Around $100
8.9/ 10
Why we love it
Small brewers are usually where the specifications quietly disappear — a hotplate, a vague temperature claim, no certification. This one keeps all of it at half the size: SCA certified, 194–205°F, an optional bloom, and a thermal carafe rather than a warming plate. If you brew for one or two people, this is the same engineering as the eight-cup machines without three days of stale coffee in the pot.
Pros
- SCA certified at five-cup size, which is rare
- Double-wall stainless thermal carafe, not a hotplate
- Optional pre-infusion bloom
- Brews a full carafe in about five minutes
- Carafe lid, basket and showerhead are dishwasher safe
Cons
- Five cups is genuinely small if anyone else drinks coffee
- No programmable timer
- Costs more than eight-cup machines with worse specifications
- Thermal lid has to come off to brew and go back on after
