One-Cup Coffee Makers Reviews

This report covers one-cup automatic drip and pod-style coffee makers. ConsumerSearch covers full-size coffee makers in a separate report.

Consumer Reports reviews more one-cup and pod-style coffee makers than any other professional review source. Their latest update covers nine pod machines and another five "to-go" models that come with insulated mugs. Each pod model is rated on convenience, brewing finesse, temperature consistency, noise level and selection of pod brands and varieties. One-cup to-go automatic drip coffee makers are evaluated for convenience, coffee flavor and features. Editors at Cook's Illustrated test just two pod coffee makers, but they go into far more detail than Consumer Reports. They evaluate each model on flavor, convenience, brewing temperature, brewing time, features, build quality and ease of use.

The aptly named Jay Brewer reviews more than 20 pod coffee makers and dozens of pods -- filter-wrapped pucks of ground coffee -- at SingleServeCoffee.com. In this enthusiast site, Brewer provides product specifications, photographs, and in some cases, video of each coffee maker in action. Brewer also provides first looks at the latest machines. Although most reviews are not comparative, this is a good site to visit once you have your choices narrowed down to a few models.

We found mixed reviews for some one-cup coffee makers. The Black & Decker Home Café HCC100 (*est. $25) pod coffee maker has accumulated hundreds of negative reviews at Amazon.com. Complaints center on build quality, leakage and coffee temperature. Numerous owners say that this model's plastic parts are flimsy. Black & Decker has now redesigned this model, now the Black & Decker Home Café GT300 (*est. $30) . We didn't find as many reviews for this one-cup coffee maker, but about a dozen early ratings are mixed, and the complaints aren't consistent. Some say the resulting coffee is weak while others complain of noise and breakdowns. Overall opinion at this point is pretty much a 50/50 split.

The DeLonghi DC51TTB (*est. $45) , a 4-cup coffee maker with an included thermal mug, also earns a below-average rating from owners posting to Amazon.com. Several owners say that the lid of the thermal carafe (which doubles as a travel mug) is difficult to remove and prone to breaking. Others say that the mug imparts "off" flavors to coffee.  ... Continued

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

The Melitta One:One earns high marks in professional reviews, but other pod coffee makers far outscore it in owner-written reviews. Senseo machines also fare well in professional tests. Among to-go style coffee makers, the Black & Decker Brew 'N Go is a long-running favorite on user-review sites, and it's inexpensive. Keurig pod coffee makers score points as much for the variety of coffee flavors offered as "K-Cups" as for the machines themselves.