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Technivorm Moccamaster KBG 741 Review

Makes good coffee and offers snazzy styling, but also has a very high price tag
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Price:   $330 List | $309 at Amazon
Pros:  Good taste, unique aesthetics
Cons:  Expensive
Manufacturer:   Technivorm
By Max Mutter and Steven Tata  ⋅  Dec 4, 2017
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66
OVERALL
SCORE

RANKED
#5 of 12
  • Taste - 50% 7
  • User Friendliness - 20% 7
  • Convenience - 20% 5
  • Ease of Cleaning - 10% 7

Our Verdict

The Technivorm Moccamaster KBG 741 is a great all around coffee maker, but we don't feel that it quite lives up to its high price tag. It can make quite a good cup of coffee and has some snazzy aesthetics, but there are other models that can make better coffee and cost less. For example, the OXO On Barista Brain made the best coffee of any of our coffee makers and costs significantly less. It also has some nice touches, like an automatic brewing timer, that the Moccamaster does not have. Therefore, unless you really love the Moccamaster's distinct styling, we wouldn't recommend it.

Compare to Similar Products

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Our Analysis and Test Results

The Technivorm Moccamaster KBG 741 produced good coffee in our testing. However, given its very high price point, it would only really be worthwhile if it made the best coffee. Therefore we would recommend the OXO On Barista Brain to those looking for the best morning cup possible.


Performance Comparison


The Moccamaster earned one of the top scores in our testing, as you can see in the table above. Below we discuss its specific performance in all of the different tests we conducted.

Taste


The coffee we made with the Moccamaster ranged from decent to good, earning it a slightly above average taste score of 7 out of 10. The manufacturer suggests using just 42g of coffee grounds to make 8 cups of coffee. This resulted in quite a watery brew. When we increased the amount of grounds to 65g for an 8 cup pot (the recommended dosage for the top scorer in this metric) the coffee became rich and robust. However, it still didn't have quite as much nuance or flavorful notes as the coffee made in the OXO On Barista Brain and the Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable, and these models cost more than $100 and $200 less, respectively.

The Moccamaster made good but not exceptional coffee in our testing.
The Moccamaster made good but not exceptional coffee in our testing.

User Friendliness


The Moccamaster earned a slightly above average score of 7 out of 10 in our user friendliness testing. It features a very simple interface of just two switches. One turns the unit on and off and the other sets the hot plate temperature to high or low. The glass carafe has a nice handle and produces a consistent, me free pour. While this model didn't have some of the bells and whistles of other models, like LCD displays and timers that let you know how old the coffee in the pot it, but overall it is still quite easy to use.

The Moccamaster feature a simple no frills control panel.
The Moccamaster feature a simple, no frills control panel.

Convenience


The Moccamaster again picked up a fairly average score of 5 out of 10 in this metric. In our brewing speed test it took 9 minutes to make 6 cups of coffee, including all prep and cleanup time. This was exactly the average time in our testing. The Moccamaster lost some points because it does not have an automatic brewing function, so you can't set the machine to wake you up with freshly brewed coffee. Many of the machines we tested have this feature, including both the OXO On Barista Brain and the Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable.

The Moccamaster lacks a programmable mode which can be a bummer for those that are useless in the morning until they get their coffee.
The Moccamaster lacks a programmable mode, which can be a bummer for those that are useless in the morning until they get their coffee.

Ease of Cleaning


Cleaning the Moccamaster is relatively painless. It uses a paper filter, which makes disposing of grinds easy. The pot has a large opening, and is thus quite easy to clean. Long term cleaning involves filling the water tank with descaling liquid and running a few brew cycles. This process was mostly hands-off and took about 25 minutes to complete. The Moccamaster lost some points in this metric because it doesn't have any dishwasher safe components, everything must be washed by hand.

The Moccamaster's grind tray.
The Moccamaster's grind tray.

Value


The Moccamaster costs quite a pretty penny. It lists for $330, making it the most expensive coffee maker we tested by a wide margin. Unless you really like its unique aesthetics, we don't really feel that the Moccamaster is worth this high price. Both the OXO On Barista Brain ($200) and the Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable ($100) make better coffee and cost substantially less.

Conclusion


The Technivorm Moccamaster KBG 741 is a good coffee maker with unique styling, but it doesn't really live up to its very high price tag.

— Max Mutter and Steven Tata