5 Of The Best Budget-Friendly Alternatives To Makita's Portable Coffee Maker
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One of Makita's strangest tools is its portable coffee maker. With a Makita battery, the coffee machine can be taken camping, on a job site, or practically anywhere else where you'll be craving a piping-hot cup of joe. However, not everyone is willing to shell out $154 for the device. Thankfully, there are budget-friendly options on the market, and in this article, we will take a look at five alternatives.
Depending on what you plan on doing with the device, some of the alternatives on this list may better suit your needs; for example, some of the listed coffee makers don't need electricity or batteries, relying on open flames and French pressing to produce a cup of coffee. This significantly lowers the weight of the coffee maker in some cases. There are also coffee makers on this list that can brew coffee in the car for busy professionals on the go.
For this article, we chose a wide range of products to present something for multiple types of consumers. Each product was carefully selected based on professional or user reviews. A more detailed explanation of our methodology is available at the end of the article.
Stanley Adventure All-In-One Boil + Brew French Press
The $26 Stanley Adventure All-In-One Boil + Brew French Press can brew up coffee outdoors. To turn your coffee grounds into hot coffee, fill the press with water and place it on a fire or electric burner to bring the water to a boil. Then, throw in the coffee grounds, let it brew for a few minutes, and press the plunger down. After the coffee is pressed, pour the coffee out of the spout at the top into a cup. The upside of this device is you don't need a separate container to boil the water.
Because the coffee-making process is about as simple as it gets, the Stanley device only weighs 14.88 ounces. That, combined with the ability to fold the handle onto the cup, makes it a solid choice for hiking or storing in a cramped bag. Another benefit of this device is that the parts are replaceable, so if the lid breaks, you can buy a replacement instead of a whole new brewer.
The Stanley Adventure has close to 9,000 ratings on Amazon, with an average customer review of 4.7 out of 5 stars. Reviewers agree that the cup is sturdy and easy to clean. They also mentioned that you can use it to boil water for other purposes, such as making tea.
KreeySant Portable Espresso Machine
KreeySant's Portable Electric Espresso Machine is a solid choice for those craving more than just black coffee. The device, measuring 3.07 inches in diameter and 10.24 inches in height, is portable and slim enough to fit in a bag. When out of the kitchen, you can operate the machine in your car via 12V/24V charging. This device heats the water for you, and you can input either cold or hot water for brewing. The brewing process takes five minutes when hot water is supplied and 10 minutes when cold water is used.
This $82.99 device is both a coffee maker and a cup; although you can pour coffee from the bottle, you can also drink straight from it. The cup's insulation keeps heat in and prevents scalding. On the side of the machine is a temperature readout, so you can quickly tell if your coffee is too hot or cold. Another standout feature of this coffee maker is that it is not loud, producing 35 dB of sound during operation.
The coffee maker has a 4 out of 5-star rating on Amazon. One of the biggest praises customers gave was that it is easy to clean, as the device is made of only a few parts. Users note that it is well-made with stainless steel and does not feel cheap. However, some wished it was battery-powered so a cord would not be necessary.
Chefman Instacoffee Max+
The $59.99 Chefman Instacoffee Max+ is a portable drip coffee machine with a 40-ounce water reservoir. Its large reservoir makes it suitable for those who want to reduce the frequency with which they must fill their machine with water. The device is versatile, able to brew 6-, 8-, 10-, and 12-ounce cups of coffee. It's also compatible with K-cups and ground coffee using the included reusable coffee basket, furthering its versatility.
To brew the coffee, you must plug the device into an outlet; however, the device weighs only 3 pounds without water, allowing coffee lovers to take it to a job site or elsewhere. Another nifty feature of this brewer is its cup lift, which allows you to adjust the distance from your cup to the spout to reduce splashing. You can then brew the coffee by pressing your desired cup size at the device's base.
The Chefman Instacoffee Max+ has a rating of 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon. Customers noted that the product is easy to use, portable, and fast, only taking around 30 seconds to brew coffee in some cases. A common complaint was that the water reservoir can be difficult to fill because it is at the back of the mechanism. Some customers also found the buttons to fail after a while.
Wacaco Nanopresso
Wacaco's $84.90 Nanopresso portable espresso maker is the smallest coffee maker on this list, measuring 6.14 inches in length. Brewing coffee with this device involves adding hot water and coffee grounds, flipping the device upside down, and then pumping the retractable plunger to drip the coffee out. The pump can handle 261 psi (18 bars) of stable pressure, which the company claims produces better quality coffee. Because of its size, you won't be getting a lot of water in there, with the cap at 2.7 fluid ounces of water. The device is simple to clean, as the components can be taken apart. An accessory bundled with this machine is Wacaco's NS Adaptor, which allows you to use Nanopresso capsules.
Derek Rose from The Spruce Eats was impressed with the device's portability and liked that there was a portable cup attached to the machine, giving it a 4 out of 5 rating and calling it one of their favorite espresso machines. They added that the final product was tasty, although sometimes inconsistent, and that it produced only a little coffee. TechRadar gave it similar praise with a 4.5 out of 5-star rating. Unlike Rose, however, the outlet did deduct points for the device needing boiling water to brew.
Mini Travel Single Serve Coffee Maker
The Mini Travel Single Serve Coffee Maker from AdirChef is another coffee maker for those who want a hands-off brewing process. Despite needing to plug into an outlet, it's relatively portable at 5.1 inches deep, 6.7 inches wide, and 10.1 inches tall. It can be a solid coffee gadget for a camping trip, provided you can supply the power. AdirChef's major selling point is that this coffee maker only takes 15 seconds from when you press the button to the coffee hitting your cup. But you aren't restricted to just coffee; the device can also make tea.
The coffee maker includes a 15-ounce insulated stainless steel travel mug, a removable filter, and a filter basket. One feature that some may find useful is that it automatically turns off after the coffee is dispensed. This can come in handy when powering the coffee maker with a generator or solar panel to prevent you from unnecessarily draining power.
At 4.4 out of 5 stars, customers overwhelmingly approve of the $29.98 Mini Travel Single Serve Coffee Maker. Many customers left reviews stating they were impressed with the build quality, considering the price. They also overwhelmingly agreed that the coffee comes out at an ideal temperature, and brewing takes only a few minutes. One complaint in the reviews was that the power button could become faulty.
Why were these coffee makers chosen?
For this list, we prioritized showcasing a wide range of product types. The only thing every coffee maker on this list has in common is that they are portable. The list has options for whether or not the individual has a power source to brew the coffee, needs to fit the device in a small bag, or prefers an espresso.
Although we prioritized professional reviews when assessing whether a product belongs on the list, not all of the devices were reviewed by professionals. For those, we looked over dozens to hundreds of user reviews for each product to determine if it deserved a spot on the list. Some of the things we looked out for were portability, quality, and ease of use. Only coffee makers that overwhelmingly got great marks from customers in each of those categories were added to this list.