This is the Moccamaster KBGV Select, it’s a drip-style coffeemaker that has been designed to mimic the process, and flavor, of manual pour-over coffee making methods.
Drip coffeemakers have fallen from fashion in many parts of the world in favor of more complex espresso machines, pod-based coffee makers, and stove top “Moka” pots. There is still a lot to be said for drip-style coffee machines though, and the folks at Moccamaster are set on ensuring they never go extinct.
This is the Moccamaster KBGV Select, it’s a drip-style coffeemaker that has been designed to mimic the process, and flavor, of manual pour-over coffee making methods.
History Speedrun: Drip-Style Coffee Makers
The origins of drip-style coffee makers can be traced back to the early 20th century, beginning with Melitta Benz, a German housewife who invented the first paper coffee filter in 1908.
Dissatisfied with the bitter grounds left by the percolator coffee makers of the time, she punctured a brass pot and used blotting paper to strain the coffee grounds – this laid the foundation for modern drip brewing. She patented her design and founded the Melitta company. A company that still operates today and rakes in billions of dollars annually.
The concept of pour-over brewing using paper filters gained traction in Europe through the 1920s through to the 1940s, particularly in Germany and further north in Scandinavia. Manual drip brewing remained dominant until the mid-20th century, when electric drip coffee machines emerged in the United States, largely replacing stovetop percolators (which often over-extracted the coffee).
Perhaps the single largest breakthrough came in 1972 with the introduction of Mr. Coffee, the first automatic drip coffee maker developed for home use. Designed by Vincent Marotta and Samuel Glazer, and engineered with help from former Westinghouse engineers, Mr. Coffee used a heating element and gravity-fed hot water through a filter basket – emulating manual drip methods and producing coffee with greater consistency between brews.
By 1975, Mr. Coffee had sold over a million units, thanks in part to advertisements featuring baseball legend Joe DiMaggio.
By 1975, Mr. Coffee had sold over a million units, thanks in part to advertisements featuring baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. Image courtesy of Mr Coffee.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, manufacturers like Braun, Krups, and Cuisinart improved on the Mr. Coffee concept, adding programmable timers, thermal carafes, and showerhead-style dispersion for more even extraction.
In the 21st century, the rise of third-wave coffee culture sparked renewed interest in manual drip brewing, but automatic drip machines evolved in parallel. Brands like Moccamaster and Breville responded with high-end machines capable of brewing to Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) standards.
This technological arms race continues on today unabated, with each new generation of coffeemakers pushing ahead and creating ever more refined machines.
The Moccamaster KBGV Select Coffee Maker Shown Here
The coffee maker you see here is the Moccamaster KBGV Select. It’s an advanced drip-style machine that was carefully developed to mimic manual pour-over coffee making, while keeping everything automated to ensure good consistency.
This machine can make either a full or half carafe in 4 to 6 minutes, and it uses a copper boiling element to heat water rapidly, it automatically shuts off when reservoir is empty for safety. It has a cone-shaped brew basket for optimal coffee extraction, and an adjustable hotplate with automatic shut off.
Color options for the Moccamaster KBGV Select include Midnight Blue, Terracotta, Juniper, Silver, Black, and more.
It has a 10 cup capacity, it’s ECBC certified and SCA approved to meet and exceed the golden cup standard, and each machine is handmade in the Netherlands.
The Moccamaster KBGV Select is now being offered for sale in the United States on Huckberry with free US shipping, free US returns, and a best price guarantee. Color options include Midnight Blue, Terracotta, Juniper, Silver, and Black – you can visit the store listing here.
Images courtesy of Huckberry
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.