Plenty of coffee makers promise to deliver delicious coffee, but you’re tired of drinking disappointment, aren’t you? If you’re on the hunt for your new favorite regular household coffee maker, then take a look at the Technivorm Moccamaster KBT and Moccamaster KBGT. These thermal carafe models don’t just make promises. They make guarantees.
So how do we narrow it down? First, let’s meet the company that won’t break your heart: Moccamaster.
Meet the Moccamaster
Technivorm Moccamaster has been hand-making this Dutch coffee machine line since 1968, earning themselves the right to use the word ‘Master’ in their name. The advanced brewing parameters that Moccamaster sets ensure the ideal coffee brewing experience.
And they believe in their quality drip coffee makers. Every Technivorm Moccamaster Coffee Maker comes with a 5-year product warranty and lifetime repairs.
So Technivorm Moccamaster can build a great iconic coffee maker. But how’s the coffee?
The coffee brewing experts at the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) awarded the Golden Cup Standard to Moccamaster. This SCA-Certified Home Brewer Program only gives this award to a company after rigorous quality control and laboratory testing.
Their iconic machine excels at the four T’s of the perfect brew: optimal brewing temperature, brewing time, turbulence, and total dissolved solids. These four marks mean a complete coffee flavor profile.
Technivorm Moccamaster makes quite a few durable coffee makers for different needs. They make an 8-cup machine, a 10-cup machine, and even a 15-cup machine, the CDT Grand, with its unusual cylindrical column.
Many brewer models come in both glass and thermal carafe options. Technivorm Moccamaster also manufactures a single-serve coffee maker: the Cup-One Brewer.
But you know what you want. You came here to learn about two Technivorm Moccamaster thermal steel carafe models: the KBT and KBGT. Is there a huge difference in taste, or is it just a cosmetic difference? And how could anyone decide?
Well, keep reading, and hopefully, you can! Before focusing on the slight differences, let’s check out all the common features that every Technivorm Moccamaster coffee brewer includes.
Common Features that both the KBT and KBGT Share
There are a lot of similarities in every Technivorm Moccamaster, and the KBT and KBGT are no exception. These excellent features might guarantee they’re your new favorite brewers.
9-hole Water Outlet Arm
Who doesn’t love the smooth taste of high-quality pour-over coffee? The water flow sprinkles over the ground beans through the showerhead outlet arm in the same way a manual pour-over would.
This water flow stirs up the coffee grounds and creates turbulence, contributing to flavor distribution. Compare that to the traditional water-gun effect from other automatic coffee makers, and you’ll appreciate the results.
Did you know this helps the coffee bloom and provides the delicious flavors you’re used to? It’s the classic pour-over coffee brewing method, but without the hassle and clean-up.
Copper Heating Element
When we talk about delicious coffee, we’re focusing a lot on brewing time and coffee temperature. The copper heating element housed inside the rectangular column of every Technivorm Moccamaster ensures this standard is met.
This copper boiling element rapidly heats the cold water to the perfect brewing temperature. And what is the correct temperature for coffee extraction? The sweet spot is between 196°F and 205°F.
This range is the ideal temperature for maximum flavor and is part of the reason Moccamaster is an SCA-certified coffee maker.
In about 4-6 minutes, the copper element in this pump-free coffee maker rapidly boils the liter of water, forcing it up the rectangular body column through a glass tube and over the coffee grounds. And this brewing speed ensures the perfect time for the beans to be in contact with hot water.
We talk a lot about temperature, but the National Coffee Association’s ideal brew cycle time for fresh coffee beans is about 5 minutes. The Technivorm Moccamaster guarantees a perfect brewing process every time.
5-Year Warranty
I don’t know about you, but I brew a lot of coffee, which means my coffee machines need repairs often. Technivorm Moccamaster offers a 5-year warranty and lifetime repairs on all their coffee machines.
When it comes to your automatic drip coffee maker, you want easily removable components and durable materials. Moccamaster gives you both, so you know your coffee brewer will last a lifetime.
Thermal Stainless-Steel Carafes
Alright, not every Moccamaster comes with a double-walled stainless steel container, but both the KBT and KBGT do, and that’s something to celebrate. Steel construction ensures that your thermal carafe of coffee will stay hot and fresh for up to an hour.
Technivorm Moccamaster also includes a travel lid. With this travel lid, your thermal steel carafe will keep coffee hot all day long. The durability of steel thermal carafes promises to protect your hot cups of coffee for hours.
The expert coffee drinker knows that a thermal stainless-steel carafe is better than an 8-cup machine with a glass carafe. With either the KBT or KGBT, you know you’ll be drinking the freshest carafe of outstanding coffee.
