How do you make drip coffee?

Review the instructions that come with your coffee maker, but generally speaking, you’ll put coffee grounds in the filter basket and water in the reservoir, then push a button. The beauty of drip coffee makers is how easy they are to operate!

What is the best drip coffee ratio?

“We like a 1:15 coffee-water ratio for drip coffee,” says Calatrello. “Anywhere between 1:15 and 1:18 is good for most people.” She also recommends using a scale to measure both coffee and water in grams for accuracy and ease.

How do you clean a drip coffee maker?

Rinsing your coffee pot after use is enough for day-to-day cleaning, but a deep clean once a month or every six weeks is a good habit to get into. We have a complete guide on cleaning your coffee maker right here .

What is the best type of grind for drip coffee makers?

“The optimal grind size for drip coffee is medium,” says Calatrello. “The ground coffee should resemble regular sand. If you find your coffee tastes sour and acidic, try grinding a click or two finer. If it tastes bitter or dull, try a slightly coarser grind. Experimentation is key to finding the grind that works best with your brewer (and your taste buds), but, in general, regular sand is what we’re looking for.”

The 8 Best Drip Coffee Makers for 2023, According to Pros

For many (most?) of us, brewing coffee at home each morning is non-negotiable. It’s often more about the ritual and the pleasure of the first sip than getting a hit of caffeine, but whatever your motivations, it’s important to have a coffee maker you can rely on.

Sure, you can use a French press or a pour-over, but a nice drip coffee maker — all the more valuable with a programming function so you can wake up to a hot pot of coffee — is tough to beat. But with so many choices on the market, deciding where to begin your search can be a challenge.

“Prices are all over the map for coffee makers, so consider how much you’re comfortable investing in your new machine and which features you want to prioritize,” suggests Heather Calatrello, owner and head roaster at San Diego’s ShedLight Coffee.

Bearing this in mind, we’ve collected eight of the best drip coffee makers available, ranging in price and features to suit every budget and preference. There’s lots to review, so let’s pour a cup and dive in.

Our Top Picks

Best Overall:

Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker at Amazon

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Best Value:

Mueller 12-Cup Drip Coffee Maker at Amazon

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Best Splurge:

Technivorm Moccamaster KBGV Select Coffee Maker at Amazon

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Best for Iced Coffee:

Ninja Specialty Coffee Maker at Amazon

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Best with Grinder:

Breville The Grind Control Coffee Maker at Amazon

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Best Single-Serve:

Hamilton Beach The Scoop Single-Serve Coffee Maker at Amazon

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Best with Thermal Carafe:

OXO Brew 8-Cup Coffee Maker at Amazon

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Best for Camping:

AeroPress Portable Travel Coffee Press at Amazon

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4.8

Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker

Amazon

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Pros: This is a great all-rounder in price, performance, and capacity.

Cons: The glass carafe should be handled with care.

Cuisinart’s PerfecTemp drip coffee maker is an excellent choice, plain and simple. It can brew a generous 14 cups to your preferred strength and automatically optimizes temperature to yield the best flavor. Crucially, it’s programmable up to 24 hours in advance, so you can always count on a fresh pot of coffee when you need it. We also appreciate that this coffee maker includes a built-in water filter and a reusable grounds filter to help cut down on paper waste. And because of its 14-cup capacity, we also dub this pick as our “best large-capacity,” too.

Glass carafes are still the standard — no doubt for the convenience of seeing at a glance how much coffee is left — but they’re obviously less robust than thermal carafes, so just use care while handling and washing.

Price at time of publish: $100

Dimensions: 7.75 x 9 x 14 inches
Capacity: 14 cups
Programmable: Yes

Amazon

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Pros: This is an affordable, functional coffee maker.

Cons: There is no programming option.

For drip coffee on a budget, Mueller’s 12-cup machine is a great buy. It isn’t programmable, but it does have the all-important keep-warm function, and the Mueller comes with a reusable coffee filter.

Brew up to 12 cups or as little as two; in either case, it’ll be a mess-free process thanks to anti-drip features on both the machine and the glass carafe’s design. This is a relatively no-frills coffee maker, but it gets the job done, looks decent, and the price is right.

