Thermal drip coffee machines

The first thing is to differentiate: a drip coffee machine with a thermal carafe is not a stainless steel drip coffee machine. Both concepts are related (mainly because thermal carafes are always made of stainless steel), but they are different.

We can find a coffee machine with a thermal jug made of stainless steel, whose housing is made of plastic. The Rowenta Adagio is a good example of this. Of course, there are also thermal drip coffee machines made entirely of steel, like the Russell Hobbs Oxford, for example.

Drip coffee machines with thermal jugs are the object of desire of regular (let’s not say “experts”) filter coffee consumers. If you need to brew a large amount of coffee (around one litre or more) in your daily life, then you will certainly benefit from a filter coffee machine with a thermal carafe.

Not only are they more durable, more resistant to scratches and scrapes, and more attractive from an aesthetic point of view, but they also preserve the temperature (like a thermos in use) and come perfectly prepared to be used as service jugs, with their hermetic plastic seal and spout to prevent coffee from spilling.

Finally, the thermal jugs are in charge of raising your filter coffee machine to the next level.

Above are still the Programmable Drip Coffee Machines, although they are not the subject of this article. And if you are able to find a model that combines the timer with the thermal carafe (yes, there are), then you can boast of having one of the best high-end drip coffee machines in your home.

How does a thermal jug differ from a glass jug?

Coffee machines with a thermal jug differ from traditional ones (glass carafes) in that they maintain the temperature of the coffee much better. Once filtered, the coffee is deposited in the carafe, and the quantity often exceeds what we are going to consume at the time.

For example, we prepare a litre coffee pot and then only drink a couple of cups. To avoid this, a thermal drip coffee machine naturally keeps the hot coffee longer.

A normal filter coffee machine with a glass jug normally has to be supported by a heating plate (located at the base) which is responsible for preserving the heat of the freshly brewed coffee in a somewhat artificial way. Yet, the result is, of course, not the same.

Apart from this, they are much more resistant. Many users end up buying a filter coffee machine with a steel jug, not because they need the coffee to stay hot, but because they are fed up with breaking glass jars.

Of course, thermal stainless steel jugs also have their little disadvantages. Namely:

  • They make the price of the coffee machine more expensive.
  • They do not allow us to see how much coffee is left inside.
  • They tend to have a smaller capacity than glass jars (normally not more than 1 litre, 1.25 litres for the largest).
russell hobbs illumina

And now that you know what they are and what qualities the coffee machines with steel jugs have, it’s time to go into detail and present some more interesting models:

List of drip coffee machines with thermal carafe

It is a ranking with what we believe are the best thermal drip coffee machines available on the market right now:

Russell Hobbs Oxford

A coffee machine with a robust thermal function from a prestigious firm such as Russell Hobbs, which has a 1-litre capacity and 1000 watts of power. It has one of the most beautiful and elegant designs in our ranking, but it also has quite strong competition even within its brand.

Bosch TKA8653

This model is one of the tops of the Bosch range (which is not surprising). It is a filter coffee machine with a capacity of more than one litre (1.15 to be precise), dual heating system, 1100 watts of power, first-class materials, but its price is in line with its quality, more than 100 pounds.

Krups YY8304

One of the classic references in the segment of medium-high range drip coffee machines. It is embedded in a very robust stainless steel housing (where the decanter is just another compliment to the solid overall appearance of the piece). In addition to the thermal carafe, this Krups YY8304 is a programmable drip coffee machine. In short: another of our favourites.

Philips HD7753

This model is the Philips thermal carafe coffee machine par excellence (although it is not the only one). It is a coffee machine with a programmable thermal carafe and grinder, with a capacity for 10 cups of coffee per tank. It logically has a significantly higher price than the rest of those shown on this list. One of the top thermal coffee machines on the market, without a doubt.

Melitta Look Therm Deluxe

A model of the German brand Melitta, which is one of the benchmarks in this sector, cannot be missing from an article on filter coffee machines with a thermal function. The chosen one is the Melitta Look Therm Deluxe, one of the highest range variants of its Look model. It has a capacity of just over one litre and a super-compact design. The thermal carafe is practically embedded in the rest of the piece.

