Automatic Coffee Makers: Convenience vs Quality

In this episode, I dive deep into testing the highly-rated Mocha Master automatic drip coffee maker that I spent $300 on during Amazon Prime Day. I put this premium coffee machine through its paces to see if it lives up to the hype and whether it's truly superior to basic machines like Mr. Coffee. Throughout my testing, I discovered that automatic machines aren't quite what they're cracked up to be - the coffee came out weak, under-extracted, and required significant adjustments to grind size and technique to produce decent results.

I share my frustrations with the machine's limitations, including the stationary nozzle design and the need for much finer grinds than recommended. However, I also reveal the surprising truth about automatic coffee machines: their biggest value isn't convenience or superior coffee quality, but rather keeping you out of the expensive rabbit hole of manual brewing obsession. By the end of this episode, you'll understand why sometimes paying for an automatic machine might be the most economical choice in the long run, not because it makes better coffee, but because it prevents you from becoming a gear-obsessed coffee fanatic. You'll learn the real trade-offs between convenience and quality, and discover whether the "price of convenience" is worth paying for your daily coffee ritual.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:00 First Impressions and Setup of the Mocha Master
• 3:30 Testing Results and Initial Disappointments
• 6:00 Grind Size Problems and Extraction Issues
• 8:30 Manual vs Automatic: The Real Comparison
• 10:30 The Unexpected Benefit: Staying Out of the Rabbit Hole

Transcript

[00:00:00] The price of convenience. What are we really paying for?

[00:00:07] The reason why I bring this up right now is because this past weekend, I was actually going through, testing out, putting it through its paces, the Mocha Master.

[00:00:21] If you don't know, the Mocha Master has been one of the top rated coffee gadgets, automatic drip machines that you can buy for a very long time. And for the longest, I've been eyeing it. Not so much for myself, but for other people. I mean, yes, technically speaking, I am using it, right? And that's the whole point of all this, right?

[00:00:47] Test it out to see what it's all about, to believe the hype, to see what you can and cannot do with it. How much better is it over the Mr. Coffee Machine? So on and so forth.

[00:01:01] Those are the things that I was looking for in this actual device. But as I have gone through this whole thing of trying to understand the actual machine, I've come to realize that an automatic machine isn't all what it's cracked up to be. It's supposed to be something where it's automatic. You just push a button and you're good to go.

[00:01:46] It's superior than a manual method or whatever, because the machine does the work. The machine knows coffee better than you and I.

[00:01:59] And as I was going through the paces and trying to figure the thing out and using my gadgets and instruments, I became more frustrated and more concerned with what people look for when it comes to automatic drip machines.

[00:02:23] I'm going to get something for you and I'll show you what I mean by that.

[00:02:28] So here is the basket of the mocha master. It's like a V shaped, one of those trapezoidal type of baskets. So I'm just trying to get the best of the coffee. And then they have it to where you can totally shut off the valve. So theoretically it can act as an immersion brewer.

[00:03:32] I tried it. The coffee is weak. I wasn't really tasting the things that I like about coffee. And after a while, I started to realize that there's a lot of things that are just wrong with it. Like the nozzle. That's one of the biggest things wrong with it. The nozzle stays in one area, which is perfectly fine. It's supposed to. It's not supposed to move.

[00:04:01] But then, of course, you got different mods and things that you can do to it in order to make it better.

[00:04:07] I looked everywhere. I looked online. I looked at Reddit forums. I come to realize that it's just barely that much more convenient than doing it with your hand. And when you do with your hand, when you do it manually, when you do it as a ritual than just a task, it changes the way that you kind of look at things.

[00:04:34] And it's not that much better in a sense of efficiency.

[00:04:39] See, for instance, I have the mocha master already loaded. I have an April Brewer on top of it because that's one of the best ways I think that I can actually brew a cup of coffee.

[00:04:50] And there's other cheaper ways that I will share soon as I continue to still put it through its paces. But I guess what I'm saying here is that the price of convenience is really expensive. If you think about it, the mocha master was three hundred dollars on Amazon Prime Day.

[00:05:13] No, it's two hundred dollars. Something like that. Two hundred dollars. And I do believe I got one of the best ones.

[00:05:19] And besides the heating element of the actual brewer is not as heavy as it looks and it doesn't produce a really good cup if you don't do a couple parameters with it. For instance, when you look at and read the directions, it says a medium course grind. So let's just say this is a medium right here. And to my right, this is course and to my left is more fine.

