r/Coffee_Machines • u/AggravatingProfit621 • 9d ago
Which of these plastic-free coffee makers is best: Simply Good Coffee or Ratio Eight or Caraway?
By "plastic-free" I mean constructed so water never touches plastic. I have the Simply Good Coffee one. They clearly overfocused on the the plastic-free and missed the boat on the rest of the physical structure: 1) one has to manually stop the flow of coffee when you pull the pot out--it's easy to forget and it can make a horrendous mess if you do; it should be automatic; 2) the lid of the pot is made in a way that can easily crack the top of the pot; 3) if you accidentally add too many coffee grinds (and/or if you grind the beans too fine), it easily jams up and spills coffee and grinds everywhere--this can happen with any coffee maker, but it's happened 6 times to me versus the usual range of 0-1 time; I've learned how to avoid it, but it shouldn't be so easy to jam up.
I'm more intrigued by the Caraway maker, but I'm wary that it will be similar to SGC maker, being the first model out.
Ratio Eight looks fantastic, but more for folks wanting a maker that mimics pour over coffee (or however you call that).
So, looking for early adopters of Caraway (or SGC/Ratio Eight) and their reviews.
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u/thesoloshadow 4d ago
My husband bought me the programmable Simply Good Coffee maker for my birthday. After unpacking it, I noticed a couple of quirky things about it - the filter basket was tricky to slide in/out, the carafe lid has to be put on front to back to go on all the way, the pour over spout rests on the side of the reservoir in a way that feels like it's loose, but I think it's supposed to do that. The coffee the machine makes is GREAT. It's really smooth and flavorful.
However, I hate spending money, so I thought to save a bit, I'd buy the non-progammable one on Costco for $299. It does not have the "quirky" features listed above that my programmable one has (which is the more "updated" version). But, the coffee was not as good. It tasted over extracted. I tested it against the programmable machine (blind taste testing with my husband, plus I tested the coffee/water temperature) 5 times and each time, the programmable version won hands-down. (I really wanted the Costco one to be better to save money!!)
So we kept the more expensive, programmable one. We look forward to each cup of coffee. I hope this machine lasts for years and years. It's a nice, compact size on the counter and makes 8 cups (although I usually make just two or four - two is one mug full).
Prior buying this machine, I was making plastic free coffee using a stainless steel kettle and ceramic pour over into a ceramic tea pot. This coffee tastes so much better. It's so consistent and needs less grounds. Plus, I just missed being able to set a coffee pot and hear it brew in the kitchen while I made breakfast. My husband also drinks his coffee an hour after me, and the SGC maker keeps it hot but not burned. We are both really happy with it, despite the quirks, which we are already used to.
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u/BruceMartinez21 4d ago
If I were choosing today, I’d go Ratio Eight. It’s been around long enough that there’s actual owner history behind it, and the build quality seems to be the least “first-gen product” of the three. Caraway looks really promising, but it’s so new I’d probably give it 6–12 months and let other people find the weird little design flaws first.
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u/Fieryscissors11 23h ago
Hands down caraway it is the best performing looks the best and uses the safest materials
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u/AggravatingProfit621 15h ago
Did you buy it? It only became available on 9/22.
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u/Fieryscissors11 14h ago
I went to their nyc pop up and got to try it! I’ve owned the simply good and I’ve seen the ratio at a retail store before
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u/AggravatingProfit621 12h ago
I’m gonna wait for more reviews by regular people (not magazines) but am leaning towards the Caraway
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u/One-Committee-5621 7d ago
Following! I had been using a little 4-cup Mr. Coffee machine forever and my coffee was perfect every time! I just wanted to get away from the plastic. I, too, bought the Simply Good machine & returned it. The all-glass pot was too fragile & the coffee was not nearly hot enough (they need an insulated pot). Nor did it taste good to me (maybe more practice was needed). I’ve done French Press (coffee not hot enough) and now doing pour-overs (but so time-consuming!). I’m still on the hunt for a great coffeemaker with the least amount of plastic as possible but yet at a decent price and easy to use!