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10 Best Coffee Makers For Coffee Snobs 2022 – An Expert Buyer’s Guide

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Scott

October 10, 2023

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We all know a coffee snob. Whether that person is a friend or yourself, there is an appreciation of coffee in all our lives.

At first, hunting for a gift for a coffee snob seems like an easy gift idea. Then it gets tricky; if they’re particular over their coffee, surely they’ll be picky over their coffee gear.

There are so many options out there, where do you even start?

When looking for a gift for a coffee snob, why not ask another coffee snob? That’s me, guilty.

Now, certainly not all coffee drinkers are coffee snobs, but certainly, all coffee drinkers will appreciate a great cup of coffee.

I’ve reviewed all of the best coffee makers for coffee snobs. Whether you’re looking for a coffee maker for someone very particular over their coffee or you’re looking for some fantastic coffee for yourself; I’ve got you covered.

Check out the summary below for a quick rundown of the best coffee makers for coffee snobs, just click the name and you’ll be taken to Amazon where you can get some more info and buy yours.

Top 5 Best Coffee Makers For Coffee Snobs

• Best Automatic Pour-Over Coffee Maker – Breville Precision Brewer Glass Coffee Maker
• Best Espresso Machine – Breville Barista Express
• Best Pour-OverCoffee Brewer – Chemex
• Best French Press – Bodum Chambord French Press Coffee Maker
• Best Drip Coffee Maker – Bonavita Connoisseur BV1901TS 8-Cup One-Touch Coffee Maker

1. Best Automatic Pour-Over Coffee Maker – Breville Precision Brewer Glass Coffee Maker

Want to get your snob on and show off with your coffee machine? I don’t blame, I love showing off my coffee gear and getting compliments on my top notch coffee when people come over.

Luckily the Breville Precision Brewer makes this so much easier, it’s one touch and go Gold setting makes a SCA (Speciallity Coffee Association) approved cup of coffee, which means it’s superb and has passed a rigorous taste test.

The other settings are cool too, one to make cold brew, one for iced coffee, you can make a strong or fast coffee, or you can choose My Brew.

My Brew allows you to get in and change up fine details like water temperature and flow rate. Perfect if you want to fiddle and tweak but not necessary if you don’t want to.

Finally, my favorite feature, it’s hot plate stays hot for 2 hours. Not the too short length of 30 minutes that just isn’t long enough but 2 glorious hours to come back and enjoy a second cup of coffee.

Not to mention it just looks expensive and classy, love it, an easy choice for the top spot.

2. Best Espresso Machine – Breville Barista Express Coffee Machine

The Breville Barista Express is the absolute champion of home-espresso.

With a built-in adjustable conical burr grinder, built in tamper, and PID temperature control; this machine is the all-in-one espresso solution to any coffee lover’s cravings.

Visiting a coffee shop for a Latte, Cappuccino, or any other Espresso-based coffee drink will be a thing of the past. You’ll be making far better coffee at home!

When Espresso can be such a finnicky drink, brilliant Espresso is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. Place the portafilter under the grinder and dispense some coffee
2. Press the ground coffee down with the tamper
3. Secure the portafilter in the group head and press go.

That’s espresso in under a minute, without even leaving the house.

Compared to the Breville drip machine above you get a totally different coffee experience at the end, drip or espresso. People generally want one or the other so it’s up to you what you want.

3. Best Pour-Over Coffee Brewer – Chemex

The Chemex is a unique balance of simplicity, minimalism, and complexity. It sounds like an oxymoron, but let me explain.

On the face of it, the Chemex is one seriously simple design. It is in essence, a vase that is perfectly shaped for making one mean batch of pour-over coffee.

The complexity is in the brew itself.

The pour-over brewing method puts the entirety of the control over the brew firmly in the hands of the brewer. You control the temperature of the water, just how much water and coffee is used, and most importantly, you control how the water flows over and through the coffee grounds.

The only other brew process to match the level of control that manual pour-over provides is an automatic espresso machine, but that’s a different story altogether.

The Chemex is designed solely to facilitate the absolute best possible pour-over coffee. The borosilicate glass is non-porous, so it will not affect the flavor of the coffee at all. The shape itself perfectly supports the coffee filter, whilst also doubling as the ideal coffee-serving vessel.

On top of its optimized design, it simply looks fantastic. Bring a touch of sophistication to any coffee lover’s home with the elegant Chemex.

Definitely, something classy about it compared to either of the automated Brevilles above, physically pouring the boiled water over the coffee

4. Best French Press – Bodum Chambord French Press Coffee Maker

The French Press is a timeless classic. It’s also how I made my first ever batch of freshly brewed coffee at home.

While the French Press may be the absolute standard for many coffee-lovers worldwide, there is a wide range of quality you can produce from this funny jug. It’s one seriously tweakable brewing process; it just takes a quality product to get the best out of the brew.

Many people may simply load in some ground coffee, fill it with hot water, and take a guess when the plunger should be pressed down. For a coffee snob, brewing with a French Press is a completely different game altogether.

Firstly, coffee beans for a French Press should be ground fairly coarsely. Certainly more coarse than you would use in a crip machine.

