If there’s one thing no college student’s kitchen should be without, it’s a coffee maker. The cost of take-out coffee is shooting through the roof, so fuelling your late-night study sessions could get seriously expensive if you don’t make your own at home. Thankfully, there are lots of great, affordable coffee makers to fit your student accommodation and your budget – whether your preference is espresso or filter, loose grounds or capsules.
We test new coffee makers every month here at TechRadar, and we’ve used our years of brewing experience to put together a handy guide to the best back-to-school options for college students who need a little caffeine to help them get through a long day of lectures. Plus , we’ve included essential buying advice to help you make the right choice, too.
Need to upgrade your tech or student supplies ready for the new school year as well? Take a look at our guide to the best back-to-school sales 2024.
The best coffee makers for students
Best Nespresso coffee maker for students
This tiny coffee maker took our award for the best compact Nespresso machine thanks to its affordable price and ease of use. Just insert a Vertuo capsule and the machine will recognize the brew automatically, delivering delicious coffee with thick crema on top.
Best handheld coffee maker for students
If you don’t have an inch of spare space on your kitchen counter (we know the feeling), then this is the coffee machine for you. It takes Nespresso capsules, and relies on hand-pumping. Our reviewer enjoyed the resulting coffee, although they sometimes had to use both hands to generate the necessary pressure.
Instant Infusion Brew 12-Cup
Best filter coffee maker for students
A no-frills filter coffee maker that will brew good coffee, and lots of it – perfect for getting you through a long study session. The hotplate keeps the jug warm, and it has a washable filter so there’s no need to use paper ones (although we find it much easier to dump out the grounds if we do use one).
Best Keurig coffee maker for students
The K-Compact is one of the more expensive student-friendly coffee machines around, but Keurig’s K-Cups offer an incredible choice of drinks, with more than 200 options to choose from, including ones from big brands so you can get an authentic take-out experience at home.
Best smart coffee maker for students
Not all student accommodation is smart-home friendly, but if yours is then this Bluetooth Wi-Fi-enabled machine can send alerts to your phone, including descaling reminders – and it brews great coffee, too.
Best simple coffee maker for students
The AeroPress is a totally manual coffee maker that’s tiny, easy to clean, and cheap. Just insert a round filter paper, add your coffee grounds, insert the plunger, and push down with the heel of your hand to extract all those delicious flavors. Making coffee doesn’t get much simpler.
How to choose a student coffee maker
Our top-rated compact coffee maker is the Smeg ECF01 Espresso Machine, but although it looks fantastic and produces exceptionally good coffee, at $490 / £319 it’s likely beyond the budget of most students. When you’re working to a college budget, you have to know your priorities to make the smartest choice.
Price
You don’t have to pay through the nose for a great coffee maker if you manage your expectations. A good-quality single-serve espresso machine can be yours for well under $100, if you’re happy to forego features such as a steam wand for frothing milk.
If you want to make proper lattes and cappuccinos in your student accommodation, you could pay more for a coffee maker with a wand, or pick up a standalone frother such as those listed here. Even with the extra expense, it will still work out much cheaper than getting take-out coffee several times a week.
Size
Counter space is at a premium in student kitchens, so we recommend picking a single-serve coffee maker that will use as little room as possible. Here are the dimensions and weight for each of the coffee makers above.
| Coffee maker | Size | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Nespresso Vertuo Pop | 5.3 x 16.7 x 9.8in / 136 x 426 x 250mm | 7.72lb / 3.5kg |
| Wacaco Minipresso NS2 | 2.2 x 2.8 x 6.9in / 60 x 70 x 175mm | 12.7oz / 360g |
| Instant Infusion Brew 12-Cup | 14.1 x 6.9 x 14.4in / 359 x 176 x 366mm | 6.15lb / 2.8kg |
| Keurig K-Compact | 12.5 x 8.2 x 13.2in / 317 x 208 x 335mm | 8.8lb / 4kg |
| Nespresso Vertuo Next | 12.5 x 5.5 x 14.7in / 318 x 140 x 374mm | 8.8lb / 4kg |
| AeroPress | 5.25 x 4.2 x 4.2in / 133 x 107 x 107mm | 7.98oz / 226g |
Filter or espresso
Filter coffee is super easy to make and requires nothing more complicated than a moka pot or dripper, but there are also super-compact filter machines around that can brew up to 12 cups and keep it warm on a hotplate to keep you going through an all-night essay-writing session.
Espresso is more complicated, requiring pressure to force water through the coffee grounds (whether they’re loose or in a capsule). A single-serve electric machine is the easiest way to do this, but there are also hand-operated espresso makers, if there’s no space for another kitchen gadget in your student kitchen, and you don’t mind putting in a bit of elbow grease.
Grounds or pods
Another factor to consider is whether you want a coffee machine that will take loose grounds or aluminum pods (bean-to-cup machines are great, but generally too large and expensive to be practical for students).
Coffee pods from brands such as Keurig and Nespresso are the most convenient option. There’s a huge choice of different beans and roasts; there’s no need to weigh or measure anything; there’s no risk of spillage; and you don’t need any other equipment for them. They often work out more expensive per cup, though, and you have to dispose of the pods when you’re done. There are schemes that will recycle them, but these may not be convenient for students depending on your living arrangements.
The alternative is a machine that uses loose coffee grounds, which are more economical, but require measuring (ideally using a digital scale) and can be messier. Coffee beans start to lose their complex aromas within minutes of being ground, so the ideal scenario would be to invest in a grinder to prepare them yourself (see our guide to being a home barista for more details). However, it’s an extra expense and takes up more space in your student kitchen. If you’re less fussy about flavor then you can use pre-ground beans and measure them out with a simple scoop.
