The best coffee maker for 2021 – CNET [CNET]

Making a great cup of coffee isn’t easy for humans, and it’s not even easy for an automatic machine. Coffee grounds need to hit hot water for the right length of time and within a precise temperature range. Only a handful of drip coffee makers can pull off this sort of alchemy — the vast majority don’t and serve up truly nasty-tasting pots.

Whether you want to brew perfect lattes and cappuccinos, make iced coffee or turn beans into the perfect cup of fresh coffee, you don’t need to spend a fortune to get the best coffee maker. We’ve discovered some noteworthy exceptions on the market. You can drop almost $500 on a tricked-out Ratio Eight that’s as gorgeous as it is capable, or on a programmable commercial coffee maker. But all it takes is $15 to get Oxo’s superb Single Serve Pour Over funnel.

And there are plenty of compelling choices in between for a coffee lover’s brew. One is our Editors’ Choice winner, the Oxo Brew 8-Cup, our pick for best all-around automatic brewer. Another is the KitchenAid Siphon Brewer, which uses an ancient technique to achieve dramatic and outstanding results. No matter your budget, there’s a coffee machine on this list that’ll fit your drip needs perfectly and be the best coffee maker for you. We’ll periodically update the list with new products as we test them. We promise, you’ll never have to drink coffee from pods or an ancient coffee pot again.

A note on testing coffee makers

Evaluating the performance of a coffee maker is trickier than it might sound. The first step is to know what good drip coffee actually is. According to the Specialty Coffee Association, there are criteria critical to brewing quality java. Mainly these are brewing time and water temperature. Hot water should come into contact with grounds for no less than four minutes and no longer than eight. Additionally, the ideal water temperature range is between 197 degrees Fahrenheit (92C) and 205 degrees Fahrenheit (96C).

To confirm how each coffee maker meets that challenge, we log the length of their brew cycles. We also employ thermocouple heat sensors connected to industrial-grade data loggers. That enables us to record the temperature within the coffee grounds while brewing is underway.

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