I posted on instagram a few days ago that C and I were in the market for a new coffee pot and we got SO many awesome recommendations that I thought I'd pull them all together here in the event that it is helpful to others.
The backstory: I am not a huge coffee drinker (1 cup per day) but I love our little routine in the mornings and especially on weekends - C is in charge of coffee and we always sit in the (TV-free) living room and enjoy it while we plan our day. C is a BIG coffee guy (3+ cups/day) and is also a stickler about it being piping hot (I like it almost lukewarm... we sound like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears). What we've had in the past:
Keurig: We had one of these when they were super "hot" a few years ago but realized that you actually can never clean the internal system and were weary of mold and mildew. We also hated buying the expensive pods, especially when filling a tumbler, etc. that could take up to three to fill! They are also pretty terrible for the environment and once we started making most of our coffee at home we decided we should get something more sustainable. I still think the Keurig is a great option for single person households, guests, etc, just not as a daily solution for two or more people.
Coffee Pot: I'm not sure exactly which one we had but we had no issues with a normal coffee pot other than that the coffee wasn't hot enough for C. We just happened to try a few other things after determining he needed hotter coffee.
French Press: Our FAVORITE and always piping hot! We still have one that we enjoy using on weekends - it's just a pain to boil water on weekdays and clean it so often.
Percolator: This is what we had last. By far the best and hottest coffee (in my opinion)! The only reason we are looking for a new option is because it is sort of a pain to clean (C got water in it while cleaning it, which killed it, oops) and he wants something he can "set and forget" before he goes to bed. We will replace it anyway to use when we have company but need something else for every day use.
Where we netted out: You all had the BEST suggestions! I thought it was fascinating that there were over 100 comments but after I pulled all of the recos into an excel doc, there were only 20 total machines that made the cut! Here is the full list of coffee makers that received more than one recommendation, in order of descending popularity:
The resounding top three were the NINJA Coffee Bar, the Cuisinart 12-Cup Coffee Plus, and the MoccaMaster. Funny enough they are all very different, at different price points, and each would meet our needs for different reasons!
NINJA Coffee Bar: By far the most popular! Rave reviews, and it's currently on sale here for $105 with code 4DEALS (THANK YOU to our friend Kate for messaging me about the sale!). This one would allow us to make single-cup coffee, lattes, a carafe of coffee, etc.
Cuisinart 12-Cup Coffee Plus: This one is the closest to a "traditional" coffee pot but everyone says it keeps the coffee piping hot AND has a handy hot-water feature as well. This is also programmable. Seems like a solid buy for $71!
MoccaMaster: The MoccaMaster was passionately recommended (the Technivorm in particular) for making the best-tasting, hottest coffee. It even got singing praise from a Williams Sonoma employee that has tried countless number of machines that they sell. This is the priciest option at around $300 but seems to have the most potential longevity.
The verdict? I'm not sure yet! The easiest solution seems to be the Cuisinart as we really just need something basic. I will probably pass on the NINJA only because it seems more complex then what we're looking for and I don't know how much we'd use the frother, etc. We did get a bit of fun money for Christmas, so there's a chance we splurge for the MoccaMaster. I'm going to head to Williams Sonoma this weekend to check it out - I will keep you posted.
In the meantime, did we miss any awesome options? Thanks again for all of your help!