The Best Single Serve Coffee Maker Without Pods

The best single serve coffee makers require no pods and make a great cup of coffee quickly and easily. When opting for a coffee maker that operates without pods, you get unlimited freedom to select the coffee you like and experiment with different strength settings.

You do have to add the coffee yourself, but with a permanent filter basket you’ll easily get the hang of it.

Single serve coffee makers come in many shapes and sizes. Our top pick is the Hamilton Beach FlexBrew Single Serve Coffee Maker because it operates without pods yet makes it easy to brew up to 14 ounces of great coffee in your cup or mug of choice.

Identifying the best no-pod single serve coffee makers

Just because you prefer to brew your favorite coffee on cup at a time, it doesn’t mean that you have to compromise the taste, process, or cost.

Single serve coffee makers are often sold in pods-only versions, binding you to a specific system of pods and adding to the total cost per cup you make. Plus, it impacts the environment because every pod is made of plastic whereas regular ground coffee is require no use of additional plastic pods.

In order to find the best single serve coffee makers without pods, we researched the entire market and consulted some of the best coffee experts for advice. We reviewed the best options, and based on our findings we concluded that these are the factors you need to consider when shopping for a new single serve coffee maker that fits your needs:

• Coffee taste
• Performance
• Ease of use
• Build quality

First and foremost, the coffee maker has to make great coffee. Otherwise there’s no point buying it. A proper cup of freshly brewed coffee should be hot but drinkable right away, and the flavor profile is supposed to be well rounded with no bitterness.

We also want our single serve coffee maker to perform well. That means no excessive noise during the brewing process, and it shouldn’t take more than one or two minutes to make a cup of coffee.

Ease of use is important too. None of us want to fiddle with a dozen of small parts and buttons we don’t know the function of, in order to brew a single cup of coffee. A proper filter basket is mandatory for a single serve coffee maker that doesn’t use pods, it has to fit properly in its slot and rinse easily under running water.

Finally, the build quality should always be a factor worth considering when shopping for a new product. There’s just nothing worse than spending your time and money on something that ends up breaking after only a few weeks or months of use.

Best overall: Hamilton Beach FlexBrew Single Serve Coffee Maker

Pros: Compatible with K-Cup pods if needed, single serve brew basket included for own grounds, extremely simple to use, makes one cup of coffee in no time, highest capacity is 14 ounces at a single brew.

Cons: Brew basket is a little small, there’s no adjustable taste options available, might be difficult to use for elderly people.

The Hamilton Beach FlexBrew is a great single serve coffee maker, and its brewing system works extremely well. It functions perfectly without pods, but at the same time you do get a pod holder for K-Cup pods included and free to use if you desire.

Once you’ve filled the water tank to the desired level, you simply fill the brew basket with your coffee grounds of choice, snap it back into place, press the “BREW NOW” button and wait. Soon after the extraction process begins, and you’ll see your coffee start pouring from underneath the brewing head.

The coffee comes out great every time and you can use exactly the beans you like. Another great thing about this coffee maker is that you can use the Melitta #1 small paper cone filters available for purchase online or in most grocery stores. By using these you’ll make cleaning a bit easier, as you simply pull out the used filter along with its contents after use and give the brew basket a quick rinse.

All good things aside, there are of course a few trade-offs when choosing a single serve coffee maker of this type. The brew basket is a little small for our personal taste, which isn’t always a problem unless you like your coffee a bit stronger than most people. It doesn’t have any adjustable taste options either, and we thought the brew basket was a bit cumbersome to open and close.

Best on a budget: BLACK+DECKER DCM18S Travel Mug Coffee Maker

Pros: 15-ounce insulated travel mug included, makes great coffee without pods, permanent grounds filter included, compact design, very simple to use, extremely affordable.

Cons: No adjustable taste options, condensation of water runs down behind the base of the machine if lid is lifted after brewing, no additional travel mugs seem available for purchase online.

The BLACK+DECKER DCM18S comes with everything you need to make a single cup of coffee. The only thing you need is your choice of coffee grounds, and you’re all set.

With the handy travel mug included, you can make up to 15 ounces of freshly brewed coffee that you can take with you and fits into most vehicle cup holders.

There’s a brew basket with a permanent metal mesh filter included, so all you need to do is fill in your grounds and start brewing. Afterwards you can easily dispose of the used coffee grounds, rinse the filter, and you’re ready to make your next cup of coffee right away.

The top lid easily lifts up for access to the water tank and brewing basket, but one minor flaw is the design of the lid. Once you’ve brewed your first cup of coffee and want to make another one, the condensation of water runs down and drips behind the base of the coffee maker. This is probably not a big issue, but it is a little messy anyway.

Another small caveat is the operation of the coffee maker. Although it’s easily operated by a single press of a button, we could’ve wished for just a few extra options to adjust the taste and strength of our coffee. It does however make a great cup of coffee, but again, if you like your coffee a little stronger, you might feel a little disappointed with this one.

However, despite these minor trade-offs, we don’t think you can get a better single serve no-pod coffee maker within this price range, so if you’re on a budget and want something affordable, this is by far the best option of them all.

Best splurge: Technivorm Moccamaster Cup One Coffee Brewer

Pros: Amazing build quality, fast brewing – under 4 minutes for a cup, turns itself off once the water tank is empty, approved by the ECBC, handmade in the Netherlands, crafted from quality metal and plastics that are free from BPA/BPS/BPF and Phthalates.

