Description
Almost every single serve machine in this catalog answers the one cup problem with a pod. The Moccamaster Cup One answers it with a paper filter and a mug. It is a hand built Dutch drip brewer scaled down to one 10 ounce cup, brewing straight into whatever vessel is put under it, and the box contains 240 filters.
What it is and where it fits
The listing gives the size as 6.5 inches deep by 10.2 inches wide by 11.7 inches high and the weight as 4 pounds. That is small enough for a desk, an office or a studio kitchen, and there is no carafe to store because there is no carafe at all.
Where it fits is a one person household that drinks filter coffee and does not want to either stand over a kettle every morning or buy pods forever. It occupies the same space in a kitchen as a K-Mini and costs many times more, and the argument for the difference is what a cup costs and how long the machine lasts.
Living with it day to day
The routine is paper filter, ground coffee, water, switch. The product copy describes a 10 ounce cup in about four minutes. There is no carafe to wash and no pot to dispose of, because the coffee goes directly into the cup it will be drunk from.
The removable cup holder is the detail that makes this practical. Different mugs are different heights, and a fixed outlet either splashes into a short cup or will not clear a tall one. Being able to take the holder out means a travel mug works as well as an espresso cup.
Automatic shutoff after brewing means the machine turns itself off rather than sitting warm, which on a single cup brewer is the correct behavior since there is nothing to keep warm. There is no hot plate, no reservoir of standing coffee and nothing that degrades while it sits, which is the structural advantage of brewing one cup at a time over brewing a pot and returning to it.
Noise is not published, and with no grinder and no pump beyond the boiler the machine is dominated by a brief heating sound.
Controls and connected features
One switch. No display, no clock, no timer, no menu, no app, no Wi Fi, no Bluetooth and no account. Nothing to reset after a power cut, nothing to pair and nothing that a software change can take away.
That is consistent with every Moccamaster on this site, including the full sized KBT and the KBGV Select. The design argument is that an appliance with a heating element, a thermostat and a switch has very little that can fail in a way that cannot be repaired, and the company’s products are made in the Netherlands with individually identified spare parts. The counterargument is equally simple: it will never start before somebody gets up.
The coffee input type field on this record says manual, which is not a coffee input type. The machine takes ground coffee in a paper filter.
Running cost and upkeep
Voltage is recorded as 120 volts, correct for a North American machine. This is a corded countertop appliance with no water line, no drain, no gas and no venting, and no wattage or amperage is published, so the rating plate is the reference.
The running cost is the reason to consider this over a pod machine. Size 1 paper filters are among the cheapest consumables sold, and the box contains 240 of them, which at one cup a day is around eight months of brewing before anything needs buying. After that, the coffee is the cost, at whatever a bag of beans or grounds costs rather than at pod prices. Over a few years that difference is larger than the price gap between this machine and a cheap pod brewer.
Upkeep is descaling on an interval set by local water hardness, and nothing else. There is no water filter cartridge, no carafe seal, no burr set and no group gasket. The listing gives a first availability date of October 11, 2015, does not flag the model as discontinued, and the machine is made in the Netherlands, which is the same construction and parts story as the larger Moccamasters.
Two record faults are worth naming. The UPC field carries three different numbers, and the operation mode field says fully automatic while the special feature field says manual on the same page.
Highlights
- Brews a 10 ounce cup directly into the mug it will be drunk from, with no carafe at all.
- 240 size 1 paper filters in the box, roughly eight months at one cup a day.
- Removable cup holder so travel mugs and small cups both fit.
- Automatic shutoff after brewing, with no hot plate and nothing kept warm.
- Ground coffee at bag prices rather than pod prices, which is the whole cost argument.
- Made in the Netherlands with no electronics, no app and no account.
Things To Consider
- No clock and no timer, so it cannot start before anyone is awake.
- Fixed 10 ounce output, so a larger mug means brewing twice.
- Paper filters are required, since no reusable basket is listed.
- No wattage or amperage is published.
- The listing calls the machine both manual and fully automatic on the same page.
- Costs considerably more than pod machines of the same footprint, and the case for that rests on longevity and cost per cup.
Who it is not for
Anyone brewing for more than one person will be running it repeatedly, and a carafe machine from the coffee machines category is the right shape for that. Anyone who wants coffee waiting at a set time needs a timer this does not have. Anyone who wants espresso, milk drinks or iced modes will find none of them. And anyone who wants a small brewer that also takes pods for convenience should look at the Mecity three in one or a small four cup drip machine instead, both of which cost a fraction of this and will not last as long.
