I’m a Former Barista, and This Is the One Thing I’m Buying on Sale During Black Friday

From the first cup of coffee I ever had to my days pulling espresso behind the counter at a cafe in Brooklyn, my favorite way to make coffee has always been using a pour-over. However, the difficult part about pour-over is that if you really want a nice cup, you need to perfect your technique. That usually involves buying a gooseneck kettle and carefully pouring a specific amount of hot water (usually weighed out with a kitchen scale and measured with a thermometer) over a precise amount of your freshly ground coffee in concentric circles, first in a bloom phase, then in a — you know what, don’t worry about it, because with the OXO Brew Single Serve Pour-Over Coffee Maker, things are much more simple. Which, I think, is a good thing, especially when you’re not 100% on the ball in the mornings. Sure, I love the ritual and end result of a well-made cup of pour-over, but these days, I find myself valuing ease and convenience more than anything else. That isn’t to say that this brewer doesn’t make a great cup, though — quite the opposite, in fact, according to almost 7,000 five-star Amazon reviews. Let’s dig into why. 

The OXO Brew Single Serve Pour-Over Coffee Maker brews a cup of pour-over coffee in a pretty foolproof way. There’s an auto-drip tank that controls water flow to ensure a well-saturated bed of coffee and full extraction (i.e. no dry bits of coffee at the end of your pour) and the measurement markings on the tank show exactly how much water to add — up to 12 ounces, which is a pretty large cup. The lid also retains heat while brewing and doubles as a drip tray once you’re finished. The brewer comes with 10 OXO Unbleached All-Natural #2 Cone Coffee Filters, as well, which make sure there’s no grit in your cup. Here’s how it works: Pop a filter into the cone, add your ground coffee to the filter, place the water tank on top, add hot water to the tank, place the lid on top, and wait for the water to drain. That’s it! A freshly brewed cup of joe awaits you.