It brings me no pleasure to write articles such as these. However, it must be done. I would hate to see you spend your hard-earned money on such poor tech.
Many of the best coffee makers are expensive, so finally finding one that won't break the bank feels amazing. As someone who spends many hours a week reviewing coffee gear, I'm the exact same way. I always want to find the best budget coffee gear so you can get cafe-quality Java juice at home for cheap.
The grinder? Bane of my life
It is a truth universally acknowledged that any coffee lover in want of good coffee must first acquire a good grinder.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that any coffee lover in want of good coffee must first acquire a good grinder.
Ask anyone who knows anything about coffee. If you want cafe-quality drip, espresso, or cold brew at home, you must ensure you are grinding your coffee adequately. You only need two things to get cafe-quality coffee at home, and a grinder is one of them.
Unfortunately, the best coffee grinders are really expensive, so I completely understand why some coffee newcomers or those on a tight budget are apprehensive about investing. Seriously, I've tested a $1,600 grinder. These things do not come cheap.
This is why, when I first saw the Gevi 10-Cup Drip Coffee Maker with Grinder, I was super intrigued. You're telling me this is a drip coffee machine and a grinder for less than $200?
Sign. Me. Up.
However — imagine me sighing as I type that — the Gevi 10-Cup Drip Coffee Maker with Grinder may as well just be the Gevi 10-Cup Drip Coffee Maker. The grinder is simply awful. I have nothing good to say about it whatsoever.
Well, I suppose the fact that it's a burr grinder is a positive, but it performs so terribly that I presumed it was a blade grinder until I literally took the machine apart to check.
Here's a photo of some coffee beans ground on the Gevi. I ground these beans on the medium setting, which should be around 800 microns, if we're going off "traditional" grind size for drip coffee. Obviously, though, all machines are different, and there's no way to know the precise size of grinder settings without manually testing them all.
Please allow me to walk you through what this picture means. I used my Kruve coffee sifters, $89 at Amazon, to sieve out the coffee grounds. Everything on the left is larger than 800 microns, and everything on the right is smaller than 800 microns.
800 microns is around the size you want for drip coffee, but obviously, different beans require different grind sizes.
50% of the coffee fit through the 800-micron sieve, and 50% of the coffee didn't. This means the grind size is wildly inconsistent.
The best coffee grinders are capable of grinding consistently. This means, for example, that 100% of the coffee granules will fit through the 800-micron sieve, because they are all ground to the same size.
If you have half larger and half smaller than your intended grind size, that means the coffee will taste bad. The too-large granules will be weak and under-extracted, and the too-small granules will suffer from the opposite issue, and taste overly burned and bitter.
And that's exactly what coffee made on the Gevi 10-Cup Drip Coffee Maker with Grinder tastes like.
How can coffee taste burned, bitter, and bland all at the same time?
I'll start this by saying that I use all the same coffee beans for my coffee machine testing.
I either use specialty beans roasted by Hard Lines or specialty beans roasted by Union, both U.K.-based artisanal coffee roasters.
The coffee is not — and is never — the issue. I've used the same coffee on $99 espresso machines (the Casabrews 3700 Essential, which I actually adore) with great results.
Even so, the Gevi 10-Cup Drip Coffee Maker with Grinder did some dark magic on these artisan coffee beans, because the resulting coffee tasted utterly vile. I can best describe it as this: Did you bite your nails as a child? Did your mother put that kid-friendly, bitter-tasting nail polish on you to make you stop?
Well, I bit my nails when I was younger, and my mom did just that. I mean, I haven't bitten my nails since about 2005, so clearly it works.
Let me tell you, the second I sipped the coffee, I was transported back to the early noughties. I could taste that bitter nail polish on every inch of my tongue. I'd completely forgotten about my brief nail-biting period, but thanks to the Gevi coffee, it's now at the forefront of my mind.
Yes, the coffee tastes like the stuff they put in cleaning products to deter kids from drinking it.
To try and negate the grinder-caused issue, I bought some pre-ground coffee (roasted by the same artisan roastery, don't worry). I was so sure that this would be the quick fix, and I'd be able to enjoy my morning brew.
After sixteen minutes, I had a fresh batch of steaming hot coffee. While this tasted a little better, it was still straight-up nasty. I managed a whole cup this time — rather than the three mouthfuls I had of its predecessor — but I didn't particularly enjoy it, and I had to add oat milk.
Straight afterwards, I brewed up with my Chemex using the same coffee. Obviously, it didn't taste as good as using freshly ground beans, but the difference between the Gevi and Chemex was immeasurable.
I could drink it black without shuddering, for example. Usually, I drink black coffee, so you know when I put oat milk in my drip, I mean business.
"Business" refers to the coffee tasting terrible, of course.
Alright, so I know what not to buy. What should I buy instead?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you want good drip coffee, you're going to have to spend a little extra. It's annoying, I know, but it's just the fact of the matter.
I have three recommendations for you. One: the Ninja Espresso & Coffee Barista System, which is $279 at Amazon.
The Ninja is $80 more than the Gevi, but it does so much more.
Two: the Breville Luxe Brewer, which is $349 from Amazon. I know, I told you it would be pricey.
My third and final recommendation: this next machine is the best drip coffee maker in the entire world. I've tested the Cup-One version, which is for single servings only, but I've linked the standard 10-cup version here.
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