Long have I coveted my neighbor’s Moccamaster. It helps, of course, that the neighbor in question is a friend who has generously served me a lot of coffee from the butter-colored version of the mid-century modern machine over the years. For the uninitiated, the Moccamaster has been lauded by coffee-obsessed people as the gold standard for drip coffee machines that brew with consistency, especially if you’re looking for an appliance that cuts a sleek, modern silhouette. Gwyneth Paltrow famously has one in her impeccably decorated Montecito, California guest house, and you may have spotted a silver-colored Moccamaster in Carmy’s kitchen in The Bear.
Recently, the machine has arguably gone viral. Moccamaster has been trending on social media, with more than 75,000 posts popping up under #Moccamaster on Instagram and tens of thousands of likes on TikTok amongst coffee nerds and folks who just want an easy way to blast off with caffeine.
Not much has changed about this percolator since it was first introduced by the Dutch company Technivorm in 1968, but when I learned that the KBGV 10-cup model comes in dozens of colors, I knew it was time to bring my personal favorite, the statement-making Yellow Pepper model, home for testing.
Below, we’ll break down everything you need to know about Technivorm’s KBGV 10-cup Moccamaster model, from shipping and unboxing to brewing to and overall maintenance, to see if this is, in fact, a coffee maker that your descendants will fight over in the will. We’ll especially be looking to grade a few key metrics: ease of assembly, whether or not it can actually brew 10 cups under six minutes, and just how uniformly the coffee is brewed. Oh, and also if it’s just as cool-looking in person as it is online.
What makes a Moccamaster so special?
It’s hardly surprising that the Moccamaster is trending right now. The reports are in, and Gen Z is tired of chasing the hyper-fast trend cycle; it feels like everyone is trying to squeeze their dollar right now, but rather than buy cheap stuff that inevitably breaks after a year, that means investing in appliances that are as timeless and reliable as possible, and won’t cost us even more money in the long run. The Moccamaster was intriguing to me because it presents a caffeinated exit from that Sisyphean consumer experience; it’s designed to function as both a durable, serviceable appliance (meaning, you can register your Moccamaster and contact the team to help replace or fix any parts) and as a machine that’s intuitive to use (there are only two switches on the KBGV model).
Every Moccamaster is still handmade and inspected in the Netherlands, where it was originally designed by Gerard-Clement Smit in the 1960s, and packs some lovably retro design features such as a hot plate and logo typeface not unlike that of Playboy in the 1960s; my friend who owns the butter yellow iteration has described its assembly as “like putting together a LEGO set for ages five-and-up.”
Smit’s modular machine — a true hallmark of peak-MCM style with its geometric shapes and utilitarian edge — is also unique in that it was one of the first to use a copper heating element to hit a consistent, optimal brewing temperature (between 92 and 96 degrees Celsius is the sweet spot for a smooth, non-burnt roast). As Smit said in a 2008 interview, “I always start with the coffee. Coffee comes first, and the best way to make it can be scientifically determined.” Even the word Technivorm comes from the Dutch words techniek and vormgeving (form and function, respectively), further emphasizing Smit’s commitment to functionality.
First impressions of the Moccamaster
Even before it was unboxed, my Moccamaster made quite the entrance. Everything about the machine’s packaging feels thoughtful, from the Mad Men-style drawing of the percolator on the box’s exterior to the Moccamaster-branded tape sealing it shut. This felt refreshing, because I’m used to receiving squished, semi-open, design-bereft Amazon packages.
I have an irrational and embarrassing dislike of setting up appliances. I blame the frequency with which my mom freaked out over, say, the task of changing an ink cartridge in our printer growing up (although, in her defense, there was no YouTube back then to help). For weeks, my Moccamaster lived in its box because I was a little afraid of it.
When I finally unboxed it, I felt a little less intimidated. There weren’t that many parts, and it even came with a very 1970s-feeling brown-colored coffee ground spoon. At 14 inches tall, it also wasn’t as imposing as I worried it might be, although it certainly pulled focus in my kitchen. As my partner responded when I texted them a photo, “It’s giving Black + Decker. It’s giving Dewalt power tools. I love it.”
How easy is it to set up a Moccamaster?
The set-up packet feels reminiscent of an IKEA booklet in the best way possible, with diagrams and numbered parts clearly visible. Regardless, I did what I always do with a new item as a visual learner: run to a YouTube tutorial. Turns out, the coffee machine is so easy to set up that most of the tutorials are “Moccamaster hack” videos; this one, for example, encourages you to turn the machine off temporarily to spread the grounds around evenly in the filter during the brewing process, which sounds astute, but that I would only do if I was a contestant on Love Island with no internet and nothing to play with except breakfast foods and mirrors. In other words: Let the Moccamaster do its job. It’s good at it — I promise.
These are my only gripes: The Moccamaster KBGV is a filter-based coffee machine, and I think it would be a nice touch for Technivorm to throw in a handful of No. 4 filters with this $300+ purchase (prices tend to vary on Amazon, for example, by colorway). I also wish I had a better coffee grinder to make a more uniform batch of coarsely ground beans, but that’s on me (and the Baratza Encore, perhaps?) to solve.
In a kitchen-appliance first, I actually turned away from my flight of YouTube videos and found the booklet much more straightforward. Assembly time was about five minutes, all things considered, and I filled up the water tank to make a full 10 cups (you can make half of that batch and modify the brewing setting with the second switch on the bottom, which has two options: big coffee pot and little coffee pot). I switched the machine on, which is all it takes to start brewing, and voilà.
How quickly does the coffee actually brew?
Did I time my Moccamaster’s brewing abilities like a crazed bookie at the races? Yes and yes. Technivorm proudly claims that the Moccamaster can make 10 cups of coffee in a 4–6 minute range, and I wanted to put that to the test. The thrill was worth it; my Yellow Pepper steed quietly produced 10 cups of coffee in around five minutes and 30-ish seconds, or as long as it takes to watch the “Total Eclipse of the Heart” music video.
I switched the machine off as soon as it was done brewing, but rest assured that it has an automatic shut-off feature once the water reservoir is empty, and the hotplate also turns off after 100 minutes.
So, is the Moccamaster worth it?
The taste of the coffee from my Moccamaster has been smooth and consistent, akin to the feeling of going on cruise control on a newly paved road. Obviously, this is also where the type of coffee you’re drinking also comes into play, but it did a fine job elevating my Kirkland Signature blend. Again, I set a six-minute timer, and within moments I heard that familiar, warm diner gargle of coffee that made me crave buttermilk pancakes, a Route 66 roadtrip, and a Twin Peaks rewatch. The hotplate also does a nice job of keeping my brew warm without ever burning it, which is ideal for someone who mostly works from home.
Moccamaster calls itself the “coffee brewer for coffee-lovers,” and it’s right. I started drinking coffee in high school, and swiftly moved from consumption via a big, commercial Bunn coffee brewer fit for an apartment of five college students, to preparing my single cup pour-over coffee with a near-religious sense of ceremony, as one did in San Francisco during the peak Hayes Valley location Blue Bottle Coffee days; but it’s 2025 and I no longer weigh my beans out like a medieval alchemist while listening to She & Him. Prior to owning my Moccamaster, I mostly drank Moka pot coffee, but, as an increasingly booked and busy person in my thirties, this powerhouse Dutch appliance has delivered me from fussy prep and small batches of coffee — all while looking stylish and grown-up.
If you want more coffee and a simplified life, I say brew away.
The Moccamaster KBGV 10-cup coffee maker is available at Amazon, Crate & Barrel, Williams Sonoma, and more retailers.
