Oxo Brew 8-Cup Coffee Maker review: Oxo’s latest coffee maker is our new favorite drip machine

A high-quality drip espresso maker really should brew rapidly and scorching, but it should not scorch your grounds. Couple espresso machines can pull off this fragile balancing act, but the $a hundred and seventy Oxo Brew 8-Cup Espresso Maker is just one of the unusual machines that does. For $20 significantly less than the very well-highly regarded $one hundred ninety Bonavita Connoisseur, the Oxo Brew delivers SCA Golden Cup-rated espresso that tastes just as excellent.

Oxo’s hottest electric espresso maker also comes with a thermal carafe that, as opposed to the Bonavita’s, is just not inclined to messy drips and spills whilst you pour from it. The Oxo espresso maker is compact, less difficult on the eyes than the Connoisseur, and it feels sturdier, too. All that makes the Oxo Brew 8-Cup an superb acquire, and ample to earn our Editors’ Alternative award for drip espresso makers in 2020.

Modest and sleek

Physically, the Oxo Brew 8-Cup is anything its beefy Oxo 12-cup and 9-cup predecessors weren’t. All those machines were being substantial and cumbersome monstrosities, especially the Oxo Barista Mind 12-Cup Brewing Method, which towered more than other modest kitchen appliances and ate up worthwhile counter room. 

The Oxo Brew 8-Cup is equivalent in dimension to the Bonavita Connoisseur. Both equally espresso makers are compact ample to tuck absent less than kitchen cupboards when they’re not in use. Mainly because of the Oxo’s sleeker lines, as well as plenty of open room among its various components, the Brew 8-cup seems downright svelte upcoming to the chunkier Connoisseur.

Aesthetics aside, the Brew 8-Cup is established up like numerous other high-efficiency drip espresso makers. A heating device tower and water tank (forty ounces, or 1.two liters) sits on just one aspect of a lengthy base. You can expect to locate a double-walled thermal carafe throughout from that. A funnel-shaped brewing chamber lives right previously mentioned the carafe.   

Applying the Oxo Brew 8-Cup

Producing espresso with the Oxo Brew 8-Cup is a clear-cut system. Initial, fill the espresso machine’s water tank. Its highest (and default) dimension is forty ounces. That’s the exact water capability as other premium espresso makers such as the Technivorm Moccamaster KBT 741 and the Bonavita Connoisseur.

Subsequent, flip open the brewing chamber lid. The filter basket within that accepts conventional 8-cup dimension, flat-bottomed paper filters. Launch the basket by swinging its handle arm upwards Then fall a filter within, include your ground espresso, and area it back again into the equipment. 

Make guaranteed the switch on the brewing chamber is established for a total carafe. Furthermore, hit the energy button and faucet the button labeled “five-8 cups.” If you would like to brew significantly less there is also a two-four cup button for that purpose. Oxo also contains an optional brew basket intended especially for single-cup brewing. It accepts Kalita wave filters (Kalita 185).

I do have just one minimal gripe in this article. The Oxo’s filter basket will not sit flat on counter tops. That designed it tricky to fill with grounds until I held it in just one hand. The Connoisseur’s filter basket has a flat base, so is less difficult to fill whilst it truly is resting on your countertop.

Performance and flavor

Both equally the Bonavita Connoisseur and its predecessor, the BV1900TS, performed really very well on my tests. So did the Oxo Brew 8-Cup Espresso Maker. In terms of raw brewing velocity, the Oxo Brew was capable to fill its pot in an common of six minutes, 8 seconds. That’s shut to the brewing velocity of the BV1900TS as very well as the Technivorm Moccamaster KBT 741 (both coming in at five minutes, 45 seconds), and faster than the Connoisseur (six minutes, twenty five seconds).  

As outlined in the guide, I applied a brewing ratio of forty ounces of water to two.26 ounces (64 grams) of medium ground espresso. I also analyzed with my standard complete bean exam espresso sourced from Costco (Kirkland Colombian Supremo).

Regardless, the Oxo Brew 8-Cup’s brewing time is very well less than the 8 minutes or significantly less the Specialty Espresso Association (SCA) recommends for excellent drip. 

Speed is just not all that’s expected to brew exceptional espresso. Specific water heat stages are also important. Especially, the correct water temperature vary (197 degrees Fahrenheit/92 Centigrade to 205 F/96 C) is vital to building superb espresso. I can affirm that the Oxo espresso maker held its water temperature within a quite tight vary. 

In the initial minute of brewing, the common temperature within the grounds was one hundred ninety.3 F (87.9 C), in accordance to thermocouple readings. That’s faster than the Connoisseur, which experienced a lessen common temperature at the 1 minute mark (147.9 F, 64.four C). At two minutes, the temperature within the Oxo’s brew chamber remained rock stable, at 189.four F. By minute 3, the temperature crept up to 197.six F, then to 199.3 F at minute four. From in this article heat stages were being continuous, hardly escalating much more than 3 degrees.  

Our refractometer, which actions the amount of money of espresso dissolved in the liquid, confirmed in the same way constant efficiency from the Oxo. Across 3 runs utilizing the Oxo-encouraged 64 grams of espresso grounds, the Oxo Brew 8-Cup notched closely grouped TDS (full dissolved solids) share final results (1.four, 1.five, 1.six%). These numbers translate to an common extraction share of twenty five%. 

That’s somewhat outside the house of the excellent vary, usually held to be among eighteen and 22%. The Oxo Brew’s guide also implies utilizing a significantly less precise “8 scoops” of espresso with the bundled plastic scoop. When I calculated 8 scoops of my exam espresso, it weighed out to exactly 69.six grams. Just after brewing once more with forty ounces of water, I recorded a TDS share of 1.3. This calculates to an extraction share of 19%, which falls squarely within the SCA vary.  

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The espresso was powerful, elaborate, balanced, and experienced no trace of bitterness. The drip I designed with less grounds (64 grams) tasted good too, just a very little weak. I also designed espresso at a powerful ratio of eighty three grams of espresso to forty ounces of water. Daring, intensive, and super-concentrated, this was my favored pot. With an extraction share of 23%, it was also a hair outside the house golden cup vary. Regardless of the ratio, the Oxo brewer designed espresso that was under no circumstances bitter and quite drinkable. You might have to change the espresso and water ratio to your actual choices, but Golden Cup-territory is quite achievable with the Oxo brewer.

Similar to the Connoisseur, the Oxo’s thermal carafe can continue to keep liquid within it scorching for hrs. I recorded 3 hrs, 45 minutes ahead of espresso in the container dropped down below a hundred and fifty degrees F (66 C). That’s somewhat shorter run than the Bonavita 1900 which hung on to its heat for a longer period (virtually 4 hrs), even though the thermal carafe champion is nonetheless the Moccamaster (six hrs).

A new alternative for much better drip

I have to say I’m quite impressed with Oxo’s hottest electric drip espresso maker. The $a hundred and seventy Oxo Brew 8-Cup performs very well, whipping up pots of tasty joe quickly. It is also compact, and attractively styled. I also like that it comes with a single-serve accent for building automatic pour-more than, just one cup at a time.

All this stacks up favorably versus the competitiveness. Right until now, my drip espresso maker of option has been the $one hundred ninety Bonavita Connoisseur. However, the Oxo Brew 8-Cup brews just as very well and faster, and seems to be much better undertaking it. It expenditures $20 significantly less too, and does a very little much more. That’s why it truly is clearly exceptional in my ebook, and the winner of our Editors’ Alternative award.