The ideal coffee to water ratio for a French Press is somewhere in the region of 1:12. That’s when you measure out 1 gram of coffee for every 12 grams of water. This can absolutely vary to preference though.

The ideal coffee brewing temperature is between 195°F and 205°F.

Lastly, the coffee should brew for 4 minutes before pressing the plunger down. Don’t press it down all the way though, leave a little gap between the plunger and the top of the settled grounds.

For the really adventurous people, you can even make cold brew coffee in it.

To facilitate this very particular brewing process, Bodum has produced a French press that not only looks gorgeous but is extremely functional.

It forms a tight seal around the filter to prevent unwanted grounds from leaking through. The glass and metal components in contact with the coffee are designed to not affect the flavor at all. The filter also disassembles and reassembles easily so that it can be kept clean with minimal effort.

As with most things in life, it’s one thing for something to be practical, but when it looks brilliant, the gadget takes a seriously special place in our daily routines.

Compared to the Chemex the coffee is “thicker” it’s got more coffee fines in it and there’s usually sediment at the bottom. this is because of the metal filter and if you lean into it, it can be a super enjoyable coffee experience. Meanwhile, the Chemex has a paper filter for a “lighter” coffee experience.

The Bodum Chambord French Press is available in a choice of six different styles, four different sizes, and you can also opt for a shatterproof carafe. This is one seriously functional French Press with options to suit absolutely everyone.

5. Bonavita Connoisseur One-Touch 8-Cup Coffee Maker BV1901TS

Have you ever had a sip of some really good diner coffee? While brewing a good batch is always down to the brewer knowing their coffee-stuff, well-designed equipment certainly lends itself toward making excellent coffee easier.

The Bonavita Connoisseur has a hanging filter basket that is designed very similar to the kind used in drip machines in diners. The difference is the cupcake-shaped filter basket, rather than the typical conical-shaped filter design.

The cupcake-style coffee filter helps to promote even extraction throughout the coffee grounds. Whereas with conical filters, there is the potential to over-extract the coffee right at the apex of the cone, but under-extract the coffee at the edges around the top.

With this simple design change, Bonavita has maintained this ease and simplicity throughout the rest of the design. It’s called a One-Touch coffee maker for a reason. Just load in your coffee and beans, with one touch, your coffee is brewing.

It even has an option to get a little fancy and include a pre-infusion. This is where it initially just wets the grounds and allows the water to soak in; this lets the coffee bloom. Simply put, the pre-infusion helps to avoid bitterness in your brew and makes for an even better brew.

This is the BV1901TS model, which is slightly better than the Bonavita BV1900TS. The main difference is that the BV1901TS has an improved filter basket design, has improved temperature control, and doesn’t accidentally shut off the hot plate early.

The Bonavita Connoisseur is certified by the Specialty Coffee Association; which means this machine brews coffee to a very particular set of conditions. It is optimized toward producing a fantastic cup of joe.

And while this puts it on par with the Breville precision, I like the precision better, this feels a little cheaper and doesn’t have the same number of settings which are missed.

But, with a 1.3 liter thermal carafe, you can brew a massive pot of coffee; a luxury that’s hard to pass up.

Buyer’s Guide to the Epitome of Coffee Makers

When hunting for a coffee maker for one picky coffee snob, it’s worthwhile getting a strong overview of the coffee-brewing game. Otherwise, how can you tell what kind of coffee maker to hunt for?

Water Temperature

The ideal temperature for brewing coffee is between 195°F and 205°F.

If the temperature is too high, the brew will include harsher, more bitter, flavors that take longer and more heat to dissolve in the water. Making you the coffee is not brewed at too high a temperature is one of the best ways to avoid bitter cups of coffee.

Brew Method

Every brew method produces a unique and different tasting coffee.

While no brew method is superior to another, everyone does have their own preference. The only way to find the best brew method is to try them all.

Looking for a gift for a coffee snob? If they’ve not tried a brewing method, you can bet they probably want to get stuck into trying it.

Grind

While there is no supreme brew method, there absolutely is a supreme grind for your brew method.

The rule of thumb generally goes by how long your brew takes. If the brew time is short, like with espresso, it needs a fine grind. If it’s a longer brew time, like with french press, it needs a coarser grind.

The best way to grind coffee beans is with a burr coffee grinder. That’s how you control the grind size. A blade grinder cannot control the grind size and just chops at the beans until they cannot be chopped anymore.

• Coarse grinds. Suits brew methods such as french press and cold brew.
• Medium grinds. Ideal for pour over and drip methods.
• Fine grinds. Perfect for espresso and Moka pot brews.

There is still a bit of playing about needed to find the perfect grind size. While there is a general rule to it, the fine tweaking does come down to taste.

Other Coffee Makers For Coffee Snobs Reviewed

Keurig K-Mini Plus Coffee Maker, Single Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Brewer

Absolutely everyone has their own preference as to how they like their coffee. Sometimes you find a coffee chain that makes a brew just perfect for you.