Cons: No drip-stop and no drip-tray, paper filters required, no taste adjustment options except adding more or less coffee into the brew basket.

All Moccamaster coffee makers are approved by the ECBC (European Coffee Brewing Centre), which means they meet strict quality guidelines and standard set by a neutral trade organization. ECBC also cooperates with the SCAA (The Specialty Coffee Association of America), and therefore they work together on the certification program.

The Technivorm Moccamaster Cup One has an outstanding build quality and is available in either polished silver or a stylish matte black version. It makes one single cup of coffee of up to 10 ounces at a time, and the brewing process is quick and easy.

With the Moccamaster Cup One you don’t need any pods, and in fact it works without pods only. There’s no additional brew basket included for pods, so with this coffee maker you can only use ground coffee. We believe this is a good thing, because it allows for a bigger brew basket with room for a proper paper filter and your desired amount of ground coffee.

Whether you like a strong or mild cup of coffee, the Moccamaster makes it happen. Simply add a little extra ground coffee to the filter basket for a stronger taste, and vice versa for a milder taste.

Over on Owly Choice they seem just as excited for the Moccamaster Cup One single serve coffee maker as we are, and they reward its excellent performance with a 95/100 rating, which means it checks out in all categories with a nearly perfect score.

Although we think this single serve coffee maker comes as close to perfection as possible, it has a few flaws that disappointed us a bit. First and foremost there’s no drip stop and no drip tray, which means you’ll either have to wait for the very last drop OR have another cup ready to go underneath the brew basket and catch those last drops.

For this single serve coffee maker to work, you have to use paper filters. Because it only makes one cup at a time, running cost quickly adds up if you make 4-5 cups a day. You can get reusable metal mesh filters though, but we haven’t tried them and Technivorm doesn’t officially recommend the use of these either. We’ve seen examples of people using #2 cone-shaped metal mesh filters, so you might give it a try at your own risk.

Best single serve dispenser: Cuisinart DCC-3000 Coffee-on-Demand 12-Cup Coffee Maker

Pros: Keeps the coffee hot for up to 4 hours, makes up to 12 cups of coffee at a time, no external thermal carafe needed, removable water reservoir allows for easy cleaning and refilling, has an LED light over the cup that activates when you pour the coffee, programmable timer, 1-4 cup taste setting.

Cons: Unreliable coffee level gauge, unit is a bit bulky, not enough space to pull out an entire pot of coffee at a time if desired, lots of cleaning needed.

If you like the idea of pulling up to 12 cups of coffee each day without spending time brewing every single cup, the Cuisinart DCC-3000 Coffee-on-Demand 12-Cup Coffee Maker is a great choice.

This machine isn’t just a single-serve coffee maker but also a coffee dispenser, as it holds the ready made coffee in an internal container where it stays hot for multiple hours.

We can imagine this type of single serve coffee maker works extremely well in an home office environment or a small business, but also in a regular kitchen. It works without pods, and you simply fill up the brew basket as you would on other regular coffee makers.

It has a great range of useful features, spanding from the 1-4 cups taste setting to the LED light that turns on when you’re pulling a cup of coffee, and there’s also a timer built in.

However, one thing that disappointed us a little bit, was the stylish old school coffee level gauge at the center of the coffee maker. It’s supposed to show how many cups of coffee you have left, but unfortunately it isn’t always reliable.

If you’re shopping for a single serve coffee maker without puts and want it to be of a compact size, the Cuisinart DCC-3000 isn’t a great choice either because it’s quite bulky.

In order to keep it thoroughly clean you’ll need to take it apart once in a while too, especially the internal containers where fresh water and coffee are kept.

Best programmable: Casara Single Serve Coffee Maker

Pros: Programmable – can be delayed for up to 24 hours, the illuminated LED display works well, very easy to use, works without pods, comes with a reusable filter basket, vacuum insulated travel mug included, fast, makes consistently good coffee.

Cons: Some parts seem a bit fragile, took some time to figure out how to deactivate the programmed delay, the opening for the water tank is narrow so you’ll have to pour fresh water carefully.

If you want a smart, programmable single-serve no-pod coffee maker, the Casara is a great choice. It’s almost as basic as it gets, which is a great thing, but it still has an illuminated LED display with a few useful options that make your day just a little bit easier.

With this coffee maker you can set everything up the night before, and have a full mug of delicious, hot, and freshly brewed drip coffee ready to go as soon as you make it out of bed. For those busy days this is just perfect.

The Casara Single Serve Coffee Maker comes with a brew basket and a reusable filter, so there’s no need to purchase paper filters on the side. It isn’t compatible with any pods, but it’s almost as easy to use anyway.

One tiny letdown is the overall build quality of this coffee maker. It does seem a bit flimsy, and not all functions are equally easy to figure out right off the bat. We’ve seen many people ask how to turn off the timer for example, and we figured out it can be done by turning it off, which isn’t the most intuitive way of doing it.

Another tiny setback is the fact that the water tank has a very narrow opening, so you’ll have to pour fresh water carefully if you don’t want to spill any of it.

Also worth reading: The Best Programmable Coffee Maker With Timer

Best for traveling: AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker