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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.

Also here: the best camping and travel coffee makers, ranked for no power, one burner and a packed bag — an AeroPress, a stainless camp percolator, an induction-safe moka pot, a shatterproof pour-over cone and a hand-pump espresso maker.

New this round: the best coffee makers for one person, which is the roundup organised by the constraint rather than by the brewing method. The case it makes is that a 10 or 12-cup drip machine is actively bad at making one cup - a 15-gram bed spread across a basket designed for 50 grams under-extracts, the shower head cannot wet it evenly, and then the hotplate stews what it made - so it ranks four brewers sized to a single dose instead, scored on total time including cleanup and on how much they forgive a cheap grinder.

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Everything in this hub

All coffee makers

All 25 of our coffee makers pages are listed below — nothing is paginated, filtered or hidden behind a “load more”.

Roundups (12)

Ranked shortlists with a named winner, a live price, and the pick we would skip.

Single-product reviews (4)

One product in full: the specs, the running-cost math, and who it is genuinely not for.

  • Hario V60 review: the pour-over dripper the whole industry brews on

    Review

    Hario V60 review: the pour-over dripper the whole industry brews on

    The Hario V60 is the definitive affordable pour-over dripper and the one most roasters demo beans on: a 60-degree ceramic cone with a single large hole and tall spiral ribs that hand you full control of the flow. It rewards a gooseneck kettle and a good grind with the cleanest cup around — and quietly punishes a careless pour.

    1 picks compared

    Top pick: Hario V60 Ceramic Coffee Dripper (Size 02)

    $30.50Amazon
    See all picks →
  • Bialetti Moka Express review: the classic stovetop, honestly assessed

    Review

    Bialetti Moka Express review: the classic stovetop, honestly assessed

    The Bialetti Moka Express is the near-indestructible aluminum pot that defined stovetop coffee: a rich, strong small cup for a fraction of an espresso machine, with cheap replacement gaskets everywhere — as long as you accept hand-wash-only aluminum and that it is not true espresso.

    1 picks compared

    Top pick: Bialetti Moka Express (6-Cup)

    $52.00Amazon
    See all picks →
  • Chemex review: the design-icon carafe that brews the cleanest cup

    Review

    Chemex review: the design-icon carafe that brews the cleanest cup

    The Chemex Classic 6-Cup is the design-icon pour-over: an hourglass borosilicate carafe whose thick bonded filters strip out oils and sediment for an exceptionally clean, bright cup you brew and serve from one vessel. The honest catch: those proprietary filters are the point and the catch — they slow the pour, you must buy Chemex's own, and the glass is fragile.

    1 picks compared

    Top pick: Chemex Classic Series Pour-Over Coffeemaker (6-Cup)

    $47.03Amazon
    See all picks →
  • Bialetti Brikka review: the moka pot that chases crema

    Review

    Bialetti Brikka review: the moka pot that chases crema

    The Bialetti Brikka is the moka pot for people who miss crema: a weighted pressure valve builds more pressure than a standard Moka Express, releasing a thicker, crema-like foam and a richer mouthfeel. It is the closest a stovetop pot gets to a crema-topped cup — with a little more fuss, an aluminum body that rules out induction, and a valve that needs the right heat and fill to perform.

    1 picks compared

    Top pick: Bialetti Brikka

    $45.99Amazon
    See all picks →

Head-to-head comparisons (8)

Two products side by side, with a straight answer on which one to buy.

Guides and explainers (1)

The background reading that comes before a purchase — no product required.