I have a confession. Until about a week ago, I did not own a drip coffee maker. Before you pick up the pitchforks: No, I’m not a witch who turns her nose up at a daily coffee ritual. On the contrary. It’s more that I’d grown disillusioned with drip coffee, as it’s usually distinctly lacking in complex flavor compared to other preparation methods.
Instead, for the past ten-ish years, my morning cup has been strictly French press or Nespresso espresso pods (aluminum, not plastic, for what it’s worth), with the occasional cortado or pour-over when I’m out. As I said, part of that choice was flavor, but another part of it was the plastic. One component of my job as an editor at Organic Authority is understanding the perils of plastic, particularly heated plastic. So the thought of hot water passing through a drip coffee maker’s plastic components every morning made me uneasy.
So when Caraway asked us to test their new 10-cup coffee maker, a plastic-free coffee maker that removes plastic from the entire brew path, I was curious but reserved the right to be skeptical. Still, it seemed promising, the appliance has no plastic pieces anywhere that hot water or brewed coffee touches. And it’s also made without PFAS (including PTFE and PFOA), lead, BPA, BPS, and cadmium. Most drip coffee makers, even the premium ones, rely heavily on plastic for internal components. The Caraway coffee maker is built differently.
If you already know and trust Caraway, this coffee maker follows the same design philosophy that makes their nonstick cookware, stainless steel cookware, and even items like tea kettles worthy of recommendation. You can count on Caraway for clean materials (made entirely without PFAS), intentional design, and a genuine commitment to removing harmful compounds from the things that come into contact with your food and drink every day. And after a few weeks of daily use, I will admit, I’ve even come back around on the idea of drip coffee. Here’s how this Caraway machine managed to change my mind.
TL;DR: Caraway Coffee Maker at a Glance
- Price: $495 at launch
- Capacity: 10 cups
- Brew time: 4 to 8 minutes
- Brew temperature: 195 to 205°F, built to SCA Golden Cup parameters with automatic bloom
- Brew path: Glass water reservoir, stainless steel water path, shower head, brew basket, and reusable filter; pure glass carafe
- Keeps warm: Stainless steel warming plate, 90 minutes
- Colors: Cream, Midnight, Stone, Clay
- Warranty: 2 years
The Verdict: This is one of the only automatic drip coffee makers with no plastic anywhere hot water touches. It brews clean, pour-over-adjacent coffee and looks genuinely great on the counter. You pay a premium for it, but it’s worth it if clean materials and considered design matter to you.
Exclusive Discount: Use code 10organicauthority for 10% off!
Why a Coffee Maker Without Plastic Is Worth Seeking Out
Most of us think about what our coffee is made of. We consider the sourcing of the beans, the grind size, and even the water quality. But most of us rarely think about what our coffee is made in.
In a standard coffee maker, hot water passes through a series of plastic components before it ever reaches your grounds. Plastic tubing, a plastic shower head, a plastic food basket, and a plastic-lidded or plastic-handled carafe. Hot water is one of the most effective ways to leach compounds from plastic, so you can see why this would be problematic. Research has shown that plastic components that come into contact with hot liquids can release microplastics and other compounds into whatever you’re eating or drinking1.
Microplastics are tiny plastic particles that the body cannot process or eliminate easily, and emerging research links chronic microplastic exposure to inflammation, hormonal disruption, and cardiovascular concerns2. We know better now, and we deserve a coffee maker without plastic.
This is not a fringe concern. Caffeine itself may offer a range of health benefits, but those benefits come with an asterisk if your daily cup is also delivering a side of microplastics. It’s the same reason I switched away from plastic pod-based coffee makers years ago. I wanted the ritual without the plastic, and typical coffee makers hadn’t offered me that option — until now.
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What Makes The Caraway Coffee Maker Different
Caraway built their 10-cup coffee maker around what they call a Clean Brew System, and the premise is straightforward: a plastic-free brew path. They’ve removed plastic from every point in the brewing process where hot water makes contact. In practice, that means four components work together to keep your coffee plastic-free from the reservoir to cup.
