Black Friday deals on the WIRED Gear: The KitchenAid, Wacaco, Picopresso, and Breville Barista Express
It’s a good time to buy new gear and accessories for your coffee game at the lowest prices. We searched through a lot ofBlack Friday deals on espresso machines, grinder, French presses, and cold brew to find the best buys on our highest rated coffee gear. Our tips for navigating Black Friday can be found on our live blog, as can more live Black Friday deals.
Every espresso lover with a spouse or a roommate knows the score: The grinder on your espresso machine might as well be an alarm clock for the whole house. What a delight, then, to hear the gentle spin of this KitchenAid machine (8/10, WIRED Recommends), whose burr grinder is like a susurration of the leaves. It is quietest such device the team has tested, but we can’t promise it won’t stir. The KitchenAid is full of such thoughtful touches, from the fact that it’s an amazingly compact profile, to the fact that it has wheels that allow you to tuck it away when not in use. Our reviewer said it took more tries than expected to get a great cup.
The Breville Barista Express is the WIRED Gear team’s favorite premium all-in-one espresso maker that’s priced within reach for mere mortals—and this weekend it’s significantly below list price, with potential rebates that could push the price down still further. What do we like about the Barista? There is a machine that can froth your milk and is easy to use. You can watch the water pressure on the pressure gauge, it will grind your beans and produce consistent water pressure. It’s also durable: It’s lived happily on WIRED reviewer Julian Chokkattu’s shelf for more than five years.
Wacaco’s Picopresso is the overall best portable espresso maker that the WIRED Gear team has tested: compact, lightweight, and solid, with excellent extraction. It’s a tiny device with delicious results, offering very little bitterness and a nice crema. Caveats are that you’ll need to use very fine grinds, and you’ll have to be able to apply quite a bit of manual pressure to get good extraction, making this a difficult device for those with joint pain or repetitive stress injury. We had good results, and not as good, but still, it was better than the previous one.
This is a solid deal on a terrific cold brew maker. The Oxo Compact is my favorite device to make classic cold brew—the sort that brews for most of a day atop your counter. Why? It is easy to use and elegant of shape, and has mesh and a paper filter that makes for clean-tasting coffee. The Compact evinces a firm respect for scarce counter and fridge space. And most important, the coffee it makes tastes delicious. Coffee I’ve made with the Oxo is the closest I can get to the best packaged or café cold brew.
We will not oversell this blade grinder, as it won’t give you the uniformity or superior quality of a high-end conical or flat burr grinder. But if you’re a default drip or French press coffee drinker whose eyes cross whenever you hear someone talk seriously about “evenness of extraction” or “separation of flavors”? This sturdy KitchenAid will grind your beans with no problem. Pro tip, if it won’t make your eyes cross: Pulsing will yield a more even grind than just holding the button down.
The French press is an essential and portable tool in any coffee lover’s kitchen, a low-tech default for countertop or camping. The Secura’s biggest sell versus many other French presses is that it’s sturdy, stainless steel, and insulated. Which is to say, the hot stuff stays hot and the cool stuff stays cool. Is this the right time to mention it’s the WIRED Gear team’s favorite French press to make cold brew?
This is included in the folder as a sweet spot that makes this smart warmer a nice stocking stuffer. This mug warmer isn’t “smart” because you need an app to use it, or because it records your conversations. It’s smart because it’s smart. The device registers when there’s a flat-bottomed mug on top of it, and responds by keeping it warm at about 130 degrees Fahrenheit—thus saving you the endless dance of either chugging down your coffee or topping it off to keep it hot. Remove the mug to turn off the device. Easy is underrated.
The Oxo Compact: a great cold brew maker for the Aeropress-obsessed atmosphilic fanatics
Vacuum bean storage makes coffee taste better, longer. If you use fresh, premium beans from a local roaster, a vacuum storage container will keep your investment in beans safe. Drop your bag into this container, then turn Atmos’ twist-action pump. The device will remove all air and thus all oxygen, freezing the sad oxidation process that would turn your once delicately aromatic coffee into acrid cardboard. This is the lowest price we’ve seen on the Atmos this year, and it’s a great gift for the coffee-obsessed.
For the Aeropress lover in your life, even if it’s you: Swap out the cap on your Aeropress for a thicker Prismo, and you’ll drastically increase the pressure you exert on the resulting brew. The WIRED team found this to provide a cleaner cup, a bit of aeration, and a more satisfying cold brew. Science! Though this Black Friday deal isn’t a whopper, it still matches the best discount we’ve seen this year.
The Moccamaster coffee maker has been made in the Netherlands since 1968. It’s a big, sturdy, and technically precise drip machine that will maintain water at optimal brewing temperature during the entire brewing process. Note: to get this Black Friday deal, you may have to compromise on color. If a color you like is available at a discount, you can click around among the different options and see if you like it. Chances are it will stick around for a long time.
This is a solid deal on a terrific cold brew maker. Cold brew is the sort of brew you should make most of the day with the Oxo Compact. Why? It’s easy to use and elegant in shape, and its combination of mesh and (optional) paper filter makes for clean-tasting and fine-free coffee. A firm respect for counter and fridge space can be found in the Compact. It makes coffee taste delicious. The coffee I made with the Oxo is the closest I can get to the best cold brew.
The Terra Kaffe is not just a coffee machine but also one of the most expensive on the planet and has some bugs, but it also has real coffee and espresso that is not Americano in disguise. This all comes in a nifty, easy-to- clean package with a smart screen. Using a phone app, you can begin warming the machine up from your bed, just like a remote starter on your car. If you sign up for a coffee subscription you will get an extra $350 off. Matthew Korfhage is related to me.
OK, I know: A classic AeroPress is already pretty portable. But the Go is even more travel-friendly. It is the WIRED Gear Team’s favorite portable coffemaker. It’s lightweight, just a little bigger than a coffee mug and utterly self-contained. It is a plus for people that an AeroPress is easy to use on the go. Throw in some grounds, stir it up, and plunge away: Chances are it’ll be a pretty good cup of joe. Anyway, Aeropress is discounting 25% off most Aeropress models for Black Friday, so pick your pleasure.
The Opus is worth buying by itself if you don’t purchase it as part of the kit. It’s the WIRED Gear team’s favorite overall grinder (9/10, WIRED Recommends), a quiet device with a consistent grind even at the finest espresso settings. At less than $200, it also manages to compete with grinders that cost much, much more.
If you just need coffee, the Tally will weigh it. You’ll be able to calculate the weight of water you will need to add to it by starting a timer, and track the progress of a prourover. It’s the true companion of a coffee pourover enthusiast. Like most Fellow coffee gear, the Tally is 20 percent off right now.
Best Coffee Subscriptions: A Guide for Generating Fresh Beans at Your Doorsteps – A Top Ten Recommended Recommendations
You can upgrade your coffee with fresh beans and a coffee subscription service is the most reliable way to get a fresh bag at your doorstep. Read our Best Coffee Subscriptions guide for our various recommendations. Some of our favorites offer attractive offers if you aren’t a subscriber.