Customer Reviews

Krups 468-42 Moka Brew 8-Cup Coffeemaker

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I had to think a bit before spending $100 for an 8 cup coffeemaker with no fancy digital timer, thermal caraffe, or built in grinder. I ordered one, convinced by the reviews of numerous satisfied owners who really seemed to know about coffee. I am so glad I did. I have tried the top rated drip brewers, vaccuum brewers, and press pots, but the Krups Moka Brew beats them all.

The low pressure brewing system seems to extract the maximum possible rich and complex coffee flavor, with an absolute minumum of bitterness. When you first get it home, experiment with the grind, and amount of coffee. I find that a grind half-way between drip and espresso is perfect. I use only half the amount of coffee per cup I would with drip, and get a richer cup. The Moka brew is not cheap, but cause I use less coffee it will pay for itself the first year.

As noted in other reviews you cannot get filters except by phone through Krups. However, I have found that using 2 standard 3.5" disk filters (cheap at any major supermarket) and offsetting them slightly so they cover the 3.75" in basket, that I get perfect coffee with no grinds slipping into the brew. I tamp the coffee down a bit too which once again, makes the coffee taste a bit darker and richer. No one has yet mentioned how much fun the machine is to watch. The coffee sprays down creating a deep tan crema during the first half of the brew.

One more hint, when you are in a hurry, just fill the brew chamber with hot tap water instead of cold. I can taste no difference in the final result, and it brews in half the time. Five stars!!!

UPDATE: Krups had not imported these to the U.S. for a couple of years. I bought an extra when they were going away and they have become prized commodities on eBay because there is nothing else like it. If they are really available in 2007 jump on it before they disappear again!

The Moka Brew does make outstanding coffee. The brews are strong but not bitter. Everyone agrees that it is far superior to the automatic drip machines. Also it takes less actual coffee to produce a strong cup.
I do have some reservations. The machine takes a non-standard disk style filter that I have yet to find in any store (even Williams-Sonoma.)You can't use basket style filters as the steam goes under them and not through the grounds making horribly watery coffee. I even tried regular percolator filters, without luck. This forces you to by the filters directly from Krups.
The machine is also harder to clean than my old automatic drip. Since the filter is under the coffee there is no easy way to get it (and the grounds) out. I end up putting more grounds down the disposal.
If Krups supplied a reusable filter basket that would eliminate all of my reservations.

UPDATE:You can use basket style filters if you cut them to fit. We use the filters for the mini 4-cup style drip machines. We tried to order some of the disk style filters from Krups...but the cost was $15.00 for 200 filters and they were on back order. If I were rating Krups'customer service instead of the machine itself, it would get 0 stars.

I am a coffee nut, plain and simple. I have literally over 10 ways here at home to make coffee, and I roast coffee, oh 3-4 different ways. Let's see, oven, stove, whirly pop, and small 2 oz roaster.

When this Krups came around, I was skeptical probably b/c I didn't understand it at first. The key to thinking about this, is espresso richness in large volumes without bitterness. It just extracts full flavor very quickly, like an espresso shot, but in a 8 cup quantity.

And it works. To me, this is the single best way to make coffee out there. It probably ranks alongside French Press, but this method produces coffee that is a bit thinner and doesn't leave appreciable amounts of grounds and/or dust in your cup.

The main thing to adhere to, however, is that you must use espresso ground all the time. And you must have a good grinder to achieve a consistent grind. Other than that, this baby rocks. Plain and simple.

My wife and I are not big coffee drinkers. We have a cup each with our breakfast, using fresh ground and a Bodum french press. I usually make the coffee and am fastidious about making sure the water gets past 200 degrees and that the grounds are not soaked for over 7 minutes. YUM.

We were not looking for a coffee maker, we had a Krups Aroma Plus maker that we used during parties (the coffee was not as great, but passable). Until I saw a Capresso MT500, loved its design, and did some research. This led me to coffeegeek.com which gave the Capresso a great review but gave the Moka Brew a glowing review.

The reviews are RIGHT ON. This machine makes an outstanding cup of coffee.

