The Top 3 Best Filter Coffee Machines for You in 2021

Filter coffee machines have a humble place in both the home and commercial environment. If you’re looking to get your hands on a filter coffee machine, you can spend anywhere between £20 and £300.

This price bracket means that these filter coffee makers are both affordable and available to the majority of us.

However, like most kitchen or tech gadgets, there’s a bewildering array of terms, methods, features and designs to pick from.

This is where our filter coffee research is here to help.

TL;DR > Jump straight down to our research on the best filter coffee machines you can buy in 2021. Or check out our very brief summary below:

Our three filter coffee recommendations of 2019 are as follows:

Filter Method: The Standard Drip Or The Pour-Over?

It’s 2019 – new features and designs are constantly coming out – but which filter coffee machine should you get?

Should you get a standard filter coffee machine or insist on going for a maker with the Japanese inspired pour-over method?

Coffee machines come in a variety of brewing methods, from french-press all the way up to pressurized espresso makers.

Filter coffee machine allows for an easy and large pot of fresh coffee to be made, whether that’s first thing in the morning or before that last late-night meeting.

For simplicity, we’ll break the market into having two types of filter coffee machines. They have a lot of similarities, but a few key differences too.

Standard Drip Filter Coffee

Standard filter coffee, is brewed by heating water that is then slowly dripped down upon a basket of grounds, held above a glass or metal carafe.

Drip coffee has a reputation for offering a cheaper method of getting your coffee fix, often using more plastic and inferior parts.

That’s not to say all standard drip filter coffee machines should be avoided – as our research below goes to prove.

Pour-over Filter Coffee Machines

Pour-over filter coffee, usually a manual task, see’s the steeping of the grounds in a small quantity of hot water.

Once the grounds have ‘bloomed’ in the water, the remaining water is then passed through the grounds.

Although recently this has been a purely manual task, a few coffee machines are now adopting the method.

The pour over method, allowing the grounds to react with the water first, gives a much more complete, fuller and smoother coffee.

Morphy Richards 162008 1.8L Filter Coffee Maker

So our first best filter machine we’ve rated, reviewed and now recommend is the Morphy Richards 162008 filter coffee maker.

Uses the more complex pour over technology to bloom the grounds before filter out a hot cup of coffee.

A strength selection option; so after a cup or two, you can really dial in to the perfect coffee.

A decent programmable timer that allows you prepare beforehand, and then to wake up to hot fresh coffee.

How much coffee? Well, the carafes holds 12 cups worth; with the water tank holding 1.8L.

An easy to clean, re-usable ‘cupcake’ filter. This shape helps create a smoother flavour compared to the V shaped drip filters.

It also comes with non-slip feet, a non-drip mechanism for when you remove the carafe and a warming plate.

This filter coffee machine is 23 x 18.8 x 33.5 cm, meaning it’ll take up some 432.4cm^2 on your tabletop. Not massive, but definitely the larger of the three filter coffee machines we’re reviewing here.

Although we’ve shown it above in black, it also comes in lovely dark red and a rather shiny brush steel.

Check out the price of the Morphy Richards 162008

Neo 1.5L Filter Coffee Machine

The Neo 1.5 filter coffee machine is currently on Amazon for only £29, making it another affordable and ‘top filter coffee machine’ contender that you should pay close attention to. It also comes in a striking copper colour variant, if that fits with your decor.

Not only that – but out of the 3 – the Neo is our most highly praised filter coffee machine for 2021. A surprisingly good all-round filter coffee machine, a great price tag, a large carafe, enough features to tick-all-the-boxes and a small footprint.

However, like any hot-plate based warming device, it’s nearly always best to transfer your hot coffee to a coffee thermos if you want to actually keep it hot and palatable (E.g. £28 for Thermo’s ThermoCafe holds 1.8L)

If space is a bit tight on your kitchen or office worktop, you’ll be pleased to see the dimensions for this little filter machine are only 17.8 x 21.8 x 34.5 cm. This means its footprint is only 388.04cm^2, notably smaller than the Morphy Richards 162008 above.

Check out the price of this Neo 1.5L Filter Machine

Melitta Look V 1.25L Filter Coffee Machine

Now we’re on to our third and final entrant to our top 3 filter coffee machines, the Melitta Look V 1.25L.

I think this boils down to two aspects; price and the coffee’s recipient.

Price. At about £60, this Melitta is easily the most expensive of three products we’re reviewing here. Even the red or silver variants of the MR 162008 are currently listed at only £45. So you need to be comfortable spending almost double the Neo’s price tag. Which leads onto the next point…

The recipient. That’s the best phrase I could think of to address the next point. If you’re going to be making an office’s worth of coffee – go for the cheaper but equally as good Neo or the 162008. If you’re making a pot of coffee for YOU – buy the Melitta.

The difference is all in the carafe. If you plan to consume the (albeit it smaller) carafe of coffee over a longer period of time, the well constructed and double-wall insulated jug will keep your drink piping hot for 2 hours. The heating plates of the other two units would simply make your drink burnt, bitter tasting and luke-warm after only just half that.

The Melitta also has the dimensions of 29.5 x 30.5 x 47.8 cm, making it the tallest unit we’re recommending. Also, with its curved design, it actually takes up quite a lot of worktop space. Maybe something also worth considering if you need to squeeze the unit between your toaster and your bread bin.

Check out the price for the Melitta Look V

(* The chrome is only chrome-effect – the machine is a mix of metal and stylized plastic. Which is a shame, especially for the heftier price tag)

Verdict: The Best Filter Coffee Machines of 2021

So there we have it. Three great filter coffee machines you can get your hands on in 2021.

All have their own benefits and drawbacks, but all three filter coffee machines are brilliant and well worth the price tags.

Thanks for reading

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