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There are plenty of ways to brew coffee where plastic never touches the liquid (using the golden ratio, naturally). The catch is that most of these methods — a moka pot, French press, or pour-over) — are limited to single cups or small batches, and require you to be hands-on throughout.
Brewing coffee involves more plastic contact than I'd realized. That's what attracted me to this model promising a zero-plastic process. / Pamela Vachon/CNET
Simply Good Coffee Brewer
Pros & Cons
- Mostly glass and stainless steel elements
- Modular, intuitive assembly
- Judicious use of plastic for insulating hot elements
- Toggle for preventing post-brewing drip
- Thoughtful accessories
- Looks like it came from a lab and has a small footprint
- Both bloom and pourover-like brewing functions
- Lightweight
- Dishwasher-safe parts
- 5-year replacement warranty
- Expensive
- Relatively small capacity considering the cost
Until recently, nearly every automatic drip coffee maker relied on plastic at some point in the brewing process. The outer casing being plastic makes sense — it’s lightweight and practical. But the water reservoir, filter basket, and internal pathways that carry water through the machine have typically been plastic too. PFAS-free or not, doesn’t it seem a little strange that we’ve all just accepted near-boiling water flowing through plastic as normal? Are we unknowingly adding a side of microplastics to our morning coffee, right along with the cream and sugar?
This is what Simply Good Coffee aims to correct, with its plastic-free, automatic coffee maker dubbed “The Brewer.” Its MSRP is $479, though it is frequently marked down to $429 or less on its website and Amazon. A programmable version is available for $520.
What constitutes plastic-free brewing?
At first blush, it’s clear that the Brewer does include plastic elements, but everything that touches water is either made of glass or stainless steel. While a glass carafe is par for the course with coffee brewers, the Simply Good Coffee water reservoir is also made of glass. Despite this, the whole model is still relatively lightweight, clocking in at only just over 10 pounds.
The biggest point of departure with Simply Good Coffee’s model is with the filter basket, which holds the coffee grounds. The exterior is plastic to insulate against potentially heated elements, but the interior of the basket is stainless steel. The conduit between the water reservoir and the showerhead, plus the funnel from the brewer to the carafe, are also stainless steel, as is the mouth of the glass carafe. A stainless steel coffee scoop is also included, which I found to be a nice touch to the principle of plastic-free operation.
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While the machine is very similar in appearance to a Moccamaster, a coffee brewer with a glass reservoir near to our hearts at CNET, the main point of departure here in is the brewing basket — Moccamaster has staked a claim on intentionally using plastic in this element for temperature consistency, and the ability to immediately brew a second pot without a cooldown period. The degree to which that might matter to you depends on how often the need to rebrew immediately arises in your household.
The plastic elements used in Simply Good’s model, indicated as medical-grade silicone, serve critical functions. While the carafe’s mouth is lined with stainless steel, the edges of that piece are insulated with plastic to prevent contact with elements that conduct heat extremely well. Same goes for the exterior of the filter basket, as well as the wand that contains the shower head.
Simply Good Coffee in operation: thoughtful features and intuitive design
The Simply Good Coffee brewer comes apart easily and is intuitive to use, with placement of the shower head and brewing basket lid, and for releasing the brewing basket from the base to easily dump the grounds. All of these pieces are dishwasher safe.
A nifty toggle saves the hot plate from post-brew coffee drips
While a programmable model is available, the model I used relies on a simple on/off toggle switch, comparable to much more simplistic makers. A bloom function, similar to what happens during a pour-over process, is a nice feature that briefly stops the transfer of water, allowing the grounds to saturate and release nitrogen before continuing the brewing operation. The shower head that transfers the water into the filter basket also acts somewhat like a pour-over in that it agitates the grounds, which most coffee pros say is key to a superior cup.
I also very much appreciated a toggle on the brewing basket labeled “open to brew” and “closed to stop drip,” which doubtlessly extends the life of the machine’s hot plate, or at least results in one less thing to clean regularly. I was bracing for a potential “gotcha!” moment here, but when I looked, I found that even this tiny detail is stainless steel; seriously, no piece of plastic ever touches the coffee. The only potential drawback with this feature is potentially forgetting to open it before brewing again, which is no small concern. This can lead to a minor disaster: if you’re not paying attention to the fact that no coffee seems to be collecting in the carafe, the filter basket can overflow.
Is the Simply Good Coffee maker worth the big price?
This is where things get more complicated: there are many pros in Simply Good Coffee’s favor, but the major con is pretty substantial. Whether the Simply Good Coffee brewer is worth its $479 price tag comes down entirely to what that plastic-free, automatic-drip peace of mind is worth to you, especially given the comparatively minuscule prices of other plastic-free coffee mechanisms like pour-over equipment, moka pots, or French presses.
Simply Good Coffee’s volume isn’t huge; with only an 8-cup capacity, you’re not getting a “serve a crowd” upside at that price. It is arguably stylish, has a relatively small footprint, and an almost unheard-of 5-year replacement warranty, but for $479, you can get a much larger drip coffee model or even a reasonable espresso machine with more bells and whistles, peace of mind be damned.
For more coffee intel, see our hand-tested list of the best espresso machines and read why coffee professionals always use this type of grinder.
