Quick Answer: I’d recommend the Technivorm Moccamaster over the Bonavita 8-Cup. The Moccamaster’s longevity means that it justifies its extra cost over the Bonavita.
This is my comparison of the Technivorm Moccamaster vs Bonavita 8-Cup.
I will be focussing on the Technivorm Moccamaster KBT in this comparison as this is the most popular Moccamaster model right now and is also the most similar model to the Bonavita 8-Cup.
I have never owned either of these machines. I have, however, spent a whole day researching users’ experiences with these machines online to put together this review.
Since the Technivorm Moccamaster KBT is typically around $150 more expensive than the Bonavita 8-Cup, I’ll pay particular attention to whether the Moccamaster justifies this additional price tag over the Bonavita.
Should I Buy the Technivorm Moccamaster or the Bonavita 8-Cup?
I’d recommend buying the Technivorm Moccamaster KBT over the Bonavita 8-Cup in pretty much any circumstance.
While the Technivorm Moccamaster is significantly more expensive than the Bonavita 8-Cup, the Moccamaster is so much more durable than the Bonavita that the former machine will almost certainly be cheaper in the long run.
If you can only afford the Bonavita, then I’d recommend waiting until you can afford a Moccamaster, as this will save you money in the long term.
While the Bonavita is by no means a bad machine, the Moccamaster is better in every way, other than the price tag.
Technivorm Moccamaster KBT
Overview of Products
The Technivorm Moccamaster KBT and the Bonavita 8-Cup are both drip coffee machines with thermal carafes.
They both can make up to 40 oz of coffee in one go, and are both SCAA-certified meaning that they each make among the best drip coffee of any domestic machine.
You can find a table with the key specifications of these two machines below:
| Specification | Technivorm Moccamaster KGBT | Bonavita 8-Cup |
| Description | Drip coffee machine with a thermal carafe and no built-in grinder | Drip coffee machine with a thermal carafe and no built-in grinder |
| Dimensions | 11.5” W, 5.75” D, 15.25” H | 12.4” W, 6.8” D, 12.2” H |
| Brew basket shape and filter type | Conical uses size 4 conical paper filters | Basket uses flat-bottomed paper filters |
| Type of carafe | Thermal | Thermal |
| Maximum serving size | 40 oz | 40 oz |
| Minimum serving size | 10 oz | 8 oz |
| SCAA certified? | Yes | Yes |
| Bloom functionality? | No | Yes |
| Can you control the brew temperature? | No | No |
| Can you control the flow rate? | No | No |
| Can you control bloom time? | No | No |
| Does it have a drip spout valve? | Yes | No |
| Does it tell you when it needs to be descaled? | No | No |
| Does it have a descaling mode? | No | No |
| Where to buy it? | Buy the Technivorm Moccamaster KBT on Amazon | Buy the Bonavita 8-Cup on Amazon |
For more information on each machine please see my Technivorm Moccamaster Review and my Bonavita Coffee Maker Review.
What are the Differences Between the Technivorm Moccamaster and the Bonavita 8-Cup?
As we can see from the above table, there are far more similarities than differences between the Technivorm Moccamaster and the Bonavita 8 Cup.
That being said, here are the key differences between the two machines:
Price
The Techivorm Moccamaster is typically around $150 more expensive than the Bonavita 8 Cup.
While the Technivorm Moccamaster is pretty much the highest quality and most expensive drip coffee maker out there, the Bonavita 8 Cup is an upper mid-market drip coffee maker that punches above its weight.
Please bear in mind that I still think that the Technivorm Moccamaster offers better value than the Bonavita 8 Cup, despite its much larger price tag. I’ll explain why I think this later on in this article.
Design and Durability
The Technivorm Moccamaster is a much more durable machine than the Bonavita 8 Cup.
Moccamaster intentionally build their machines to have relatively inexpensive external parts paired with a no-expenses-spared brewing system.
The idea with this is that their machine’s external parts can be replaced at little cost, but that the core of the machine will last years and years without deterioration.
The machine is regularly featured on the subreddit r/buyitforlife, a subreddit dedicated to durable products that can last you a lifetime.
While the Bonavita 8 Cup looks expensively built, it is nowhere near as durable as the Technivorm Moccamaster. You do not need to look far to find user reports of the Bonavita breaking down less than a couple of years into its life. You can find an example of this here.
This added durability is why I think that the Technivorm Moccamster offers better value for money than the Bonavita 8 Cup.
I think that on average a Moccamaster will last you over twice as long as a Bonavita meaning that it is a cheaper machine considering the amount of use you will get out of it.