[00:05:58] So medium course that means just a little bit off the course. If you try it that way, your coffee will be extremely under extracted. You're going to have to go a lot finer.

[00:06:12] I will say medium to not just by this because you have to be able to extract the coffee. And that's if you have a grinder. If you don't have a grinder, you kind of stuck out of luck. You probably have to just put a little bit more coffee inside of it in order for it to actually do something for you where to have that strength. And now you're wasting a little bit more coffee. This is not supposed to be happening for a $300 device.

[00:06:43] So you're going to have to go a little bit finer than what you think that you need to in order to get the extraction that you want out of the coffee. The Mr. Coffee is no obsession. I mean, it's not even different.

[00:07:15] Luckily enough, I was able to get a basket that doesn't leak at the bottom and only leaks off the side so that does dramatically increase the extraction of the Mr. Coffee machine. The temperatures are all way off.

[00:07:29] But at the end of the day, you know, you're going to be able to extract that coffee. The mocha master has going for it is that the temperatures are just kind of where it needs to be. I guess really what I'm saying here is that it's not as convenient or helpful as you think with automatic drip machine.

[00:07:50] For instance, I got the basket, put a filter on top the night before, grinded the coffee, put my coffee in there and that's my coffee.

[00:08:06] The step further is that I will actually use a kettle to add hot water to actually make the cup of coffee. I could make sure that the grinds are perfectly saturated. I can wait, I can pause, I can do different things in order to bring the best out of the coffee.

[00:08:29] I can do all that for a significantly better cup of coffee.

[00:08:52] I have to understand when you use these type of automatic machines. I do understand them, don't get me wrong. I think there are benefits to them. For instance, it is convenient, right? Less guesswork. You just push the button, like I'm about to do right now, and your coffee is made.

[00:09:32] And since you've been drinking it like this for a very long time, you're already used to the taste and profile.

[00:09:41] And I think one of the biggest benefits of actually having a device like a mocha master, even a Mr. Coffee to an extent is that it keeps you out of the rabbit hole.

[00:09:56] It truly really does. Let's turn on this grinder and we'll conclude what I mean by that.

[00:10:16] 300, 150, probably even more money for your automatic drip machine. Whatever how much you pay for it. It's probably more cheaper in a long run than anything.

[00:10:37] It gets you out of the rabbit hole of buying gear, analyzing it, understanding it, not seeing what's going on or why is it not doing something that you saw somebody else do online.

[00:10:56] It gets you to just pick up beans from the grocery store or wherever you buy your beans or a cafe and enjoy it for whatever it is. And then you move on with your day.

[00:11:11] It keeps you from being totally immersed in the craft and a hobby and obsession that you are going to go down if you obsess and you keep trying to buy other things and manual methods.

[00:11:38] And at times, that's probably where you want to be anyway.

[00:11:48] You're probably not a coffee fanatic, and this is not a dig towards you.

[00:11:53] Because sometimes I think about that situation or where I play a part in my own demise to an extent of how much I care and how much knowledge I know and how much things I care about in order to make a two to three minute cup of coffee.

[00:12:11] But as you saw just now, just push the button couple minutes later, and it's done, right? And it works.

[00:12:38] So as I'm dialing it in and figuring everything out for myself and I will surely share all the things I have learned with this device is that the biggest attribute feature that the mocha master and many other automatic drip machines provides you is beyond the convenience.

[00:13:07] Out of the rabbit hole, it keeps you planted, it keeps you in a place to where coffee is coffee.

[00:13:18] You're not obsessing about it. Couple scoops here. Some water at a couple different notches, depending on how much coffee you're making for yourself or for others.

[00:13:32] You drink it, you sit there, you enjoy it, either drink it black or with creamer or whatever. And you move on with your day.

[00:13:41] Maybe that's the biggest feature of an automatic drip machine.

[00:13:49] It truly really keeps you planted into a place to where you're not obsessing over this whole thing. Probably you don't want that. Probably that's the biggest lure about the mocha master, about the Mr. Coffee Machine, about all coffee machines that are automatic.

[00:14:14] You just want a cup of coffee. If it tastes okay to you. Who cares what somebody else says about coffee.

[00:14:57] So yeah, interesting that that's really where we're at here. So I guess get an automatic machine if you don't already have one.

[00:15:04] This is Okey and everyday being signing off. I'll talk to you later. Bye.