11 best filter coffee machines for caffeine on tap

Score: 89/100

This KitchenAid machine has become a “saviour” for our expert’s quick morning coffee. It has a 1.7-litre glass carafe and a 24-hour clock, so you can programme it to deliver freshly brewed coffee when you wake up. Even if you’re not using the clock, you won’t be waiting long as it was ready to use as soon as we switched it on in our lab. Our coffee brewed quickly too, and the wide spout on the jug made pouring easy to control.

Our expert loved the ‘pause and pour’ feature that stops the brewing process while you serve each cup, and the reusable filter (with dose recommendations) is incredibly convenient for coffee-loving households.

The digital display is on the side, which could be awkward to reach depending on where it’s placed on your countertop, but we liked being able to set our ideal brew strength.

Score: 86/100

Cuisinart's filter coffee machine has a user-friendly interface that our expert quickly got to grips with. It was quick to preheat and poured its minimum capacity of four cups in four minutes.

There’s no detachable water tank but refilling through the top of the machine was straightforward – plus, there’s a window on the side so you can keep an eye on the water level.

Convenient features like the ‘keep warm’ setting, automatic shut-off, a descaling programme and the dishwasher-safe carafe and lid, make this an excellent choice for busy households.

Score: 85/100

Don’t skip over this affordable drip coffee machine. It scored highly across the board and the single on-off switch is so simple, you could do it in your sleep.

This model has the smallest minimum capacity of all the machines we’ve tried, delivering two cups of coffee in a minute and a half. Brewing a full 10 cups was fairly speedy too, taking eight and a half minutes on average.

There’s no indicator light for the ‘keep warm’ function and you can’t change the strength of the brew, but there’s still lots to love, from the handy mechanism that stops the machine dripping after shutting off to the reusable filter and easy-pour jug.

Score: 82/100

If the perfect morning cup of coffee is a crucial part of your day, this may be the one for you. There’s a built-in coffee grinder with five grind options offering better control over the intensity of your coffee. Our experts found the hopper easy to fill and adjust and liked that the dose size automatically adjusts for the number of cups you’re making.

Brewing 10 cups took just under 10 minutes and the jug remained cool to the touch throughout, but the wide spout made pouring a little tricky to control.

It’s not the most intuitive machine, with symbols rather than labels, so we had to refer to the manual a few times, but after getting a hang of the controls, our experts liked this responsive, robust and well-designed coffee maker.

Score: 82/100

This premium drip coffee machine has a built-in grinder with 11 grind sizes, five brewing settings and a detachable water tank that makes brewing simple.

The brew time was quicker than we’d have liked (if it's too quick, the water won’t capture all the flavour of the beans) but opting for a stronger brew setting should help with this.

The jug is made of metal, but it remained well-balanced and easy to pour throughout testing. There aren’t any increments on the jug though, so it’s tricky to see how much coffee you’ve got left.

Score: 75/100

This affordable option from Tefal is simple and straightforward to use. It doesn’t have some of the premium features of the other models in our list – there’s no strength selector, timer or removable water tank – but it can deliver 15 cups of coffee in an average of nine minutes and 14 seconds, dropping just one mark in our speed test.

The jug is easy to pour from, and the handle stayed cool to the touch throughout, but our experts said it didn’t feel that sturdy or well-balanced.

Still, we loved the overall design, and this is a reliable machine for making large batches of coffee.

Sage has won our caffeine-loving hearts with its standout performance in our tried and tested coffee machine categories, so we had to include its drip coffee maker here.

It has a sleek design, a thermal carafe for keeping coffee warm, a digital control panel, and a coffee filter holder that fully detaches from the machine for easy cleaning.

It's highly customisable with settings for ‘fast’, ‘gold’, ‘strong,’ ‘over ice’ and ‘cold brew’. It can even brew a single cup of pour over with the purchase of an attachment kit (sold separately), making it a great drip coffee maker for one person.

The bloom time (aka how long your coffee beans are soaked before brewing) and brew temperature are also adjustable. And coffee lovers will appreciate that it comes with two different shaped baskets: a cone-shaped basket and a flat-basket that you can use based on your preference — they produce different tasting coffee!

Note, you have to wash the carafe by hand but that's a minor niggle.

As another brand that impressed in our bean-to-cup testing, we're sure you can rely on this De'Longhi filter machine to deliver top-quality coffee. It makes up to 10 cups at a time and has an easy-to-read water tank gauge, so you can always see when it needs topping up.

You can't put the glass carafe in the dishwasher but it shouldn't be too difficult to hand wash – and we can't really complain when you consider the budget price tag.

You can only use ground coffee, so you'll need to buy a grinder, but otherwise, this is a smart buy for any coffee enthusiast.

The Moccamaster KBG Select machine has a copper heating element to ensure the water temperature remains between 92 and 96 degrees for the perfect cup of coffee.

It also boasts a filter holder that allows the coffee to flow through in four to six minutes to create a full-bodied flavour.

There aren't loads of customisation options like some of the other machines on our list but sometimes simplicity is best. There's still plenty to love, including the auto shut-off safety feature, easy-to-use controls, and choice of 21 colour ways to match every style of kitchen.

This coffee machine is simple to use with a one-touch start and an easy-view water tank window. The buttons on the control panel are soft to press, but they're not flush, which may make them trickier to clean.

We love the addition of the Sneak-A-Cup feature that temporarily stops the flow of coffee, so you can pour a cup before the brewing process ends – perfect for when you're craving that first morning sip in a hurry.

Although it boasts a 12-cup capacity, the machine is fairly compact, making it a good pick if you want to save on counter space.

Compact and chic, this Smeg coffee machine will bring a stylish touch to your kitchen without taking up too much room.

It brews up to 10 cups of coffee at once, making it great for when you're entertaining. And for quieter days, there's also a four-cup function.

You can programme the machine to brew your coffee too, and a 40-minute ‘keep warm’ function will make sure every cup is perfection – no matter when you drink it.