Warranty
Moccamaster offers a five-year warranty on all their coffee makers. Bonavita offers a two-year warranty for their machines.
To me, this is indicative of the difference in build quality between the two machines. Moccamater knows that their machines are built to last so have no problem offering a generous warranty.
Moccamaster’s customer support also has a very good reputation online, with lots of people saying that they are willing to replace broken parts of their machines for free even after the five-year warranty has passed (I cannot guarantee that they will do this however).
I could not find similar praise for Bonavita’s customer support.
Brew Basket Shape
The Technivorm Moccamaster uses a conical filter whereas the Bonavita 8 Cup uses a flat-bottomed basket filter.
While there is a bit of a consensus that conical filters are better for smaller servings of coffee, and that flat-bottomed filters are better for making larger servings, I think that there are so many brewing variables beyond filter shape that saying that one is better than the other is an oversimplification.
Just know that the two machines require different types of paper filters.
What do the Technivorm Moccamaster and Bonavita 8 Cup have in Common?
The two machines have the following in common:
Both are SCAA-Certified
SCAA certification means that both machines brew according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s guidelines for making drip coffee.
This means that the two machines will make among the best drip coffee of any drip coffee machine.
Both can Brew from up to 40 oz of Coffee at Once
Even though the Bonavita 8 Cup claims to brew a maximum of eight cups of coffee at a time, and the Technivorm Moccamaster claims to brew a maximum of ten cups of coffee at a time, they actually both have a maximum capacity of 40 oz.
This is because the Bonavita takes a cup to be five ounces whereas the Moccamaster takes a cup to be four ounces.
Both machines recommend brewing no less than two cups at a time. For the Bonavita, this means 10 oz whereas the Moccamaster has this at 8 oz.
Both Require Manual Loading of Ground Coffee and Water
Both machines require you to measure and load the ground coffee and water that you plan on brewing with.
Neither machine stores water between brews, they instead brew with all the water you put in their tank.
Both machines have brew baskets large enough that you can brew with the SCAA recommended brewing ratio of one part ground coffee to every 18 parts water. You will need to measure out these doses yourself, however.
Both Brew at the Touch of A Button
Both machines can go from off to brewing at just the touch of a button.
They are two of the easiest-to-use drip coffee makers on the market.
Both Have a Thermal Carafe
Both machines have stainless steel thermal carafes. However, the Bonavita’s thermal carafe is not as insulative as the Moccamaster’s.
I’m now going to compare the two machines across the following criteria:
- Quality of coffee
- Functionalities
- Ease of use
- Design and build quality
- Value for money
Quality of Coffee
Both the Technivorm Moccamaster and the Bonavita 8 Cup make excellent coffee.
In their 2008 comparison of drip coffee makers, America’s Test Kitchen found that the Technivorm Moccamaster and the Bonavita 8 Cup made the best-tasting coffee of the seven machines tested.
Testers could not consistently evaluate one machine’s coffee as better than the other, however.
Seattle Coffee Gear also taste-tested the two machines against each other and concluded that any differences between the two machine’s coffee were “minor at most” and that whether one was better than the other boiled down to personal preference.
This is unsurprising since the two machines brew coffee in a very similar way, as shown by the fact that they are both SCAA-certified.
A drip coffee maker can only become SCAA-certified if it brews to very specific guidelines.
Although there are some wriggle room within these guidelines, for example, brewing temperature can range from 194-205 degrees Fahrenheit, machines that are SCAA-certified brew drip coffee in very similar ways
Generally, the Technivorm Moccamaster and the Bonavita 8 Cup are seen as two of the SCAA-certified coffee makers that make the best coffee and two of the best coffee makers generally as far as coffee quality is concerned.
Quality of Coffee Winner: Draw
Functionalities
The Bonavita 8 Cup has slightly more functionalities than the Technivorm Moccamaster, however, both have been intentionally built with as few features as possible.
Both the Bonavita 8 Cup and the Technivorm Moccamaster have opted for doing one type of coffee well, rather than having lots of different brewing “modes” and recipe options.
The Technivorm Moccamaster only brews in one way. Just fill it with ground coffee and water, press brew and the machine will brew in the one specific way that it was engineered to do.
The Bonavita 8 Cup is almost this stripped back, but it also includes a “preinfusion mode” which can toggle the machine between blooming your coffee before brewing or not.
You can turn on the Bonavita’s pre-infusion mode by holding down the brew button for five seconds before you brew. The machine will beep when pre-infusion mode has been activated.