Whether it’s a simple case of some great beans in a reusable pod, or a guilty pleasure like pumpkin spice lattes, the Keurig K-Mini has the flexibility to brew just about any coffee you can want from the convenience of a little pod.

It’s super simple, just pop in your choice of K-Cup and press go.

It’s travel mug friendly too. While the K-Mini os only 5 inches wide, it can accommodate cups up to 7 inches tall.

One downside is that the water reservoir has to be refilled after each brew. Although it’s fairly common to have a small water tank with single serve coffee brewers.

Cuisinart DCC-3200P1 Perfectemp Programmable Coffee Maker

Did you know that there is an ideal temperature to brew your coffee?

It works like this. If you brew with too much heat, you’ll include unwanted harsher bitter flavors. If you brew without enough heat, your coffee will taste thin and weak.

Luckily, there is a sweet spot for your coffee brewing temperature. The ideal temperature for brewing coffee is between 195°F and 205°F.

The Cuisinart Perfectemp is designed with the key aim of brewing your java at the absolute perfect temperature.

Not only does this little machine brew at the perfect temperature, it gets your coffee ready right at the perfect time. The Perfectemp is designed for easy programmability, so you can set it to get brewing your coffee just for when you are going to need it.

Nothing beats waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee.

Mr. Coffee Espresso and Cappuccino Maker | Café Barista

Making espresso with the Mr Coffee Espreso and Cappuccino maker simply couldn’t be any easier. It’s effortless.

It uses a pressurized filter basket, so there is no technique needed for tamping down your ground coffee. In fact, there’s not really any need to tamp your coffee at all. Can if you want to though.

You load up the portafilter basket, press a button, and you’ve got coffee.

It makes a great espresso. What’s more, it consistently makes a great espresso. No need to roll the dice with this machine.

The milk frother certainly is pretty loud though. Not sure why it has to be just so loud, but it certainly does froth up some milk. It even works with non-dairy milks.

The milk container has 3 parts and the filter has 6 small parts that all need to be cleaned. While the espresso parts can get by with an easy rinse, the three milk parts do need a bit of soap.

I’m personally more of an espresso fan than a cappuccino fan. While I love both, the cleaning for the milk parts certainly does push me toward just brewing espresso.

The AeroPress

The AeroPress is a fairly new coffee-gadget to the coffee world. Especially when you consider people have been brewing coffee for possibly over a millennium, the AeroPress was only invented in 2005.

Alan Adler invented the AeroPress after complaining over how drip coffee could often turn out watery. From that point on, he set out to create a coffee maker that made a strong, bold, brew that completely outcompetes any drip machine.

Well, he managed it. The worldwide adoration of the AeroPress can attest to that.

It combines the bold, intense, flavors of French Press coffee, with the smooth filtered texture of pour over and drip coffee.

Looking at an AeroPress, it certainly is a strange design. It almost resembles a giant syringe. Don’t let that put you off though, this is one seriously brilliant coffee maker.

What’s more, it’s small, light, portable, and easy to clean up. Whether you’re traveling, camping, in the office, or just at home; the AeroPress is perfect for making fantastic coffee wherever you may be.

OXO BREW Single Serve Dripper Auto-Drip Pour-Over Coffee Maker with Water Tank

Do you love pour over coffee, but find the task of slowly pouring hot water over the ground to be tedious? Enter the OXO Brew. It makes a single cup of high quality coffee utterly easily.

The OXO Brew takes a classic pour over filter cone design, and take all of the effort out of pour over for you. OXO has developed a water tank that you simply sit on top of the filter cone and it will slowly, automatically, drip water over the grounds for you.

It’s designed to not only drip the water over slowly, but also to provide an even distribution so that the coffee grounds are evenly extracted and you get the best coffee possible with minimal effort.

Pour over coffee really doesn’t get much easier than this and there’s no electricity needed either.

It makes a single, fantastic cup of coffee for a tiny price tag.

Technivorm Moccamaster

The Technivorm Moccamaster is the cutting edge of pour-over coffee. While it might look like a big drip machine, it is far more than that.

This clever contraption is designed to mimic exactly how a barista will manually brew a batch of pour over coffee.

It’s no new entry to the coffee world either. This bean brewer has been wowing coffee fans for decades, and Technivorm has only improved the design over the years.

It ensures the water is initially heated to the perfect coffee brewing temperature of between 195°F and 205°F. The showerhead is designed to provide an even distribution of water across all of the coffee grounds, so you get an even extraction throughout the brew basket.

It controls the water flow the optimize the brew time and extraction, just as a barista does, for the best flavor possible.

Lastly, you can choose how hot it will keep your coffee while it is held in the glass carafe. Choose between maintaining the hot plate at either 175°F or 185°F. Everyone has their own preference.

From the copper heating element to the robust stainless steel design, every inch of this appliance is quality.

Available in a massive range of colors, there’s a style to suit absolutely everyone.

Final Thoughts

Hunting for a gift for a coffee snob can take some careful thinking, but it doesn’t have to be tricky.

Once the options are whittled down to only the best ones, all that’s left to do is find something they don’t already have.

Hopefully, I covered all of the bases here, but if you still have any questions be sure to leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

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