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Haven’t seen anyone mention the Breville Precision with thermal carafe. It gives you a wide range of adjustment for bloom time, temp and pour over speed, the carafe holds 60 ounces and it’ll keep coffee hot for 8 hours (warm for another 8 to 12 depending on how full it is).
“Easy to clean parts” the carafe lid is very easy to clean, getting the water out of it on the other had, nigh on impossible
Same, that and the water getting trapped in the carafe lid
Okay so in order of importance: 1) grinder 2) espresso machine 3) drip machine / pour over 1) grinder. It sounds like you need something that’s capable of both filter coffee and espresso. There are tons of options out there and it’s a huge rabbit hole. Based on reviews I’ve watched, I think I’d reccomend the Timemore 064s. [Here’s a good video going over a lot of the options in your price range](https://youtu.be/3VohJapkObs?si=tYM0scVHTklmwoyM) 2) espresso machine. The two options I’d recommend are the Breville bambino plus or the Gaggia Classic Pro, depending on what type of person your partner is. If they are a tinkerer and like to upgrade things over time and do a bunch of research, you want the Gaggia. If they like a more set it and forget it experience, the Breville is the best thing you can get out of the box for your budget. Both have built in milk frothers as most semi auto espresso machines do. 3) drip machine. Now, if you think your partner would like to do a pour over every morning (about a 10-15 min process) you can go that route and get them a v60 and kettle. But what I’d actually recommend is the Breville Smart Brewer with the insulated carafe instead of hot plate. There are a lot of good drip coffee makers - the smart brewer has some really nice UI/UX feature imo. Your partner could grind the coffee the night before, then set it on a timer so there’s fresh brewed, hot coffee right when they wake up. Don’t get any drip machine with a hot plate as it just burns your coffee I think this setup will come in a few hundred below your budget, so you could use leftovers to get them a subscription for coffee or a nice big gift card to any roasters you know they like * if you are in the EU, everything Breville will actually be called Sage Good luck, and what an awesome gift! Sorry about formatting I’m on mobile
If you can squeak out a few more dollars (or find it on sale) check out the Breville Lux Brewer. I have the Precision brewer for 5 years or so and its been outstanding and I would recommend except it does not have a removeable reservoir (I wish it did!). Looks like the Lux Brewer has the same functionality but has the removeable reservoir. I dont know if it can do single cups without using the carafe, but its completely capable of making single cup qtys because thats pretty much all I use it for. It has a bunch of other cool features like cold brew, pour over adapter, and things like that. Its programmable to whatever recipe you want but I almost always use the default gold setting. It makes great coffee provided you use good beans, grind, water quality, and so forth. There are cheaper ones, but this is the one that I would go for as it uses an insulated carafe instead of a warmer plate. [the Luxe Brewer™ Thermal | Breville (US)](https://www.breville.com/en-us/product/bdc465?sku=BDC465BSS1BNA1)
If you can squeak out a few more dollars (or find it on sale) check out the Breville Lux Brewer. I have the Precision brewer for 5 years or so and its been outstanding and I would recommend except it does not have a removeable reservoir (I wish it did!). Looks like the Lux Brewer has the same functionality but has the removeable reservoir. I dont know if it can do single cups without using the carafe, but its completely capable of making single cup qtys because thats pretty much all I use it for. It has a bunch of other cool features like cold brew, pour over adapter, and things like that. Its programmable to whatever recipe you want but I almost always use the default gold setting. It makes great coffee provided you use good beans, grind, water quality, and so forth. There are cheaper ones, but this is the one that I would go for as it uses an insulated carafe instead of a warmer plate. [the Luxe Brewer™ Thermal | Breville (US)](https://www.breville.com/en-us/product/bdc465?sku=BDC465BSS1BNA1)