The Showdown
We’ve covered all the excellent features these larger brewers have in common, now let’s see them head-to-head.
The Technivorm Moccamaster KBT
This excellent coffee maker is similar to the Moccamaster KB in that it includes the manual drip-stop brew basket. This machine has a thermal steel carafe that holds up to ten cups of coffee and keeps it hot and fresh for an hour.
In addition, this machine comes with a travel lid. If you switch to this lid, your coffee will stay warm in your thermal carafe all day long.
The Moccamaster KBT comes in three color options: polished silver, black, and stone grey.
Why Choose it Over the KBGT?
Though both machines deliver a delicious cup of coffee, the KBT includes the manually adjustable drip-stop brew basket. Why is this such a big deal?
The manual drip-stop gives you absolute control over the flow of coffee! I like to open the brew basket lid to stir up the grounds during the brewing process.
But even better than that, you can move the drip stop to the closed position and stop the flow altogether to let your coffee steep longer. This acts like volume control and lets you brew a half carafe or a single cup!
The Technivorm Moccamaster KBGT
This is the affordable drip coffee maker model that you have probably been waiting for your whole life. The Technivorm Moccamaster KBGT is sleek, polished, and ready to brew. This 10-cup machine includes a thermal carafe that keeps your coffee fresh for an hour.
Like the KBT, it also includes a plastic travel lid to keep coffee warm all day long. It also lets you take your thermal carafe on the go.
The Moccamaster KBGT comes in four gorgeous colors: polished silver, black, off-white, and stone grey.
Why Choose it Over the KBT?
Not every coffee lover wants to fuss with their grounds first thing in the morning, and I think there’s nothing wrong with that! The Moccamaster KBGT makes your coffee for you without having to worry about the manual-drip stop.
If you know you want a delicious pot of coffee ready to drink, then the Technivorm Moccamaster KBGT is the machine for you.
How are both better than the KB and KBG?
Moccamaster aims to please every coffee drinker, so they’ve made their carafes in both thermal steel and glass. The Moccamaster KB coffee brewer includes the manual drip-stop, and the Technivorm Moccamaster KBG comes with the automatic filter basket.
These two machines also include the hot plate temperature switch, which lets you maintain the hotplate temperature for up to 100 minutes. These machines maintain either 175°F or 185°F, based on what you choose with the hotplate setting.
They also include the automatic shut-off feature that turns the machine off after 100 minutes. This auto-off feature means your coffee won’t burn.
But both come with glass carafes, which means your coffee will get cold. Of course, we’ve got nothing against cold brew coffee, but that’s not quite the same thing.
If you want to be able to ensure your coffee stays warm throughout the day without that over-brewed aftertaste that comes with a hotplate model, then you were right to settle on the KBT and KBGT machines.
Some Drawbacks
Of course, nothing is perfect, and both machines include a few drawbacks that I think need to be mentioned.
Larger Water Tank Doesn’t Remove
I know this may not be a game-changer but being able to detach your water reservoir to fill it at the sink is a nice feature. Unfortunately, this is not a feature that any Moccamaster includes.
Of course, you can easily use a separate water jug to do the job.
Did you know? Coffee beans contain oils that will remain in your coffee pot after brewing. So instead of filling your water tank with your carafe, use a separate water jug.
No Bells or Whistles
The Technivorm Moccamaster doesn’t have any advanced features for an expensive drip coffee maker. It won’t do all the things that the most popular lever espresso machine can do, but sometimes all you want is a delicious batch of coffee in a couple of minutes.
With no built-in coffee grinder available, you’ll have to use pre-ground beans or buy a burr grinder.
If you’re a coffee aficionado looking for a machine with an auto-start feature that you can program to start brewing with your alarm or that offers a variety of brew capacities, you may want to check out our review of the Best Drip Coffee Makers. Any of these machines would be an excellent option.
Wrap up
No matter which Moccamaster automatic drip coffee machine you choose, you’re making an excellent choice. With lightning-fast brew time, these machines make high-quality coffee at exceptional speeds. The hardest choice you have is which model meets your needs.
The Moccamaster KBGT lets you sit back and enjoy your fresh brew with its automatic drip-stop. But the Moccamaster KBT coffee brewer allows you to control the brewing capacity and turn your machine into a single-serve or half carafe brewer.
Neither is your average brewer and no matter your choice of coffee brewing equipment, you’ll enjoy every cup of great-tasting coffee with either of the aforementioned drip coffee machines.
Happy Caffeinating!