Price at time of publish: $35

Dimensions: 10.55 x 7.68 x 12.52 inches
Capacity: 12 cups
Programmable: No

4.5

Technivorm Moccamaster KBGV Select Coffee Maker

Amazon

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Pros: A great-looking, great-brewing drip coffee maker.

Cons: It doesn’t come cheap.

Does this coffee maker look cool? Yes. Does it brew a great cup of coffee? Also yes. Moccamaster is a leading name in the coffee game, with good reason.

“This is our favorite machine for everyday brewing for a crowd,” says Calatrello. “It produces coffee comparable with manual brewing styles and does so quietly and quickly. Plus, it comes in a bevy of colorways, each sure to be a standout on your kitchen counter.”

And she’s right: This Moccamaster comes in 22 colors by our count, so if the traditional matte silver is too boring for you — no problem. This isn’t a programmable coffee machine, but the quality of brew (which has earned Moccamaster the Specialty Coffee Association seal of approval) outweighs this minor downside.

Price at time of publish: $359

Dimensions: 6.5 x 12.75 x 14 inches
Capacity: 10 cups
Programmable: No

4.7

Amazon

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Pros: This is the most versatile machine on our list.

Cons: It might be overkill if you just want brewed coffee.

Sure, you can brew a regular pot of coffee, let it cool, then pour it over ice to make iced coffee, or you can use the Ninja Specialty coffee maker that has dedicated iced coffee functionality. It brews with special saturation control, so you don’t end up with watered-down coffee, unlike traditional brewing over ice.

This machine also has a built-in frother, so you can make fancy cappuccinos or top your iced brew with cold foam. And yes, you can program the Ninja to accommodate your schedule.

Price at time of publish: $142

Dimensions: 8.75 x 11.99 x 15.04 inches
Capacity: 10 cups
Programmable: Yes

4.8

Amazon

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Pros: A built-in burr grinder means brewing the freshest coffee each day.

Cons: It’s pricey.

“For a coffee maker that does it all, we love the Breville Grind Control,” says Calatrello. “It’s a one-stop shop and produces delicious coffee with very little effort.”

Indeed, the built-in burr grinder means your coffee is ground just before brewing, yielding the most flavor and aromas — especially if you’re used to buying pre-ground coffee. Plus, the Breville is programmable, which Calatrello appreciates for its ability to “free up your morning without sacrificing the quality of your morning brew.” Agreed.

Price at time of publish: $330

Dimensions: 8.5 x 12.5 x 16.3 inches
Capacity: 12 cups
Programmable: Yes

Hamilton Beach The Scoop Single Serve Coffee Maker

Amazon

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Pros: An easy-peasy, no-waste solution for single-serve brewing.

Cons: Single-serve means single-serve.

The Scoop is a great home office companion — or maybe even a regular office desktop companion if you’re tired of bad office coffee or perhaps want to avoid the costliness of capsule machines. Hamilton Beach’s single-serve solution brews between 8 and 14 ounces and features bold and regular-strength brewing options.

This is a straightforward, simple-to-use machine that’s a little gentler on the planet than many other single-serve machines. Do note that a travel mug is not included, however. You’ll need to provide your own vessel.

Price at time of publish: $53

Dimensions: 6.7 x 8.35 x 8.67 inches
Capacity: 1 cup
Programmable: No

4.8

Amazon

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Pros: A sleek-looking, reliable machine with a keep-warm carafe.

Cons: No option to program.

OXO’s drip coffee maker topped our recent list of thermal carafe coffee makers with its slick good looks and Specialty Coffee Association designation. The rainmaker head brews with even distribution to create flavorful, aromatic coffee that will stay warm thanks to the insulated carafe.

If 8 cups is too much, there’s a single-serve option we also think is pretty handy. You can’t program this machine, but it’s otherwise easy to use and clean and comes in a nice, compact size. It’s a winner.

Price at time of publish: $198

Dimensions: 10.5 x 13.5 x 7 inches
Capacity: 8 cups
Programmable: No

AeroPress

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Pros: This is a versatile kit that makes a great cup of coffee on the go.

