The Best 4 Cup Coffee Makers Have Improved A Lot

I’ve had many 4 cup coffee makers over the years. Sometimes you only need a few cups of coffee, especially if you’re part of a smaller household. These little machines would keep me caffeinated without much fuss at all.

But to my surprise, they’ve improved a lot since I was using them, and so today I decided to give you my thoughts on the best 4 cup coffee makers on the market. 

Not only do I have a lot of experience with your standard home coffee machines, but I also know a lot about coffee in general. Having been a barista for decades, I’ve picked up so many tips and tricks for finding the right coffee maker for you. 

By and large, the Mr Coffee Simple Brew coffee maker is unbeaten. It’s just a fantastic design at work, and it’s evident from the moment you start using it. 

Nevertheless, there’s plenty of other options to sink your teeth into. I talk about which coffee makers are the best for flavor, simplicity, functionality and so much more. You’d be hard pressed not to find your next favorite coffee machine. 

So let’s take a look at how you can get the most for your hard earned cash. 

1. Mr Coffee Simple Brew Coffee Maker – Best for Simplicity  

Don’t let this machine’s simplistic design fool you; it can deliver a quality cup of coffee. The Mr. Coffee Brew coffee maker thoroughly filters coffee grounds for a premium taste, equipped to handle up to 20 ounces at five ounces per cup. 

A pop-open lid makes for easy filter removal, and a clear dual-sided water filter lets you quickly gauge when the machine needs more water to function.

Beneath the stout pot, you’ll find a stain-resistant heating plate that’ll keep your coffee warm even when you don’t need any. 

As far as functionality goes, Mr. Coffee keeps it quick and effortless. Once you pour your desired grounds into the filter, you can close the lid and hit the single button on the machine’s front to begin the brewing process.

If you can’t wait for the pot to fill, you can pause the cycle to pour yourself a cup and replace the pot to continue.  

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2. Gevi 4-Cup Coffee Maker – Best Overall 

Like the Mr. Coffee Simple Brew coffee maker, the Gevi 4-Cup machine is compact and straightforward, but with its stainless steel facade, it compliments any kitchen. 

In addition to that design aspect, the Gevi 4-Cup coffee maker also comes equipped with a single touch functionality.

All you need to do in the morning to fill your pot is to touch the front-facing power button and let the machine go to work.

A single carafe takes between four and six minutes to load.  

Don’t worry about returning the device later on to power it off because it will automatically do so after two hours.

If you decide you want to pour yourself some more coffee, the hot plate beneath the pot keeps the coffee adequately heated to maximize quality.  

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3. Brentwood TS-213BL – Best for Aesthetics

Bring some personality to your kitchen with the Brentwood TS-213BL’s attractive color options.

This 4-cup coffee maker comes in a sky-blue, white, or black choice to complement many moods and aesthetics. Besides the machine’s color, it also offers simplicity. 

Like the Mr. Coffee and Gevi coffee makers, Brentwood’s 4-cup coffee maker keeps brewing simple with the push of a single button.

However, it reduces messes and waste with its reusable filter. You can dump your ground directly into the machine, remove it to rinse it off, and replace it when you’re down, making clean-up virtually effortless. 

When it comes time to brew a pot, the hot plate beneath the machine keeps your coffee at the optimal temperature, and the clear, dual-faced water reservoir around the back lets you easily gauge your water levels.  

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4. Cuisinart DCC-450 BK – Best for Keeping Coffee Warm

For coffee that stays hot all day long, you can’t go wrong with the Cuisinart DCC-450 BK 4-cup coffee maker.

While most coffee machines have a standard glass carafe, the Cuisinart machine comes with a stainless steel pot for maximum insulation to keep your coffee warm for hours. 

The carafe also has a knuckle guard to protect your hands from potential burns. The machine itself has a no-spill drip to minimize messes and burns when you grab your pot from the spout. 

Cuisinart devices are compact and tall, making them suitable for maximizing your kitchen-counter space. Its sleek black design paired with a stainless steel carafe makes it a cool, modern accessory to suit most kitchens.

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5. Chefman Grind and Brew – Best for Flavor

Unlike most other coffee machines, the Chefman Grind and Brew 4-cup coffee maker comes as a compact square in which the carafe sits.

The machine’s unique design and size barely takes up any counter space, leaving more room for you to cook and bake freely. 

Unlike other standard coffee machines, Chefman designed the Grind and Brew machine with superior quality in mind. With this coffee maker, you can customize your coffee to your liking with its brew-strength selection option. 

To get the best flavor possible and from such a simplistic device, the machine uses whole beans and pre-ground beans.

The machine grinds the beans just before production to optimize freshness, and ‘the keep warm’ setting from the device’s main face will ensure your coffee maintains that fresh flavor throughout the day. 

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6. Boscare 4-Cup Coffee Maker – Best for Low Maintenance Cleaning

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This sleek, jet-black 4-cup coffee maker from Boscare is not only visually appealing but easy to take apart for frequent cleaning.

You can effortlessly detach the filter, funnel and carafe to hand-wash or even stick in the dishwasher as needed. 

Taking cleaning ease further, the maker has a stain-resistant warming plate under the carafe and an anti-leaking hole in its top to prevent overpouring spills.

