Technivorm Moccamaster KBG 741 Review

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	Score	Product	Price	Our Take
	80	OXO Brew 8 Cup	$170	Top tier taste quality and a simple interface make this a great choice for connoisseurs
	76	Breville Precision Brewer	$300	Imparts a great tasting cup, but some drawbacks in user friendliness and its high price make it hard to recommend to most
	70	Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable	$100	Can almost match the OXO in terms of taste but costs about half as much
	68	Nespresso Vertuoline	$200	Convenient, and tastes significantly better than Keurig machines
	66	Technivorm Moccamaster KBG 741	$330	Great if you're looking for a unique looking countertop appliance, but you can get better coffee for much less
	61	Bonavita Thermal Carafe 8-Cup	$190	Makes a good cup, but others in the same price range do the same and are a bit easier to use
	60	BLACK+DECKER 12-Cup Programmable	$35	An inexpensive machine that makes good coffee and has a programmable function
	60	Hamilton Beach 2-Way	$60	Average taste doesn't live up to that of less expensive mahcines
	57	Keurig K-Cafe	$200	Our top choice for those that like K-Cups
	57	Keurig K-Elite	$170	A super convenient Keurig machine that brings a slight reduction in the plastic taste
	56	Mr. Coffee Simple Brew 12-Cup Switch	$25	Inexpensive yet makes a pretty good cup, but does take its time in doing so
	45	KitchenAid Siphon	$250	Good for those that like very mellow and smooth coffee, and have extra time in the morning for the involved cleaning process

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.

Credit: Jenna Ammerman

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.

Credit: Jenna Ammerman

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.

Credit: Jenna Ammerman

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.

Credit: Jenna Ammerman

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.

Credit: Jenna Ammerman

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