The secret and the difference is pressure, no drip type coffee maker can do this. Pressure, which you can control by adjusting how fine you grind your coffee and how much you tamp it. Essentially, the finer the ground and the harder you pack it in, the more the machine will have to force the steam through the grind -- the higher the pressure.

I'm not about to tell anyone what makes your coffee taste good. For me, it changes slightly with every batch we buy and try. Generally a medium grind well packed works, at least the guests think so. We brew a pot and transfer it to a nice matching carafe to serve.

So if you just drink whatever is served, then the process may be too much for you. But if you want control over how your coffee is made then buy a burr grinder and BUY THIS NOW. You'll love it, I guarantee.

It's surprising that a coffee machine like this one has not been released any sooner, so give the Krups folks a lot of credit for developing a fine product. Just as the listing says, the Moka Brew prepares up to eight "American" cups of espresso-style coffee, or twelve demi-tasse-sized cups. Seeing the foam form on the top of the brew just like fine espresso tells me that every bit of flavor is being extracted from the coffee beans. The machine is well-designed and easy to operate. The parts have a sturdy, quality "feel" to them. The only short-coming is the absence of a clock/timer which would permit you to set it up the night before and find the coffee prepared for you when you get up in the morning!
UPDATE
I fell out of love with this device after a couple of weeks. I would now give it two and a half stars. It is a bit of a hassle to operate, having to lock the carafe into place before brewing the coffee. I worried that if not locked in place just right, the whole thing would explode. The Moka Brew is also unable to keep the coffee hot after it is brewed, so drink it fast or pour it into an insulated carafe.

The best coffee I have tasted from a "consumer" level machine at anywhere near the price. Takes a little longer to brew and it is just a little trickier to fill the shallow brew basket, but coffee will be ready in the time it takes to take a shower in the AM. It is not the same system as all those cookie cutter "drip" machines, but there is a good reason why so many high end (and usually much more expensive) commercial machines use this system. And, unlike the new Senseo type "coffee pod" steam brewers, you can use any coffee you want & brew up to eight cups instead of just one or two.

Considering the fact that all the reviews here are written online, I am surprised and amused by those that complain that the filters are expensive and hard to find. A quick search on Google netted a number of suppliers whose price is far below Krups web site price. Available at $5.00 per hundred, they are comparable to Melitta #4s. That works out to a whopping $1.50 a month.(The only time you need to use an extra filter is when you are just brewing a few cups.) And you get 100 filters when you buy the machine, so you have plenty of time to restock.

The Krups Moka Brew makes a superb cup of coffee that's much stronger, richer and more complex than regular drip brew. Grind your beans fine but not quite at an espresso grind. Filters are easy to cut by using any #4 cone filter (you get two KMB filters from each cone filter) and making a template. Krups filters are expensive and hard to find. The KMB takes a few minutes longer to brew than regular drip and it requires a bit more time to grind, tamp and clean the grinds, but it's well worth it. Try 1 gram of ground coffee for each ounce of water (1/3 cup of whole beans for 24 oz. of water) and you should get a great brew.

I love this little machine. great coffee. SMOOTH, STRONG, but not bitter. It takes a little practice to get your coffee the way you like it, but I have yet to make a bad pot of coffee from this machine...

AS FOR FILTERS:

I find 3.5 inch disc filters in both a store brand and by melita as low as 99 cents a package at my local supermarket (and on-line)

Drinking coffee outside of a coffee shop never really excited me UNTIL I got this machine...Wow! What a difference compared to our now "shoved in the back of the cabinet" 5 year old drip machine! The flavor I got out of the exact same grinds I've always used before(a good quality fresh roast) was so much more intense and rich - I was so glad that I did a little research and decided to try one of the recommended coffee machines that brewed at the "optimal water-temperature range" for extracting the best taste out of fresh ground coffee.

...

Having no timer is not an issue since I get fresh HOT coffee in about 5 minutes (that's for half a pot, a full pot takes a few more minutes) and it's so easy to use and easier to clean than my old machine. I even use it to make a quick pot of plain-'ol steamin' hot water when I need (I don't like waiting forever for the kettle and I don't like burning my hands on an overheated mug handle placed in the microwave.)

...I thought that perhaps the process of brewing coffee in this pot would be a little complicated, but it's anything BUT that. ... I bought it then and there and vowed that if it didn't make a considerably superior cup of coffee that it would go back.

