Live alone in a flat or dorm? Want that morning cup of coffee quickly before you bolt out the door? Hate wasting coffee? If you said “yes”to any of these, a single serve coffee maker might be perfect for you.

Along with speed, the benefits of a single serving of coffee are many. Aside from eliminating excess waste, a single serving lets you customize your coffee by altering ground size, brew time, water to coffee ratio, etc. This way you can see what tastes best!

The good ol’ coffee maker

As good as a single serving of coffee is, most brewing gear just isn’t set up to give you only one serving. While there are automatic single serve machines on the market, such as the Keurig, the Phin filter and the Breville coffee maker, most of these are extremely wasteful. They typically have a large amount of waste that is generated from single use capsules/pods, and additionally don't achieve high temperatures that are necessary to brew coffee properly. This all leads to a mediocre and wasteful cup of water that tastes vaguely like coffee. Although we feel that Nespresso machines are slightly better than the rest, that’s not saying much since the bar is set extremely low in this category. 

So, what is the best single serve coffee maker? 

If you are conscious of your environmental footprint and want to make a difference while still enjoying your morning coffee, we recommend ditching the new tech and embracing the old traditional methods, like the pour over or Aeropress. While we have written about pour overs in the past and even have a little pour over kit that can help you get started, there are other options for traditional single serving coffee. 

One of the best alternatives out there is the Aeropress.

The Aeropress single serve coffee maker

The Aeropress is essentially a portable French press. It is a coffee brewer consisting of a plastic tube, with a filter on one end and a removable plunger on the other.

The advantages of Aeropress are many. It’s compact and easily portable, no pods are required to make coffee, and it's super easy to clean. However, there are some downsides such as needing brand specific paper filters. In our opinion the pros far outweigh the cons.

How to use an Aeropress

Let's go through the process of using an Aeropress to make a cup of coffee.

What you’ll need

• Ground coffee (to your taste)
• Hot water (almost to boiling)
• Aeropress
• Aeropress filter
• Aeropress paddle
• Coffee cup

Step-by-step process

• Put your ground coffee in the Aeropress.
• Add hot water up to the level 3 mark.
• Use the paddle to mix the coffee and water.
• Fill the rest of the water to the brim.
• Put the filter in the end cap.
• Screw the end cap tightly onto the Aeropress.
• Put the cup upside down on the Aeropress.
• Flip the whole thing over.
• Press gently on the Aeropress plunger.
• Enjoy your coffee!

See how the Aeropress compares to other brew gear

• Chemex vs. Aeropress
• Aeropress vs. Kalita Wave Review