The Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer is a coffee maker with a bold claim — and said bold claim is right in the name. “Plastic-free” is big talk. It’s the thing every brand seems to chase. How close to truly plastic-free can a coffee machine get? Well, I hate to burst this bubble, but the Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer isn’t actually plastic-free. It has a plastic exterior and silicone water tubing.
A few years ago, I saw a meme that went along the lines of: “My grandpa full of lead, my dad full of asbestos, and me full of microplastics”. It made me laugh. Serious belly-laugh. Perhaps making light of it is the only way we can deal with our plastic-related predicaments. Consequently, I’m not overly fussy about plastics in my coffee machine. It’s in everything else. What’s a little more?
But I know a lot of coffee lovers are serious about minimizing those plastics — so is this low-plastic approach enough to make this model one of the best coffee makers? To find out, keep reading this Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer review.
Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer: Specs
Price |
|
Weight |
7.4 pounds |
Dimensions |
13.7 x 7.8 x 14.6 |
Filters |
#4 cone |
Accessories |
Scoop |
Capacity |
8 cups |
Colors/Materials |
Black, gray / Stainless steel, glass, medical-grade silicone |
Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer review: Price & availability
The Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer is objectively expensive. It’s $479 from Amazon U.S., and isn’t available in the U.K. at the time of writing.
This is $100 more expensive than the Moccamaster KGBV Select and $130 more expensive than the Breville Luxe Brewer. As the Simply Good Coffee Brewer is “plastic-free” (more on that in the ‘Design’ section below), you can expect to pay a premium. Metal and glass inherently costs more to produce than plastic. A similar price difference is mirrored in the AeroPress ($39) and the AeroPress Premium ($199).
Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer review: Design
So let’s just rip the Band-Aid off nice and fast: the Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer isn’t actually plastic-free. The water lines are made from medical-grade silicone, and some exterior parts are actually made entirely of plastic.
The water lines are made from medical-grade silicone. I’m not going to tell you if this counts as plastic or not — some people think silicone is plastic, some people class silicone as rubber — so you can make up your own mind about this. Life Without Plastic recommends consumers to exercise caution, but ABC News Australia reports that if used conventionally, silicone is a food-safe material.
Regardless, there's no getting away from the fact that the exterior is clad liberally in what is, quite obviously, black plastic.
I’ll let you come to your own conclusions, but the fact of the matter remains: the Simply Good Coffee Brewer is not “plastic-free”. It’s low plastic. It’s a similar story with the low-plastic Ratio Four — considerably less plastic than the Moccamaster and the like, but still plastic.
Complaints about plastic aside, the brewer looks gorgeous. It’s like a stripped-back Moccamaster, super utilitarian and functional and industrial and cool.
I love the directions engraved on the water tank. The brewer tells you how much coffee to put in for a full batch, which is a great feature ideal for newcomers or coffee lovers who don’t have time to fuss over brewing ratios.
Another innovative feature is the drip stopper on the back of the filter basket. I love this feature. It’s very simple — effectively a piece of metal that covers the filter hole. This lets you pour coffee without having to wait for the brewer to finish each and every drip (lest you spill coffee all over the hot plate).
If you want a low plastic machine but miss that Moccamaster art style, don’t fret. You can get a color wrap for $29, available in pretty much every shade you can imagine. These color wraps are pre-cut vinyl (yep, more plastic!) and you have to stick them to the main body of the machine yourself. I love the idea of this in theory, but I am the least handy or co-ordinated person in the world — so I know I would majorly mess this up.
Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer review: Performance
As it’s a drip brewer, the Simply Good Coffee Brewer is super easy to use. All you have to do is grind your beans, put your beans in the filter, and press go. It’s as straightforward as that. The hot plate keeps the coffee warm for forty minutes, which is less than the Moccamaster’s 100 minutes, but still a decent chunk of time.
I never made a bad batch on the Simply Good Coffee Brewer. Every pot tasted clean, fresh, with zero bitterness and a pleasant, well-rounded finish. This coffee tastes just as good as the Moccamaster’s, and I’m sure any Moccamaster transplants will be satisfied with this flavor.