Well, I still have it and it's started a love-affair with good tasting coffee for me. One word of caution: when I first unpacked it (after reading the instructions), the carafe was a little difficult to remove since during the shipping process the top rubber grommet was slightly dislodged and this put more pressure against the carafe lid than there normally should have been with the lever in the release position. I gently pulled using a slight side-to-side motion until the pot came out, removed and then replaced the rubber grommet correctly and have had NO problems since.

My next coffee venture will be a good burr grinder - something I would have never bought before, but a good companion for the excellent brew this machine is capable of making.

I have had my Krups Moka Brew for about 3 years now and I still love it. It's the best coffee maker I have ever had. After my 6 month old Mr. Coffee drip machine (with clock/timer, auto shut-off, programmable brew cycles) died a sudden death I set out to do some research before I bought my next home coffee maker. At first I was skeptical -- $80 for a bare bones coffee maker. But I took the plunge after reading the reviews and haven't looked back.

That being said, this coffee maker is not for everyone. Before you buy, consider the following:

IT DOES NOT MAKE DRIP COFFEE. If what you want is drip coffee look elsewhere. It makes something closer to what you get with a stovetop (Bialetti)moka pot. A rich cup, no bitterness.

IT IS NOT BUILT FOR CONVENIENCE. Do not buy this machine for the office. (Sure you saw it in the sheriff's office on the TV show EUREKA, but that is fiction.) It requires and rewards patience. Brewing times are long. Filling it with water, tamping the coffee in the filter basket, and sealing the carafe in place can be awkward. Varying the pot size cannot be done casually without some experimentation. There is no auto shut off (This is the one thing I find really inconvenient.) It is not the ideal machine for that quick morning cup. It is ideal for a proper after dinner or weekend cup.

YOU NEED TO USE A BURR GRINDER TO GET THE BEST OUT OF THIS. Maybe others can, but I could not get a consistent pot using a blade grinder. Once I bought a proper burr grinder life was good. You can buy pre-ground coffee, but standard auto drip grind is a little too coarse to get the best out of this machine. (I use the second "fine" setting on my Capresso Infinity: the best burr grinder under $100.) Weighing out your coffee is helpful too, but not as critical as the grind.

YOU NEED TO TRANSFER THE COFFEE TO A THERMAL CARAFE AFTER BREWING. This does two things: it keeps the coffee hot as the heating element on this is designed to heat the water not the resulting coffee, and - more importantly - it mixes up the coffee which is somewhat stratified in the brewing process.

Some additional hints which may help you:
After some experimentation, I found a formula that works well for me: I use 40-42 grams of coffee (usually Peets Garuda blend) and 1 liter of water. I know that is not quite a full pot, but I buy water in one liter bottles and filling the reservoir from a water bottle is so much easier that from the carafe. This gives us 2 large mug fulls with a little warm up for each.

Filters can be hard to come by, especially when the brewer was unavailable in the US (I am happy to see it is available again) but I found a local store that carries 3.5" Melita disk filters which work fine - just don't punch out the center hole.

It helps to wet the filter with a few drops of water so it stays in place as you put in the coffee grounds.

The coffee should be tamped down lightly. Not as hard as you would for espresso or else the coffee will never brew. Any round flat surface will do. I used the bottom of a drinking glass before I bought a cheap espresso tamper. No, you don't have to find something the exact size of the filter basket, you can gently tap around a bit to get a level layer of coffee in the basket.

Make sure you center the carafe properly to get a good seal. It is really not hard, but you just need to pay a bit of attention here. It is great fun to watch the crema form and dissipate as the coffee brews. (OK, after the first couple of times I went back to reading the paper.) Once the coffee is finished brewing immediately turn of the machine (make it part of the routine so the lack of auto shut-off will not haunt you) and transfer the coffee to a thermal carafe or, if you are serving it into mugs immediately, give it a good stir first.

So is it worth all the trouble? That is up to you, but once you find a formula that works for you, it isn't really that much more trouble that a regular drip machine and the results do not compare. (The learning curve here is nothing compared to my friend with his Rancilio Silvia.) If you like to experiment then this provides endless opportunity.