Cons: OK, so it’s not technically a drip coffee machine.

Nope, this isn’t a drip coffee maker, but the Aeropress Go is our top choice for camping thanks to ease of use and quality of output. You could theoretically opt for a pour-over dripper instead, but the Aeropress is a compact kit that provides everything you need and yields a great cup of coffee in about a minute. Plus, we've been fans of the AeroPress brand for a while.

Calatrello herself even recommended the Aeropress Go in our review of camping coffee makers, so you know it’s expert-approved!

Price at time of publish: $40

Dimensions: 4.75 x 4.75 x 11.75 inches
Capacity: 1 cup
Programmable: No

Our Favorite

You can’t beat the Cuisinart 14-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker for its price-to-performance ratio. It has a large capacity, a simple design, and looks nice. We like that it has 24-hour programmability, a charcoal water filter, and two brew strength settings for regular or bold coffee. For a splurge, the Technivorm Moccamaster KBGV 10-Cup Coffee Maker always has a spot on our countertops.

Factors to Consider

Programmability

If it’s important to you to wake up to a fresh pot of coffee each morning, then be sure to look for a machine with programming functionality. There’s no workaround for this one, so your coffee maker will either have it or it won’t.

Size and capacity

Are you brewing coffee just for yourself? For two or three people? For a busy office? Needless to say, the smaller the capacity, the more frequently you’ll need to brew coffee. If you live alone, a single-serve coffee maker is a great option, and if your family consumes several cups a day, reach for a drip coffee maker with a 10- to 14-cup capacity.

Carafe type

Glass is standard — and most machines have a keep-warm function — but thermal carafes are handy for keeping coffee hot independently, allowing you to take the carafe to the table or otherwise turn off your coffee maker. Thermal carafes are also, of course, more durable than glass.

Added features

Coffee makers' features range depending on their price point and purpose. If you value sustainability, look for a coffee maker that comes with a reusable filter, so you don't have to use disposable ones. Other helpful features are a self-cleaning mode, iced coffee function, strength settings, temperature control, and versatile cup sizes. Consider what’s important to you and shop accordingly.

Ease of Cleaning

Cleaning a coffee machine is pretty straightforward, but fewer nooks and crannies will mean a machine is easier to clean. That said, heated coffee beans give off some of their oil, and that oil builds up in coffee-making equipment, which can often lead to a burnt, bitter smell and taste. Read over the care instructions in the manufacturer's manual to learn how to disassemble and reassemble the many different parts and whether they need hand-washed or if they can be placed in the dishwasher. Plus, your machine might even have a self-cleaning system if you're lucky. Either way, it’s important to note that a wide-mouth carafe will also be easier to clean than one with a narrow opening.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you make drip coffee?

Review the instructions that come with your coffee maker, but generally speaking, you’ll put coffee grounds in the filter basket and water in the reservoir, then push a button. The beauty of drip coffee makers is how easy they are to operate!
What is the best drip coffee ratio?

“We like a 1:15 coffee-water ratio for drip coffee,” says Calatrello. “Anywhere between 1:15 and 1:18 is good for most people.” She also recommends using a scale to measure both coffee and water in grams for accuracy and ease.
How do you clean a drip coffee maker?

Rinsing your coffee pot after use is enough for day-to-day cleaning, but a deep clean once a month or every six weeks is a good habit to get into. We have a complete guide on cleaning your coffee maker right here.
What is the best type of grind for drip coffee makers?

“The optimal grind size for drip coffee is medium,” says Calatrello. “The ground coffee should resemble regular sand. If you find your coffee tastes sour and acidic, try grinding a click or two finer. If it tastes bitter or dull, try a slightly coarser grind.

Experimentation is key to finding the grind that works best with your brewer (and your taste buds), but, in general, regular sand is what we’re looking for.”

Our Expertise

This article was written by Summer Rylander, a food and travel journalist who has written about food, beverage, and cooking products for Food & Wine, Allrecipes, Serious Eats, and The Kitchn. She made her selections based on in-depth research and conversation with coffee roasting expert Heather Calatrello.