The coffee maker also makes brewing almost as easy as cleaning with its single-button activation to start, stop, and pause. And when the machine isn’t in use anymore, it automatically shuts off.

7. SAKI Turkish Coffee Maker – Best Functionality 

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Based on ancient coffee tradition, the SAKI Turkish Coffee Maker combines high-tech functionality with high-quality brewing to create up to four cups of premium-roast coffee with every batch brewed. 

While it may not appear too high-tech, the SAKI 4-cup coffee maker has many involved settings to ensure you get the perfect cup of coffee. The machine comes equipped with ember-cooking, anti-spill sensors, and cook-sense. Ember-cooking provides a rich flavor, while cook-sense technology keeps your coffee hot without boiling it or raising the temperature too much. 

Another unique feature is the carafe’s double spout, making it easy for left-handed and right-handed individuals to pour. The machine can brew a full pot for four people within three minutes.    

Honorable Mentions

Bonavita 5-Cup One-Touch Coffee Maker

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The bonavita 5 cup one touch coffee maker is excellent. I’ve put it here as an honorable mention, mostly because it’s a 5 cup rather than a 4 cup. Nevertheless, it has some excellent features. 

It’s one touch brew operation is amazing, and will switch itself off after use. It also has an amazing, albeit optional, infuser chamber for degassing your coffee before your brew. All of this machine’s kit is completely dishwasher safe, so it’s totally easy to clean after each use. 

Definitely worth considering if having an extra cup of coffee isn’t a deal breaker for you. 

Zojirushi EC-DAC50 Zutto 5-Cup Drip Coffeemaker

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Like my other honorable mention, this coffee maker is a little larger than the others in this post. Nevertheless, expect an excellent tasting cup of coffee! 

It has an automatic keep warm function, which is always good when you know you’ll want another cup later on. Furthermore, it will actually purify and filter your water (although I would still recommend using prefiltered or bottled water if you have a hard water supply). 

The only issue I’ve found while researching this machine is it’s build quality. A lot of people say it breaks after a few months, which is no good at all. However, if you take care of your machine, this might not happen to you. Definitely worth considering, though, because if you buy cheap sometimes you have to buy twice. 

Buying Guide

How do you know which product is the best 4-cup coffee maker for you? Well, you need first to understand what you want out of your coffee machine. Before you purchase the one you think you want, look at the machine’s style, size, brewing strength, flavor, convenience, and functionality.

Size and Style

While you’ll want to gauge a coffee maker’s production quality, you also want to make sure it fits comfortably on your counter in your kitchen, on your coffee nook, or wherever else you plan to set up the station. 

Luckily, most 4-cup coffee makers are relatively small because of their restricted capacity. That said, some variants exist, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. To prevent storage problems, take measurements of your allotted space and choose a machine within those parameters. 

You might also want something that agrees with your area’s aesthetic or existing appliances. A smart way to plan for appliance coordination is to check out different coffee maker’s customization options, such as other color options to choose from. 

Strength and Flavor

The more basic a coffee machine you purchase, the less likely it is to come equipped with enhanced flavor capabilities. Most generic coffee makers specialize in simple drip coffee, leaving the flavor dependent on your coffee type choice. Sometimes, standard coffee machines, since they brew quickly, will take away from your coffee’s taste too.

If you consider yourself a coffee enthusiast who prefers intense, bold flavors, you’ll probably need more than what a standard, simple coffee maker offers. If this is true, you will do your best to look for 4-cup coffee makers with distinct brew-strength settings that let you customize the coffee to your liking. 

Convenience

A 4-cup coffee machine doesn’t produce near as much coffee as a standard machine, meaning brewing times will occur quicker. Even waiting a couple of minutes for a full pot cuts down convenience. 

To satisfy your need for instant coffee gratification, invest in a coffee machine with a record brew time, programming capability, or a pause to pour feature. All or at least one of these features in a coffee machine will make getting your cup of joe in the morning that much more convenient.  

Functionality

A coffee machine’s functionality determines what you’ll get out of it. Sometimes, you want something simple; a device that brews coffee without all the bells and whistles. However, when a coffee machine’s functionality doesn’t mean it comes with extra, unnecessary features. 

A device’s functionality can encompass temperature maintenance, spill-proofing drips, automatic shutoffs, pour pausing, and much more. Ultimately, for a machine’s functionality, ask yourself what you want your coffee machine to do for you. Do you want it to keep your coffee pot hot? Do you want to program brewing times? 

Coffee Type

For your coffee machine to function correctly, you need to supply it with the correct coffee type, whether that’s grounds, whole beans, k-cups, or others. The type of coffee you want your machine to process solely depends on your preference; for instance, maybe you prefer the taste of whole bean coffee to k-cups. 

Knowing the type of coffee before purchasing a coffee maker will help you make informed decisions when buying sustenance for the machine. You don’t want to stock up on k-cups only to find out the device you ordered relies on grounds. 

Final Thoughts

So that’s all I have for you today, the absolute best 4 cup coffee makers money can buy. I still can’t quite get over how good the Mr Coffee Simple Brew coffee maker really is. If you only take away one thing from this post, it has to be how good that machine is. 

But not everyone is me, and maybe some of the other options would work better for you. Nevertheless, investing in a good quality coffee maker is so life-changing. You’ll never have to settle for instant or gas station coffee again! 

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