AEG KF7900

If we were to refer to Krups YY8304 as a classic, we could not say less of this AEG KF7900. It’s quite big (1.25-litre capacity), it also has a timer, and it’s operated through a digital control panel located at the base, which is one of the best we’ve seen in the drip coffee machine segment. And yes, you’ve guessed it: it’s also an expensive drip coffee maker.

Saeco Avance

Saeco is a brand that focuses mainly on the production of automatic coffee machines. Despite this, the Italians (who know a lot about coffee and not just about espresso) do not give up on having a worthy representative in the filter coffee machine sector. That is none other than Saeco Avance. This model has a very original and quite functional design. The upper compartment, which houses the filter and the tank, is also covered in steel, like the carafe. But the whole set is integrated inside a black plastic housing. The Saeco Avance has an output of 1400 watts (eye on energy consumption) and a generous 1.20-litre tank.

Russell Hobbs Illumina

We arrive at a model different from the others, with its personality. Apart from the stainless steel thermal carafe, this 1.1-litre coffee maker is characterised by a bright ring at the base, which is illuminated (hence the name) with a colour code. Depending on the colour of the light, the coffee maker is indicating the time and the taste qualities of the coffee it is brewing in real-time. One pass! And it’s beautiful too:

H.Koenig Steward

It is a unique coffee maker. It is probably the cheapest programmable thermal coffee machine on the market. And it is also the biggest in the whole ranking: its tank allows you to prepare up to 1.5 litres of coffee. Yes, H.Koenig is a low-cost firm, but that’s just what we were looking for. It is difficult to find such a combination of virtues at such a low price. It costs just over 50 pounds, believes it or not. It is known by two names: H.Koenig Steward, and H.Koenig STW26.

Siemens TC86505

We return with another top-of-the-range one. Very similar to the Bosch TKA8653 that we mentioned before. This Siemens TC86505 stands out for its 1-litre capacity tank, the pivoting (or folding) filter holder that allows us to change the filters much more easily, and of course, the timer. Yes, another programmable filter coffee machine.

Needless to say, these are not the only drip coffee machines with a thermal carafe on the market. This is just a small sample of the most interesting things we can find on the market. For example, the Oster programmable coffee machine is also very popular in South America, as is the Moulinex Thermocoffee:

Cheap thermal filter coffee machines

Finally, we also indicate a selection of cheap thermal drip coffee machines, which are not necessarily better than the ones we have mentioned before. Still, surely their quality-price ratio will make you seriously consider their purchase. They come to our ranking to show that a coffee maker with a thermal drip can also be economical.

Clatronic KA-3450

This one is great. It is a coffee maker with an individual thermal cup, with a capacity of only 300 millilitres. That is, for one person. Best of all, this cup (because it is more than just a thermos flask) is ergonomically designed so that it can be separated from the coffee maker and carried around to drink our coffee in complete comfort. On the street or at home. The perfect thermal drip coffee maker for one person

Clatronic KA-3327 and Clatronic KA-3563

Yes, they are two models in one, but they are so similar that we can consider them as one single coffee machine. One is actually more recent than the other, but apart from that, there are not many more differences between them. They have the same capacity (a little more than one litre), and the main difference (or only one, rather) is that the KA-3563 is built entirely in stainless steel, while the KA-3327 has only the thermal carafe made of steel.

Tristar CM-1234

We put an end to our ranking of the best thermal coffee machines with the Tristar CM-1234, which is nothing more than the equivalent model of Tristar to the two Clatronic coffee machines referred to above. Let’s remember that Tristar and Clatronic are two Central European manufacturers of low-cost coffee machines. They usually have common objectives and models that are also very similar to each other. As a curiosity, the superior model CM-1244 includes not one but two totally identical thermal jugs, and it does not cost more than 40 pounds!

Related: Delonghi drip coffee makers troubleshooting.