TODAY Tests 8 Single-Serve Brewers, Puts the Keurig K-Mini Mate Plus First
TODAY’s shopping team tested eight single-serve coffee makers and put the Keurig K-Mini Mate Plus at the top of its new ranking. At $109.99, it scored 4.67 out of 5, the highest of the group, mostly for being dead simple to set up and use.
Each machine was scored from 1 to 5 on ease of use, brew quality, speed, noise and cleanup, and the team measured brew temperatures with a thermometer. The K-Mini Mate Plus brewed in just under a minute and a half, at about 162°F in the cup. Its knock is that it offers only three cup sizes: 8, 10 and 12 ounces.
The rest of the list, as TODAY ranks it:
- Mixpresso Single Serve, $59.99: best for a strong, hot cup (about 174°F, among the hottest tested)
- Nespresso Vertuo Next, $125.99: best for espresso
- Ninja Single-Serve Pods & Grounds, about $100: best if you switch between pods and grounds
- Hamilton Beach FlexBrew Advanced 4-in-1, $79.99: best looking
- Cuisinart Grind & Brew, $207: best with a built-in grinder
TODAY says it tested eight machines but only shows six, and doesn’t name the other two. A few of the overall scores also don’t line up with the category scores printed next to them, so treat the order as rough rather than precise.
Our take: the Mixpresso is the one that stands out for value. It costs about half as much as the winner, takes K-Cups or grounds, and still got a perfect 5 for brew quality. If you’d rather keep the Keurig you have and your coffee tastes thin, our guide to weak or bitter Keurig coffee covers the usual causes. If you’re leaning Vertuo, our Vertuo buying guide compares the Next with the cheaper Pop+.