The water travels through a stainless steel water path to deliver steady heat and a consistent temperature throughout the brew. A stainless steel shower head disperses hot water evenly over the grounds for balanced extraction, which matters more than most people realize for flavor. The grounds themselves are extracted in a stainless steel brew basket, with a reusable fine-mesh stainless steel filter rather than a disposable paper one. And the carafe is pure glass, with no plastic parts anywhere on it. In short, Caraway’s non-toxic drip coffee maker eliminates every single point of plastic contact that you’d find on a traditional drip coffee maker.
| Traditional Coffee Makers | Caraway 10-Cup Coffee Maker |
| Plastic water reservoir | Glass water reservoir |
| Plastic tubing | Stainless steel water path |
| Plastic shower head | Stainless steel shower head |
| Plastic brew basket | Stainless steel brew basket |
| Disposable paper filters | Stainless steel reusable fine-mesh filter |
| Glass carafe with plastic handle or lid | Pure glass carafe |
Caraway’s Made Without list is equally reassuring for anyone paying attention to what’s in their kitchen. Not only is there no plastic in the brew path, there’s also no PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ (meaning no PTFE and no PFOA), no lead, no BPA, no BPS, and no cadmium. For a drip coffee maker, that’s an unusual set of credentials, and one that matches up with the standards Caraway has held across their full kitchen lineup, from ceramic cookware to bakeware and food storage.
The Caraway 10-Cup Coffee Maker comes in four colorways at launch: Cream, Midnight, Stone, and Clay. It’s available now to order (shipping starts October 30th, 2026).
Price: $495 (Exclusive discount: Use code 10organicauthority for 10% off)
First Look: Caraway Coffee Maker Design and Build Quality
When I unpacked the Caraway 10-Cup Coffee Maker, my first thought was that it was gorgeous. My second thought was that it would probably be complicated to set up. It arrived at the end of my workday, and I told myself I would just “figure it out tomorrow.” But then I found myself perusing the instruction booklet while I watched a baseball game, and it actually didn’t seem all that complicated. Before I knew it, I was running the cleaning cycle to get it ready for the following morning. Then I thought, “What the hay? Wouldn’t it be silly not to just make a cup now?”
Once it was set up on my counter, I could really appreciate how stunning the design was. The Jetsons came to mind, but not in a kitschy way. It’s a blend of retro lines and clean, modern sensibilities that somehow manages to feel both nostalgic and completely current. The exterior is a matte, powder-coated metal that feels genuinely sturdy. It’s a far cry from the hollow, lightweight plastic of yesterday’s coffee makers that would tumble off the counter with a firm hip check. Every detail has been considered, down to the surprisingly weighty coffee scoop that feels downright luxurious to hold. I actually put it in my husband’s hand and asked him to feel it. A coffee scoop, folks! That’s the level of detail brought to this machine.
It comes in four colorways — Cream, Midnight, Stone, and Clay — and all four look like something you would choose to have on your counter, rather than something you’re simply tolerating for your daily brew.
This attention to material quality and design integrity is consistent with what we’ve seen across all of the Caraway products we’ve tested. Nothing is an afterthought.
The glass carafe deserves its own mention. Unlike virtually every other drip coffee maker on the market, the carafe has no plastic parts anywhere in it or on it. It’s simple, elegant, and instantly elevates your morning routine.
The one design element that did initially give me pause was the lid. It’s lightweight stainless steel with a silicone edge that slides down into the opening of the carafe rather than attaching anywhere. Having never used a coffee carafe like that, I was a little anxious the first couple of times, convinced the lid was going to pop off or leak. Luckily, it never did — it was secure and well-made, as you would expect from this iconic brand.
Price: $495 (Exclusive discount: Use code 10organicauthority for 10% off)
How It Brews
Let’s get into the brew. This is where I expected to be disappointed…but I wasn’t.
As previously confessed, for years I’ve harbored a certain level of contempt toward drip coffee. Usually, I find drip coffee tastes flat, bitter, and somehow both too weak and too harsh at the same time. The flavor I associated with drip coffee was inseparable, in my mind, from the plastic it’s brewed in. So my expectations walking into this test were measured, to put it generously.
The coffee that came out of the Caraway machine surprised me. It was clean in a way that drip coffee rarely is, with a clarity of flavor that reminded me more of a delicate pour-over coffee than anything I’d previously associated with a standard drip machine. Maybe that’s placebo. Maybe it’s the stainless steel shower head distributing water more evenly than I was used to. Maybe it’s simply that nothing in the brew path is warming plastic and leaching it into the water. I can’t point to a single definitive cause, but the result was noticeably different from what I expected.
A few hard numbers that back this up: the Caraway stainless steel and glass coffee maker brews at 195 to 205°F (the SCA Golden Cup standard for optimal extraction) and a full pot takes four to eight minutes, with an automatic bloom step built in. That bloom, where hot water briefly saturates the grounds before the full brew cycle begins, is part of what gives the coffee that pour-over-adjacent quality.
The one-dial control is just as simple as it sounds. There aren’t any menus, no complicated settings beyond whether you want to brew or run a cleaning cycle. No chest-tightening decisions to be made at 7 AM. As Caraway describes it, it’s a calmer coffee ritual. I found that framing to be blessedly accurate.
