Technically, a Moccamaster is a drip machine. However, it’s a fancy one with topnotch and handcrafted engineering. It combines the best of pour over techniques and an espresso machine. So, while the brewed coffee that comes from a Moccamaster isn’t pour over or espresso, it’s pretty close to it.
Pour over devices are not automatic. These are manual brewing coffee methods where a person controls all the conditions of the brew. While a Moccamaster has some aspects to it that are akin to a pour over, it’s not the same thing. When you bring electricity and a switch into the mix, it becomes a drip machine.
How Does a Pour Over Work?
Basically, a pour over utilizes some kind of carafe or pot that has a basket or other contraption that fits atop it. In the top section, you put a filter and pour in your grounds. When your water is warm enough, you pre-extract, or bloom, the grounds for about 45 seconds. Then, you pour in the rest of the water and wait for it to fully seep through.
How Does a Moccamaster Work?
A Moccamaster has a plethora of parts that work together to create a pot of drip coffee. It has a top basket, filter and pot. You simply pour the required amount of water in the machine’s reservoir. Then, setup the top basket by inserting the filter and pouring your grounds in. Flip the switch and let the machine do its thing.
What Kind of Coffee Comes from a Moccamaster?
Regular brewed coffee is what comes from a Moccamaster. This is also true of pour over devices. It is not espresso because it doesn’t use compacted grounds or come into contact with highly pressurized water. But the cup is clean and brews coffee perfectly every time.
However, if you were hoping to be able to make espresso drinks with a Moccamaster, don’t lose heart. You can brew your coffee in such a way as to be espresso-like. You can make lattes, cappuccinos, mochas or whatever drink your little heart desires.
How Is a Moccamaster like an Espresso Machine?
Espresso machines employ a copper coil to heat and pressurize water. It blasts through compacted grounds in only a few minutes. A Moccamaster also has a copper coil, but it doesn’t pressurize the water in the same way. The water comes out as a gentle pour and delivers a pot of coffee in about five to 10 minutes.
How Is a Moccamaster like a Pour Over?
The set up of a Moccamaster is very much like a pour over. It has a top basket or funnel where you put the filter inside followed by the grounds. Also, depending on the model, it allows you to bloom the grounds as an option. But, this activity comes from the machine, not by human hand and this is the essential difference between the two.
Which Makes Better Tasting Coffee: Pour Over or Moccamaster?
Both the Moccamaster and the pour over style of brewing coffee both produce an excellent tasting cup. In fact, people will use their Moccamaster when they don’t have time to prepare pour over in the morning. Therefore, the taste is pretty much the same.
Moccamaster
However, because of the automatic capability of the Moccamaster, every pot is consistent with temperature, speed, time and pour rate. In regards to a pour over, these will always vary because of human error.
Pour Over
Therefore, one day you may brew a pot just like a Moccamaster. Yet the next day it will be too weak and the day before you brewed it too strong. This can be infuriating if you don’t have the temerity and patience to be that meticulous.
Which Is More Affordable: Pour Over or Moccamaster?
The pour over method is more affordable hands down. This is because you can fashion a pour over device out of almost anything. As long as you have something to catch the brew as it drips from a funnel or basket that can sit atop it, it can be a pour over. All you need are some grounds and filters.
All this can cost as little as $10 to $35 depending. Actual devices engineered specifically for pour over can cost around $40 to $100. But, a Moccamaster will cost, at the very least, $350.
Which Is Easier to Use: Pour Over or Moccamaster?
The Moccamaster is easier to use. All you have to worry about is measuring out coffee grounds, adding the right amount of water and turning on the machine. You don’t have to measure the water temperature as you boil it because the machine always heats it at 205°F.
You don’t have to sit there and watch the grounds bloom like a pour over, the machine does it automatically. All-in-all, the Moccamaster is much faster and more accurate than a pour over. It’s ideal for those who’ve tried their hand at a pour over and have had no to little success.
Which Is Easier to Clean: Pour Over or Moccamaster?
Pour over devices are much easier to clean than a Moccamaster. This is because there are only technically two pieces you have to wash. If you have a specific pour over device, like a Chemex or Hario V60, then it should also be safe enough to put into a dishwasher.
In order to use it again, you’ll have to wash the device between each use. This means there won’t be any buildup or schmaltz from the coffee grounds.
Cleaning a Moccamaster
The Moccamaster, on the other hand, is a highly engineered piece of equipment. This means only certain parts of it can go into a dishwashing machine. You will have to hand clean the rest. If you wait too long between cleaning sessions, the coffee residues can get thick, sticky and sludgy.
You will have to use vinegar and rinse out the machine until it runs totally clear. This can be hugely time consuming.
Hi, I’m Jen Williams, chief editor and writer for ThirstPerk.com.
I’ve been drinking coffee and tea for most of my life, but it wasn’t until I started working at Thirstperk.com that I became an expert on the subject. I’m a total caffeine addict who has spent hours upon hours reading about and experimenting with the different types of coffees out there in my search to find the perfect cup of joe.
I’ve been a tea lover for as long as I can remember as well. I grew up in a house with a mom who loved to drink herbal tea, and I think that’s where my love for tea first began. These days, I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting teas to try, and I love experimenting with different brewing methods and flavoring combinations.