To show you how easy it is, I’m going to share my ideal Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer routine.
My go-to Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer routine
As the Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer is a drip machine, it’s super easy to use — and here’s the proof!
- Fill the water tank to your preferred line. There are notches for the minimum 2 cup, 4-cup, and the max 8 cup.
- Grind your coffee to a medium grind size. I use my Mazzer Philos.
- Put your desired coffee in the #4 cone filters.
- Optional: Put the filter in the filter basket and press ‘bloom’. Bloom will saturate the grounds to release gases and, in my opinion, give you a cleaner flavor.
- Not optional: Make sure the drip stopper is off (otherwise no coffee will flow into your pot).
- Flip the on switch to start the brew.
- After around 6 minutes, you’ve got a full pot of delicious coffee.
And that’s it!
Of course, you can experiment with dose and grind size, to achieve your ideal flavor. I tried every dose from 56g (the minimum for a full pot) to 72g (the maximum for a full pot), and found anywhere between 60g-72g to be perfect.
Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer review: Storage & maintenance
The Simply Good Coffee Brewer feels more compact than it is. At 13 x 14 inches, it’s the same size as the Moccamaster, so not a particularly small machine. Even so, I was able to fit this nicely on my kitchen countertop without making it feel cluttered.
Like the Moccamaster, the brewer uses #4 conical filters; Simply Good Coffee provides a pack with the brewer itself, then these cost around $8 for 100.
Simply-Good-Coffee-branded cleaning chemicals and descaler will set you back $22 for 6 months or $39 for a year. You could probably also use Durgol, $16 for 25 ounces, which is Technivorm’s recommended product for descaling the Moccamaster.
Ironically, Simply Good Coffee reassures users that the plastic parts are dishwasher safe (even though it’s “plastic-free”). I just washed mine by hand though.
Finally, I’ll address warranty and repairs. Technivorm is famous in the coffee world for being the only company to offer 5-year warranties as standard and then lifetime repairs.
Simply Good Coffee offers a two-year warranty as standard and a five-year warranty if you enrol in the Coffee Quality Assurance Programme (costs $120…), which gives you free shipping, filters, and cleaning products.
I would recommend the Moccamaster if you want a machine with lifetime repairs — I wish Simply Good Coffee would offer this perk too.
Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer review: How does it compare?
Simply Good Coffee also makes a Plastic-Free Programmable Brewer, which is exactly what it sounds like. You can program the machine to come on at certain times, which would be ideal if you’re the kind of person who loves waking up to a fresh pot of coffee. This is a huge $519, so $30 pricier than the one I’m reviewing here.
The cheapest model under Simply Good Coffee’s belt is The Brewer Glass, which has a plastic filter basket (like a Moccamaster) and a glass carafe (like a Moccamaster) for $199.
I would probably buy the Moccamaster for the lifetime repairs, but if you’re serious about minimizing your plastic usage, you might want to consider the Ratio Four and the Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer.
Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer review: Verdict
The Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer is a great coffee machine — with one major caveat. I love the look of this machine; it’s modern, it’s utilitarian, it’s stylish and sleek. It has a bloom setting, can keep coffee warm for forty minutes, and does all that without breaking a sweat.
However (and this is a big however)... it’s just not plastic-free. There are plastic elements all over the body and the inner lines use silicone. Whether or not this is a dealbreaker is up to you. My main issue is with Simply Good Coffee using “Plastic-free” in the name when that’s not the case at all — it could be seen as false advertising.
But as someone who is already full of microplastics (“What’s the harm in adding a few more,” I think to myself as I microwave Tupperware and bemoan the state of the world), I’m honestly not too fussy about plastic tubing or sealant in my coffee machines. The Simply Good Coffee Plastic-Free Brewer makes delicious coffee quickly, and looks gorgeous while doing it. This is more than enough for me to wholly recommend it — I just wish Simply Good Coffee would adjust the name slightly.
