Technivorm Moccamaster KBGT Thermos – Polished

Now and then, we at Quaffee have to put a product to a vote. The Technivorm Moccamaster KBGT 741 Thermos was one of these products. With 75% of the vote the product is now recommended (sort-of) through us.

We are hoping to also offer the larger cousin, at a later stage.

Features

The Moccamaster is a hand made quality product, that has a number of features:

• It’s fast, brews 10 cups in 6 minutes (around 1.25 litres).
• And it is quiet.
• It has a metal housing and uses BPA/BPS/bpf & phthalate free plastics.
• Auto drip-stop brew-basket and pot placement stop. Simply remove the pot and the water stops flowing into the filter basket and also stops pouring out.
• Shuts off automatically, when all the water has passed through the brewer.
• The 9 hole spray-head showers the grounds. Combined with pulse dosing.
• Uses a copper boiling element to rapidly heat water. Brewing temperature is controlled to be between 91-96 C.
• Special brew-through neck that ensures the brewed coffee circulates while brewing.
• Vacuum flask to brew in to (what we recommend with auto-drip).
• Uses easy to access 1×4 paper filters.

Look at the Behmor

Technivorm is a legend in the industry. While the stuff of legends typically wins the day, we recommend the Behmor Brazen. Looks make be eclectic, but brew quality, and flexibility make it a winner.

What we like

There was a bit of a debate at Quaffee about this, but we all agreed that we liked:

• It looks good.
• The convenience. All you need to do is add ground coffee (after flushing the filter), then add your water and turn the machine on, walk away and the machine makes coffee.
• It’s cool to watch the heated water bubble through.
• We found the best results when using 50-55g coffee and one litre of water.
• The use of the vacuum flask ensures:
  1. Coffee is not damaged by induced heat that is typical of the glass brewers and
  2. The coffee stays hot for 6 hours. Luke warm after 8 hours.
• Makes enough coffee for all of us at Quaffee to have a full cup.
• It looks good (yes, we said it twice)

What some of us do not like

Although a few of us had issues with the machine, most of the Quaffee team felt those complaining were being picky. But that’s why we are a team. So what did those that do not like it, not like:

• The coffee is just not as good as a Chemex or Hario can make. We found the coffee brewed in the Behmor Brazen more consistent and more enjoyable, too.  This is probably due to a few things:
  • The basket is the classic Mellita style V basket.
  • There is no pre-brew cycle.
  • Brew temperature cannot be changed.
  • The Pulse brewing leaves a lot to be desired.
  • Unable to change the flow rate.
• Not easy to use an alternative basket, we tried – could do a 400g Hario V60 02, but that was the limit.

So there you have it. It is a great little auto-drip machine for small offices or coffee loving homes. But some of us believe it is not a replacement for those that love their Hario/Kalita or Chemex.