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Portafilter Co

Makers & Brewers

Coffee makers and brewers, for when it is not an espresso morning

Drip machines, moka pots and other brewers ranked on brew quality and value — the makers that get real coffee into the cup without fuss.

Not every morning is an espresso morning, and a home coffee setup is better for having a second, simpler way to make a good cup. This hub covers the brewers that live alongside an espresso machine — or replace it entirely for people who just want a great mug of coffee without dialing in a grinder at 6am. The two that matter most for most homes are a proper drip machine and a stovetop moka pot, and they answer two different needs: the drip machine makes a full carafe on a timer for a household, and the moka pot makes a small, intense, espresso-adjacent shot on the stovetop for one or two people with no electricity and almost no cleanup.

Drip coffee makers are the most misunderstood appliance in the kitchen, because a cheap one and a good one look identical and cost wildly different amounts. The thing you are actually paying for is water temperature and shower-head design. Coffee extracts properly between about 195 and 205°F, and the difference between a $30 machine and a Technivorm or an OXO is that the good ones actually reach and hold that range and spray the water evenly over the grounds instead of dribbling it in one spot. The Specialty Coffee Association certifies a small list of machines that hit these targets; several of our picks carry that certification, and we say which ones and why it matters. If your drip coffee has always tasted flat and bitter, the machine — not the beans — is usually why.

Moka pots are the opposite kind of purchase: cheap, nearly indestructible, and mostly about technique rather than the pot. A Bialetti Moka Express has made coffee in Italian kitchens for ninety years and still costs less than a couple of bags of beans. It does not make true espresso — the pressure is a fraction of a real machine's nine bars — but it makes a rich, strong, small coffee that is wonderful on its own or as the base of a stovetop latte. The main choices are size (they only make the number of cups they are built for, so buy for your actual habit) and material: classic aluminum for the traditional taste, or stainless steel if you have an induction stovetop or want something that goes in the dishwasher.

Beyond drip and moka, this hub grows into French press, pour over, and the gooseneck kettles that make pour over work — brewers for people who want to slow down and control the cup by hand. The honest guidance across all of them is the same: the brewer matters less than fresh coffee, the right grind, and hot-enough water, which is why every roundup here links back to the grinders hub and the best-beans roundup. Start with the best drip roundup if you want a set-and-forget carafe, or the moka pot roundup if you want that small stovetop shot. For hands-on brewing, we rank the best French presses and the best pour-over brewers — and if you are torn between the two methods, our French press vs pour over comparison settles it. Pour-over lives or dies on a controlled pour, so we also rank the best gooseneck kettles; and when the weather turns, the best cold brew coffee makers. We also pick the best AeroPress model to buy, and settle two crossroads beginners hit — moka pot vs espresso machine and AeroPress vs French press. We also cover Turkish coffee pots (the cezve), the AeroPress vs pour over question, and a full Hario V60 review. We review the Bialetti Moka Express and the Chemex, rank the best percolators, and settle moka pot vs French press, drip vs pour over, AeroPress vs moka pot, and Chemex vs V60.

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