Neither machine allows you to play around with variables like brew temperature or flow rate. They have been built to brew in an optimal way already, so such features will just make a machine more fragile without actually improving them in any way.
Functionalities Winner: Bonavita 8 Cup (but only just)
Ease of Use
The Technivorm Moccamaster is slightly easier to use than the Bonavita 8 Cup because the Bonavita’s brew basket is awkward to remove and place back onto the machine.
The Technivorm Moccamaster and Bonavita 8 Cup have a virtually identical workflow, with you needing to fill both machines up with the exact amount of water and ground coffee for each brew that you want to make.
The only difference between the two machines, as far as workflow is concerned is how their brew basket is removed and reattached:
- Technivorm Moccamaster: You remove and reattach its brew basket from the top of the machine. Simply remove the showerhead and then the brew basket pulls out from below.
- Bonavita 8 Cup: You sit the brew basket on the carafe and slide both under the machine’s shower head. The top of the brew basket should attach to brackets built into the bottom of the showerhead.
I just don’t think Bonavita’s mechanism for attaching/detaching the brew basket works very well.
First of all, it is hard to attach the brew basket to the shower head brackets without knocking it over. This is a problem because when you knock down the brew basket it will spill ground coffee everywhere.
Second of all, it is hard to detach the brew basket without jogging it and flicking hot coffee everywhere. This can make a mess and even burn you if you get it on you.
In short, a better-designed brew basket makes the Technivorm Moccamaster easier to use than the Bonavita 8 Cup.
Ease of Use Winner: Technivorm Moccamaster (but only just)
Design and Build Quality
The Technivorm Moccamaster has a much higher build quality than the Bonavita 8 Cup and is much more durable as a result of this.
This is where we start to see a large gulf between the two machines.
The Technivorm Moccamaster is pretty much the most durable drip coffee maker you can buy. It is well known for its longevity and its ability to maintain peak performance years and years after use.
This is backed up by the fact that Moccamaster offers a five-year warranty on all their coffee makers as standard. The company is also well known for offering free replacement parts even after this warranty expires.
The Technivorm Moccamaster is so durable because it combines cheap removable external parts with a super high-quality (and expensive) brewing mechanism.
This means that the machine can survive wear and tear to its outside (you can replace its external parts cheaply) but its core brewing system should last a long time provided that you do not drop the machine from a height.
The Bonavita 8 Cup on the other hand is regarded as a fragile machine. I found several regular technical problems with the machine including:
- It has a tendency to overheat and for its plastic parts to melt
- Its water tank cracks really easily
- The machine heats more slowly after a few years into its lifespan
In short, the Technivorm Moccamaster will often last you decades without deteriorating. You’ll be lucky to get over three good years with the Bonavita 8 Cup.
Design and Build Quality Winner: Technivorm Moccamster (by a long, long way)
Value For Money
The Technivorm Moccamaster’s superior durability compared to the Bonavita 8 Cup means that it offers the better value of the two machines over the long term.
The Technivorm Moccamaster costs about twice as much as the Bonavita 8 Cup.
However, I expect the Technivorm Moccamaster to last more than twice as long as the Bonavita 8 Cup. This is evidenced by users’ reports online which consistently talk about the former machine’s durability at the latter’s fragility.
The Technivorm Moccamaster also comes with a five-year warranty compared to Bonavita’s two-year warranty. This further underlines the difference in longevity between the two machines.
I, therefore, think that the Technivorm Moccamaster more than justifies its 2x price tag compared to the Bonavita 8 Cup and offers the better value of the two machines in the long term.
Value for Money Winner: Technivorm Moccamaster
Are There Any Circumstances Where I’d Recommend the Bonavita over the Technivorm Moccamaster?
The only circumstance where I’d recommend the Bonavita over the Techinvorm Moccamaster is if you need a good quality drip coffee machine right now and cannot afford the Technivorm Moccamaster.
Bonavita 8-Cup
Cheaper alternative to the Technivorm Moccamaster
The Bonavita 8-Cup makes a similar standard of coffee to the Techivorm Moccamaster but costs half the price.
That being said, if you can wait, I’d recommend saving up for the Technivorm Moccamaster as it will be a better value purchase in the long run.
Final Verdict
The Technivorm Moccamaster is a much better coffee maker than the Bonavita.
While the Moccamaster is more expensive than the Bonavita, this difference in price is justified by the former machine is far, far more durable than the latter.
When we take the likely lifespan of the two machines into account, the Technivorm Moccamaster actually offers you better value for money than the Bonavita 8 Cup.
Technivorm Moccamaster KBT