Sounds like you have your heart set on grind and brew. I will just say from my vcr/dvd/TV days...combo units are a loser because eventually one side breaks or has a upgrade which renders the whole thing less than ideal. For a brewer....check out the Breville precision brewer. Programmable. Has a timer. Get it with the insulated SS carafe. Breville also makes a separate burr grinder. It's nice. I'm sure there are others but this setup checked all the boxes for me. Apologies to the moccamaster diehards in the sub. I realize I have cut you deeply.
Breville precision brewer is quite good and has a timer among other things. You can tweak the recipes and so forth if you want. Or just run it on the default "gold" which is what I do.
Best bang for the buck by far is the [Braun MultiServe Plus on sale at Target for $129.99](https://www.target.com/p/braun-multiserve-plus-10-cup-pod-free-drip-coffee-maker-7-brew-sizes-hot-38-cold-brew-kf9250bk/-/A-90503594#lnk=sametab). If you want to spend more, [the Cafe Specialty drip machine for $199 on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09648KFJ4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1) or [Breville Precision Brewer Thermal for $299 on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Breville-BDC450-Precision-Brewer-Thermal/dp/B078RQVQF1/ref=sr_1_10?crid=12WDENVTRNJOO&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IMBQYNrQUGUg5fEMuf2JOFGwm5yWJBYjgXmosgQQMOxfO83Can3ruKV8pkyw01zO7oOWQmKONM86k78Bx0dW_VAMW71o3NGfUiJXE6EmPl78sOLRsT8M9dFuWF7rmIg4kD5VCwZqhcCNxLwVIlrIhcujkShRZTG1KhqNfqa3k6trtC2YUq2AYAyDiMeHF6kGag7x8LbPt8gKfRIGKnizl0uR4B54qgjZ8uG5AVdELbQYfjZhx1R2NQ7l4x66d6dYOtNb9THZ5agB3vc8gSQvMlIhKWmkbyvQvHsY7b-T7F4.2dFQZKAzfKd1vrK95_8n9_27qQVP3yHl9Gwamhdybzk&dib_tag=se&keywords=coffee+brewer&qid=1763133251&sprefix=%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-10) are excellent brewers. I own all three machines, although my Breville Precision Brewer is the glass carafe model. Can't go wrong with any of them to be honest. Since you are a broke college student, you could narrow it down to the Cafe Specialty or Braun MultiServe Plus, depending upon whether you think he would appreciate a thermal carafe and WiFi connectivity on the Cafe Specialty. The Cafe Specialty also has more options for control over the brew, including control of the brewing water temp and the strength. But the Braun is really nice for the variety of batch size options, and you won't find a better machine for $130. FWIW, the Cafe Specialty is what gets used on workday mornings in my home, because I can start brewing in the morning from my phone while my wife and I are still in bed. Obviously, that still means putting water and coffee grounds in the machine the night before. But I prefer doing it that way vs brewing via automatic timer.
Sage Precision, because it offers a lot more control over brewing parameters. I have one myself (the Breville branded version, since I live in the US).
The Sage Precision also offers simple operation if that's what you desire--you can choose preprogrammed brewing modes of Gold, Fast, or Strong. "My Brew" is where you can choose brewing parameters. It gives you the option to experiment or stay with simple preprogrammed brewing modes. I can't say whether the Epour will extract more flavor vs the Sage Precision using default settings. At the end of the day, you just need to choose whichever machine you will feel most comfortable using. I offered my reasons as to why I choose the Sage Precision. There are cafes which use the Sage Precision as their batch brewer, FWIW.
For drip, we really love the Breville (Sage) Precision Brewer Thermal.
Honestly I'd go with the breville they are great
I went with the Breville precision brewer. It is well made, and the insulated carafe keeps the coffee hot for hours. The Technivorm Mochamaster didn't make enough coffee for us.
I bought the Breville Precision Brewer, and it is a great coffee maker. The MochaMaster was too small, and we only make one pot per day.
Rankings by Use Case
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Best for Long-term heat retention

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Best for Long-term reliability (BIFL)

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Best for Morning scheduling

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Best for Plastic-free brewing

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