy, stable, and easy to wipe clean. There are a variety of plastic components, like the water reservoir, brew basket, and buttons, but they all feel solid and durable even with heavy use. Plus, Technivorm-Moccamaster offers a great 5-year warranty, replacement parts, and lifetime repairs.
Cleaning
All coffee machines require regular maintenance, and unfortunately, the Moccamaster does not have an automatic cleaning cycle or alert. However, it’s easy to wipe clean and only requires regular descaling. The company recommends descaling every 100 brew cycles or three months. When you finish a 100-count box of filters, it’s time to descale!
With all these positives, you may wonder: is this the perfect coffee machine? Although we did love this brewer, we did see a couple of small drawbacks.
The water reservoir is pretty small and does not detach from the rest of the machine, so you have to refill daily using a separate pitcher. This isn’t a dealbreaker, of course, but it’s also not particularly convenient.
We also noticed two points that were a bit less smooth. Slotting the brew basket into place is not very intuitive – you have to get two small plastic bars to fit into holes on the brew basket while keeping the grounds level – and takes a little practice to do smoothly. Removing and replacing the carafe is also not very smooth and tends to scrape unpleasantly on the warming plate.
The Verdict
Can you tell that we love this brewer? The Technivorm Moccamaster is a thoughtfully designed coffee machine that is truly easy to use, simple to clean, and produces impressive, flavorful coffee. It’s an interesting-looking brewer available in a full range of colors. It was also designed using the company’s extensive research on brewing the perfect cup. You can enjoy pour-over-quality coffee without the extra work!
This may not be the right coffee maker for you if you have a tight budget, don’t like using paper filters, or hate refilling a small water reservoir. It’s also not as sleek as some high-end brewers, so consider if you like the overall design.
All in all, we absolutely recommend this coffee maker! Give it a try and see what you think.
Kate is a lifelong coffee enthusiast and homebrewer who enjoys writing for coffee websites and sampling every kind of coffee known to man. She’s tried unusual coffees from all over the world and owns an unhealthy amount of coffee gear.
