The Best Single-Serve Coffee Makers (2024) for convenience

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The enduring appeal of the best single-serve coffee makers lies in their ability to swiftly deliver a single, piping-hot cup of coffee. With these machines, you’re spared the inconvenience of waiting for an entire pot to brew, and there’s no need to fret over wasted coffee. A top-notch single-serve coffee maker effortlessly crafts a delectable, personalized cup of coffee to your exact liking, making your morning routine a breeze.

At the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, we love coffee and test coffee goods and espresso machines all year long. Over the years, we’ve made more than 1,000 cups of coffee in different machines, like drip coffee makers, French presses, portable coffee makers, Nespresso machines, cold brew coffee makers, and espresso machines, to find the best machines for making coffee at home.

For this guide, GH experts tried 26 single-serve coffee machines from well-known brands like Keurig, Cuisinart, Nespresso, and more. When we test single-serve coffee makers, we look at how easy they are to use and how well they work, such as how easy it is to fill the water tank. We test the water temperature to make sure that the brew has the most flavor possible, and of course, our coffee experts taste every cup. Our list includes the best-performing machines from our hands-on tests as well as popular machines from brands that our experts have tried in the past.

Best Single-Serve Coffee Makers Comparison Table

Product Name	Type of Coffee Maker	Brewing Method	Cup Capacity	Price Range
Keurig K-Elite	Single Serve	Pod	12 oz	$150 – $200
BLACK+DECKER Single Serve Coffee Maker	Single Serve	Pod	16 oz	$30 – $50
Espro P3 French Press	French Press	Manual	18 oz	$60 – $80
Bialetti Moka Express	Stovetop	Espresso	6 cups	$30 – $50
Nespresso Vertuo Plus Coffee and Espresso Machine	Single Serve	Pod	14 oz	$130 – $200
Hamilton Beach The Scoop Coffee Maker	Single Serve	Ground Coffee	14 oz	$30 – $50

Keurig K-Elite

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Feature	Description
Brewing Sizes	4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 oz
Water Reservoir	75 oz removable water reservoir
Brew Time	Under a minute
Strength Control	Yes, five brew temperature settings
Compatible Pods	K-Cup pods, K-Mug pods, K-Carafe pods
Maintenance Alert	Yes, descale indicator and cleaning reminder

This Keurig machine came out on top in our tests and made the best coffee. It always tasted good, had a big body, and was smooth. Its control panel is easy to use and has simple buttons that let you choose between five drink sizes (4 to 12 ounces) and normal, strong, or iced brews. But keep in mind that the choices for serving size on the control panel aren’t clearly marked with ounce numbers. Instead, there are pictures of cups with different heights.

Our testers quickly learned how to make a cup of coffee because the owner’s guidebook was clear and easy to follow. The Keurig K-Elite had one of the largest water reservoirs of all the coffee makers we tried. It held 75 ounces, which is enough for about 9 cups of coffee, so you won’t have to keep filling it up. If you prefer to use your own ground coffee, you can also buy a separate reuse filter attachment.

BLACK+DECKER Single Serve Coffee Maker

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Feature	Description
Brewing Sizes	16 oz
Water Reservoir	Removable for easy filling and cleaning
Brew Time	Under two minutes
Strength Control	No
Compatible Pods	Ground coffee or soft coffee pods
Maintenance Alert	No

The BLACK+DECKER Single-Serve Coffee Maker is a small machine that costs less and takes up less room on your counter. This machine is easy to use because it only has one simple start button and turns off by itself when the brewing cycle is done. We used the 16-ounce travel mug that came with it to measure how much water to put in the water tank.

The machine will use all of the water you put in, so make sure you measure your coffee correctly. The filter that came with it was easy to take out and clean. All of the parts that aren’t electric can go in the top rack of the dishwasher, making it even easier to clean up after making a cup. But be careful if you don’t use a travel mug: when we tested, we found that when using a regular mug, hot coffee would often splash out while making.

Espro P3 French Press

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Feature	Description
Brewing Sizes	18 oz
Material	Double-walled stainless steel carafe
Filtration	Dual microfilters for a clean, grit-free coffee
Brew Time	4-5 minutes
Maintenance Alert	No

You can make coffee in a French press as easy or hard as you want. Marguerite says, “If you’re in a hurry, you can just measure your coffee grounds and hot water, dump them in, wait a few minutes, and then drain it.” Even though you have to heat the water first in a gas kettle or an electric kettle, it only takes about four minutes to brew the coffee, making it one of the fastest and easiest ways to make good coffee.

With more patience and care, the right tips (video), and tools like a kitchen scale, you can also use a French press to make a more carefully balanced brew. This means that the press can adapt to your changing tastes and habits. And if you sometimes need to make coffee for a big group, a full-size French press can make tasty batches that are big enough to serve three or four people. Because of this, we don’t suggest those tiny single-serve presses.

Bialetti Moka Express

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Feature	Description
Brewing Sizes	1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 cups
Material	Aluminum construction with a heat-resistant handle
Filtration	Percolation method using a metal filter and pressure
Brew Time	4-5 minutes
Maintenance Alert	No

Inversion-style brewing can be seen in the Art Deco-like moka pot, which hasn’t changed much since it was invented by an Italian expert in the 1930s. Instead of letting water drip from the top down through the grounds, the pot pushes water up through the grounds as steam from its lower chamber. This method is the closest you can get to making espresso without a real espresso machine.

Even though the coffee made in a moka pot isn’t quite as strong as espresso, one expert we talked to for our guide on how to use a moka pot called it “viscous and strong.” Marguerite says that the pot is “a coffee maker that cares just as much about looks and ritual as it does about taste.” The Moka Express is in the MoMA, just like the Chemex. And just like with a French press, you shouldn’t have to buy new parts for your moka pot for years.

Nespresso Vertuo Plus Coffee and Espresso Machine by De’Longhi, Black

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Feature	Description
Brewing Sizes	5, 8, 14 oz for coffee, and 1.35, 2.7 oz for espresso
Water Reservoir	54 oz removable water reservoir
Brew Time	Under a minute
Strength Control	Yes, five brew temperature settings
Compatible Pods	Nespresso VertuoLine capsules
Maintenance Alert	Yes, descale alert and capsule container full indicator

Nespresso gives away free recycling bags with pre-paid UPS labels for sending back used pods, but the process may be difficult for people who don’t have easy access to a UPS driver or drop-off spot. (People in New York, on the other hand, can just put their pods in their blue recycling boxes without a bag.)

Even though I like how easy it is to recycle Nespresso pods, this is one of the few single-serve coffee machines that doesn’t support a reused pod. Given the barcode system, it’s possible that a refillable pod wouldn’t make a great cup of coffee, and reviews of after-market options back up this idea. Still, Nespresso’s proprietary capsules and lack of a refillable choice are drawbacks for people who would rather not use single-use pods at all.

Hamilton Beach The Scoop Coffee Maker

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Feature	Description
Brewing Sizes	8 oz
Material	Stainless steel construction with a mesh scoop filter
Brew Time	Under 90 seconds
Strength Control	Yes, adjustable coffee strength
Compatible Pods	Ground coffee only
Maintenance Alert	No

Because this model requires you to use your own freshly ground coffee, it is ideally suited for college students and anybody else who is concerned about the environmental impact of using K-cups as well as the high cost of doing so. It does not require paper filters because it already comes with a mesh filter basket.

After filling the reservoir with as much as 14 ounces of water during each brewing session, you will only have to wait approximately 90 seconds for your freshly brewed cup of coffee. After the brewing process is complete, it will turn off by itself.

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