My Moccamaster makes the perfect drip coffee

Coffee is Biohack is the original desktop and the country’s most popular productivity tool. While we’re losing sleep over the switch to daylight saving time, the caffeine-addicted WIRED Reviews team is writing about our favorite coffee brewing routines and appliances that will keep us alert and maybe even happy in the morning. Today, reviewer Simon Hill presents an ode to the Technivorm Moccamaster. In the following days, we will add more Java.Base Stories About other WIRED writers’ favorite brewing methods.

I don’t work So good that I had my first coffee of the day. It’s an addiction I accepted a long time ago. But my quest for the perfect morning cup took years. I tend to obsess over finding the perfect tool (there’s a reason I’m on the WIRED reviews team). I’m always looking for the next big thing, but the Technivorm Moccamaster KBGT is my forever drip coffee machine.

Six minutes is all that stands between you and a cup of delicious coffee. The Moccamaster is stable, reliable, easy to use and quiet. With an optimized design that is over 50 years old, it has achieved the evolutionary perfection of Drip coffee machine. It quickly fills your home with that irresistible scent, makes the most of your beans, and looks great on your countertop.

Summary

There is no substitute for good quality fresh beans, but I don’t have time to practice stuffing and adjusting. I also need enough for my wife, and I want a second cup ready to go when I finish my first cup. Drip coffee is my preferred choice, and after browsing mostly inexpensive machines over the years, I settled on the Moccamaster KBGT from Technivorm.

I hated coffee when I was little, but we only had instant coffee at home. Watery and weak instant coffee is enough to turn anyone away. Good coffee wasn’t everywhere in Scotland in the 1990s. My wife introduced me to my first “proper coffee” at an Italian café. Suddenly I understood the aroma, the creaminess, and the depth of flavour.

For years, coffee was something we got at a café or restaurant. We drank tea inside. But my credentials were built when I got a job testing games. We often had to pull all-nighters to test the release in time for the publisher. There was a pot of drip coffee available at all times, and it was my constant companion during the years I spent developing the game, even though it came from a large Kirkland can and was usually cooked to death.

At home, we graduate to the French press, which is perfect for lazy Sunday mornings. But eventually, we got our own drip coffee machine. There have been experiments with cheap espresso machines, but the biggest step in our coffee game has been buying fresh beans from a good roaster and grinding them in each pot. After finding my favorite roaster (Glen Lyon) and pairing it with Oxo cone grinderthen upgraded to Fellow Opus, and turned my attention to the instrument.

Worth it

I hesitated for a long time about whether the Technivorm Moccamaster KBGT could justify its price. Even when sold, they are three or four times more expensive than a standard drip coffee machine. But there are reasons.

Photo: Simon Hill