I have been experimenting with grind size and coffee-to-water ratio to dial in my preferred strength, since my instinct is always to push toward something stronger and more concentrated. The machine has responded well to those variables, which tells me it’s doing its job properly rather than flattening everything into the same result regardless of what you put in. The same principles apply if you’re a decaf coffee drinker, so don’t be afraid to play around until you find a brew that perfectly suits your preferences.
Price: $495 (Exclusive discount: Use code 10organicauthority for 10% off)
Cleanup and Maintenance: The Reusable Stainless Steel Coffee Filter and More
I’ll be honest, cleanup was the part I was dreading most. Most drip coffee makers ask very little of you in terms of maintenance (one measly point in their favor). You pull out the filter, toss it, maybe rinse the basket occasionally, and move on with your life. The Caraway works differently, and I assumed that meant more work.
Thankfully, it really doesn’t. It just means different work.
The brew basket detaches completely from the machine, which is unusual and initially felt like a potential hassle. Caraway recommends cleaning it after every use, whereas you might go weeks without giving the basket on a traditional drip coffee maker a second thought. But because the basket comes fully away from the machine, cleaning it is genuinely straightforward. Wash it, rinse it, and you’re done. Caraway also recommends running it through the dishwasher once a week, which is about as low-effort as it gets. The glass carafe is dishwasher safe as well, and the lid is easy to clean with mild soap.
The reusable stainless steel filter is a similar story. I expected it to be fussy, but it’s not. No paper filters to buy, no waste to think about, just a fine mesh filter that rinses clean without much effort. This is consistent with the ease of maintenance we’ve noted across other Caraway products — they have a consistent philosophy around making cleanup as painless as possible.
The one honest friction point I have encountered is condensation. When I pull the brew basket out after brewing, water drips onto the counter. It’s not coffee, just condensation, and it’s not a big deal. I expect I’ll figure out a workaround after a few more weeks of use, which could be as easy as holding a small towel underneath when removing the basket. It’s the kind of minor thing that tends to resolve itself once you’ve used something enough to learn its quirks.
Note: Caraway specifically advises against using a paper filter in this machine, as it will cause the coffee to overflow. The reusable stainless steel filter is the only filter to use.
Another note worth flagging: Metal filters let more of coffee’s natural oils into your cup than paper does, which is part of why the coffee tastes fuller. Those oils contain diterpenes (cafestol and kahweol), which Harvard’s Nutrition Source notes can raise LDL cholesterol in unfiltered coffee. If you’re watching your cholesterol, it’s worth a conversation with your doctor3.
For descaling: The one-dial control has a built-in cleaning cycle, which Caraway recommends running before your first brew.
Is the Caraway Non-Toxic Coffee Maker Worth It?
The Caraway Coffee Maker sits at a premium price point for a drip coffee maker ($495 at launch). To put that in context: There are espresso machines that cost significantly more, and plenty of drip coffee makers that cost significantly less. What you’re paying for here isn’t just a coffee maker. It’s a coffee maker built to a standard that, until now, didn’t really exist in this category.
For anyone who’s already invested in cleaner cookware, filtered water, organic beans, and thoughtful sourcing across the rest of their kitchen, this is the logical next step. Hot water passes through your coffee maker every single morning. The case for caring about what that water touches is the same case for switching out your PTFE pots and pans. If you’ve been building out a Caraway kitchen, the coffee maker is a natural addition to that ecosystem. It looks like it belongs with everything else, because it was designed to.
That said, this is not the right coffee maker for everyone. If you’re happy with your current drip machine, have no particular concern about plastic in the brew path, and aren’t interested in paying a premium for materials and design, there are plenty of less expensive options that make adequate coffee. This particular machine is for the person who has already decided that adequate is not the point.
For the plastic-wary, French press devotee who has been avoiding drip coffee for years, or the person who has been looking for a reason to finally upgrade their morning ritual, the Caraway Coffee Maker makes a compelling case. It did for me. It’s a joy to look at and a pleasure to use. Consider me a convert.
Price: $495 (Exclusive discount: Use code 10organicauthority for 10% off)
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| No plastic anywhere in the brew path | Non-toxic coffee maker comes at a premium price ($495) |
| Clean, clear flavor closer to pour-over than typical drip | Brew basket and filter need to be washed after every use |
| Sturdy powder-coated metal body and considered design | No delay-brew timer |
| One-dial control, nothing to program | 2-year warranty (other brands offer up to 5) |
| Reusable stainless steel filter, no paper filters to buy | Potential delayed delivery at launch |
| The carafe, brew basket, and filter are dishwasher safe |
How It Compares to Other Plastic-Free Coffee Makers
The main alternative in the plastic-free drip coffee maker space is the SimplyGoodCoffee The Brewer. It’s built from borosilicate glass, 304 stainless steel, and medical-grade silicone seals, brews 8 cups, uses paper filters, and carries a 5-year warranty, at $479.99 (currently on sale for $399.99).
