The coffee and espresso deals were the best of the year
Black Friday Deals on Coffee Machines: The Breville Barista Express, Wacaco’s Picopresso, Espresso Machines, and Cold Brew
Black Friday is a great time to update your coffee game with new gear and accessories at discounted prices. We’ve sorted through a storm of Cyber Monday and Black Friday deals on espresso machines, grinders, French presses, and cold brew to find the absolute best buys on our highest-rated coffee gear.
The team at WIRED has been a fan of Mr. Coffee’s automated latte and cappuccino devices for years and The Cafe Barista is our budget pick in the same category. The device’s low price comes with a trade-off: It’s a bit plasticky and lightweight. It makes great espressos, cappuccinos, and lattes with no fuss and a single button push. It’s a plus or a minus depending on what you like.
With potential rebates that could push the price down even more, the Breville Barista Express is the WIRED Gear team’s favorite premium all-in-one espresso maker that’s priced within reach for mere mortals. What do you think about the Barista? It is an easy to use machine that froths milk with ease. It’ll grind your beans for you, and it’ll produce consistent water pressure you can watch on its included pressure gauge. It’s also durable: It’s lived happily on WIRED reviewer Julian Chokkattu’s shelf for more than five years.
Wacaco’s Picopresso portable espresso maker is the best because it’s compact, lightweight, and solid. It is a small device with wonderful results that offer little bitterness and a nice crema. Caveats are that you’ll need to use very fine grinds, and you’ll have to be able to apply quite a bit of manual pressure to get good extraction, making this a difficult device for those with joint pain or repetitive stress injury. We also had good results, though not quite as good, with the previous (and less expensive) Nanopresso.
This is a great deal for a cold brew maker. Cold brew is a type of beverage that can be made with the Oxo Compact. Why? It is easy to use and elegant of shape, and it contains both mesh and paper filters which make it clean tasting and fine-free coffee. The Compact is respectful of the limited counter and fridge space. The coffee makes it taste good. The Oxo is the closest that I can get to the best packaged or café cold brew.
The simple things that make a product popular are sometimes what make you love a product. When the KitchenAid burr grinder was first tested, it was the ease of cleaning that caught the attention of our team. It’s also a good grinder, but not quite up to the high-quality grind execution of our top picks. We also liked the precise control of dosing, and the helpful guidelines on grind settings. This is the lowest price we’ve monitored on this model.
The French press is an essential and portable tool in any coffee lover’s kitchen, a low-tech default for countertop or camping. The Secura’s biggest sell versus many other French presses is that it’s sturdy, stainless steel, and insulated. Which is to say, the hot stuff stays hot and the cool stuff stays cool. Is the time right to mention that the WIRED gear team’s favorite French press makes cold brew?
File this into the “you didn’t know you needed one till you got one” folder—a sweet spot that makes this smart warmer a nice stocking stuffer for the caffeinated people in your life. This mug warmer is not smart because you need an app or it records your conversations. It’s smart because it’s smart. The device registers when there’s a flat-bottomed mug on top of it, and responds by keeping it warm at about 130 degrees Fahrenheit—thus saving you the endless dance of either chugging down your coffee or topping it off to keep it hot. Remove the mug, and the device turns off. Easy is underrated.
The Oxo Compact is a great coffee maker at the Atmos and Black Friday deals: It’s as easy as it gets, but it’s not nearly as good as you might think
Coffee will taste better with vacuum bean storage. If you use premium beans from a local roaster, a vacuum storage container will make sure the investment you are making in your beans stays in tact. Turn the pump on when you put your bag in this container. The device will remove all air and thus all oxygen, freezing the sad oxidation process that would turn your once delicately aromatic coffee into acrid cardboard. This is the lowest price we’ve seen on the Atmos this year, and it’s a great gift for the coffee-obsessed.
If you love the Aeropress and want to increase the pressure you exert on the brew, swap out the cap on your Aeropress for a thicker one. During testing, the WIRED team found this offered a cleaner cup, a bit of aeration, and even more satisfying cold brew. Science! The best discount this year has been matched by this Black Friday deal.
Technivorm’s Moccamaster drip coffee maker has been handmade in the Netherlands since 1968. It’s big, sturdy, and technically precise drip machine that’ll maintain water at optimal brewing temperature during the entire brewing process. The Black Friday deal may not be possible if you have to compromise on color. You can check out the various color options by clicking around, because some are sold out at the sale price. Chances are it’s going to stay around for decades.
A terrific cold brew maker can be had for a good price. The Oxo Compact is my favorite device to make classic cold brew—the sort that brews for most of a day atop your counter. Why? It is easy to use, elegant, and has a paper filter that makes it fine-free coffee. The Compact evinces a firm respect for scarce counter and fridge space. And most importantly, the coffee it makes tastes delicious. The coffee I’ve made with the Oxo is the closest I can get to the best packaged or café cold brew.
The Terra Kaffe is expensive and has bugs, but it is one of the few that offer both good coffee and a nice cup of coffee. This all arrives in a nifty, easy-to-clean package with a smart screen and all the trimmings. Just like a remote starter on your car, you can warm the machine up from your bed using a phone app. Anyway, it’s a whopping $500 off till December 15, with an extra hundo off the top if you sign on for a coffee subscription. Matthew Korfhage was born.
I know the AeroPress is portable. But the Go is even more travel-friendly. In fact, it’s the WIRED Gear Team’s favorite portable coffemaker of them all. It’s lightweight and self-contained, which makes it different from a coffee mug. Another plus for people on the go is that an AeroPress is by its nature quite forgiving. Throw in some grounds, stir it up, and plunge away: Chances are it’ll be a pretty good cup of joe. Anyway, Aeropress is discounting 25% off most Aeropress models for Black Friday, so pick your pleasure.
The Opus is worth buying its own on its own if you don’t buy it as part of the kit. It’s the WIRED Gear team’s favorite overall grinder (9/10, WIRED Recommends), a quiet device with a consistent grind even at the finest espresso settings. At less than $200, it also manages to compete with grinders that cost much, much more.
If you need it, the Tally will weigh your coffee. But it’ll also start a timer to track the progress of a prourover, and calculate the weight of water you’ll need to add to it. It’s a third-wave coffee pourover person’s true companion. It is like the Fellow coffee gear, 20 percent off right now.
Best Coffee Subscriptions Guide: Enticing Deals for Low-Lying Carafeol Prices and Delightful Barcafes
The best way to upgrade your coffee is to make sure you’re using fresh beans, and a coffee subscription service is the most reliable way to get a fresh bag at your doorstep. There are many recommendations in our Best Coffee Subscriptions guide. If you are not a subscriber, a few of our favorites have some enticing offers.