Caraway brews 10 cups, comes with a reusable stainless steel filter so there’s nothing to rebuy, and has a heavier metal body designed to match the rest of the Caraway lineup — all at $495 with a 2-year warranty.
Pick Caraway if you want a bigger pot, no paper filters, and an eye-catching design. Choose SimplyGoodCoffee for value and a longer warranty. Other names on the plastic-free shortlist include Ratio Eight and Aarke, which we reviewed in our plastic-free coffee makers roundup.
Caraway Coffee Maker: Frequently Asked Questions
Everywhere hot water and brewed coffee touch, yes. Caraway built the brew path from a glass water reservoir, a stainless steel water path and shower head, a stainless steel brew basket and reusable filter, and a pure glass carafe. The carafe lid is stainless steel with a silicone edge. The machine is Made Without PFAS (including PTFE and PFOA), lead, BPA, BPS, and cadmium. That makes it one of the few automatic drip coffee makers with no plastic parts in the brew path.
The Caraway 10-Cup Coffee Maker launched at $495 in four colors: Cream, Midnight, Stone, and Clay. Shipping is free within the contiguous U.S. That sits at the high end for drip coffee makers but well below many espresso machines. You’re paying for the plastic-free brew path, the metal build, and the included reusable stainless steel filter. Use code 10organicauthority for 10% off.
By OA’s definition, yes: no plastic touches hot water or brewed coffee, and it’s Made Without PFAS “forever chemicals” (PTFE and PFOA), lead, BPA, BPS, and cadmium. That matters because heat is what drives compounds out of plastic, and hot water runs through a coffee maker every morning. It meets the same Made Without standards as Caraway’s ceramic cookware and bakeware.
No, and Caraway specifically advises against it. Using a paper filter in this machine will cause the coffee to overflow. It comes with a reusable fine-mesh stainless steel filter, so there’s nothing to buy or toss.
It brews up to 10 cups in 4 to 8 minutes at 195 to 205°F, meeting the Specialty Coffee Association’s Golden Cup brewing parameters, with an automatic bloom step built in. A stainless steel warming plate keeps the glass carafe warm for up to 90 minutes.
The stainless steel brew basket detaches completely. Caraway recommends rinsing it and the reusable filter after every use and running both through the dishwasher once a week.
The glass carafe is also dishwasher safe, but the lid should be hand washed with mild soap. The one-dial control includes a built-in cleaning cycle, which Caraway recommends running before your first brew.
Caraway recommends running a water cycle (full water, no grounds) once weekly, and descaling once monthly per instructions.
Dry everything before putting back together and never submerge the machine.
No. There’s a single dial, and you choose either brew or clean. You control brew strength through grind size and coffee-to-water ratio. There’s no delay-brew timer or strength setting. That keeps the morning ritual simple, but if waking up to a ready pot is non-negotiable, it’s a trade-off worth weighing up.
Both keep plastic out of the brew path. Simply Good Coffee’s The Brewer is the more budget-friendly pick: currently $399.99 on occasional sale (normally $479.99), 8 cups, paper filters, and a 5-year warranty, using medical-grade silicone seals alongside glass and stainless steel. The Caraway Coffee Maker brews 10 cups, includes a reusable stainless steel filter so there’s nothing to rebuy, and has a heavier metal body designed to complement the Caraway kitchen lineup. It’s $495 with a 2-year warranty, and wins out on design and sustainability.
Recipes to Try with Your Caraway Coffee Maker
One of the delights of a coffee maker that easily produces a cup worth drinking is that it gives you a reason to experiment. For fall mornings, our homemade pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin pie latte syrup are both easy to make from scratch. Compared to store-bought (or coffee-shop-bought), the flavor difference is significant. And knowing exactly what is in your syrup is very much in keeping with the spirit of a clean brew path. Our gingerbread latte is equally comforting and worth a try. You may even already have the ingredients in your pantry to try both now. Cheers!
Price: $495 (Exclusive discount: Use code 10organicauthority for 10% off)
Sources:
- https://pubs.acs.org/esthag/article-abstract/53/21/12300/879377/Plastic-Teabags-Release-Billions-of-Microparticles?redirectedFrom=fulltext
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33395930/
- https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/food-features/coffee/
