WACACO CUPPAMOKA REVIEW: COFFEE MAKER FOR ADVENTURE LOVERS

The Wacaco Cuppamoka portable pour-over brewer maintains the brand’s reputation for practical and innovative travel coffee gear.

Do you love pour-over coffee and traveling? Do you appreciate a compact and efficient design? If so, I think you’ll be interested in this Wacaco Cuppamoka review. 

In this article, I’ll take a deep dive into the Wacaco Cuppamoka based on my experience with this all-in-one brewer. While I had a few quibbles, I was overall impressed with this thoughtfully crafted device. Keep reading to find out if it’s the travel coffee maker for you.

The Full Wacaco Cuppamoka Coffee Maker Review

Most pour-over drippers are already pretty portable, so I was curious to see what the Cuppamoka offered above and beyond the rest. It definitely has a few features that make it extra valuable on the road, particularly for adventurous coffee-brewing travelers.

How We Rated It

• Design
• User-Friendliness
• Coffee Quality
• Portability
• Value For Money

4.3

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What Is The Wacaco Cuppamoka?

Wacaco is the well-established industry leader in compact, portable coffee and espresso makers. The Cuppamoka falls in the former category as an all-in-one pour-over coffee maker. It consists of a 10-ounce (300 mL) double-wall insulated tumbler and lid with a pop-up pour-over filter cone nestled inside.

How To Use The Cuppamoka

The way you assemble the whole thing is quite brilliant. You need just a simple twist to extract the travel pour over cone from the stainless steel mug. 

As with any pour-over brewer, you can get as picky and complicated as you want with your Cuppamoka. For the best coffee, pull out the gooseneck kettle, kitchen scale, burr grinder, and third-wave specialty beans. But if you just need a decent cup of coffee halfway through a hike or a rough day at the office, the Cuppamoka process is simple. 

Here’s my basic recipe when I’m brewing at home:

1. Heat water in a gooseneck kettle to 200 F.
2. Twist out the pour-over cone and add a paper filter.
3. Use some of the hot water to rinse the filter and preheat the cup. Dump out the water in the mug afterward.
4. Add 15 grams of fresh medium-ground coffee to the filter.
5. Pour just enough hot water to saturate the grounds, and let them bloom for 30 seconds.
6. Slowly pour water over the grounds until the mug is full. If you’re doing this on a scale, aim for 270 grams of water.
7. Unscrew the filter from the cup and set it on the stand to collect any drips.
8. Add the lid to the mug, and drink up!

The whole process takes about 10 minutes from start to finish, which isn’t quite as speedy as my Aeropress, but that’s the nature of pour-over brewing. You want about 4 minutes of contact time to extract the ideal balance of flavors.

When I’m brewing on a camping trip, I take a much more relaxed approach. I trade the gooseneck kettle for a pot of water and the freshly ground coffee for beans I ground at home before I left. I use three scoops of coffee rather than worrying about weight. If I’m being honest, the resulting hot coffee is nearly as delicious!

The Measuring Scoop

The only part of the whole system that seemed a bit non-intuitive to me is that the recipe suggests using “two and a half scoops” of ground coffee, using the included scoop. It’s a bit of a mystery why they didn’t make a slightly larger or smaller scoop so you could measure an even two or three scoops. 

At home, I generally prefer to brew using my scale anyway, so the scoop is a non-issue. When I’m out on a hike, I’ve settled on just using three scant scoops. My policy is always to err on the side of making slightly too-strong coffee, but that’s a matter of personal taste.

What Coffee Quality Can You Expect?

As with any traditional pour-over coffee brewing process, Cuppamoka coffee is largely a result of the quality of the coffee beans and the skill of the user. But assuming you’ve got those two things locked down, Cuppamoka makes coffee as good as any dripper. It reminds me of a Hario V60 brew – clean and complex with a medium body.

You can watch Steven’s video review for a second opinion:

An Attractive, Clever, And Highly Portable Design

Wacaco is the undeniable master of ultra-compact travel coffee gear, and the Cuppamoka maintains that reputation. At first glance, it looks like nothing more than a sleek travel mug with a classy feel. A pop of color from a lime green stripe under the drinking lid is a nice aesthetic touch that keeps it from looking utilitarian. 

The stainless steel mug has double-walled thermos construction to ensure your coffee stays hot while the outside remains cool to the touch (1). When I was testing it, I found it kept my coffee hot for about 2 hours at ambient temperatures and closer to 1 hour on a chilly morning out camping.

Inside, you’ll find the cleverly designed pour-over cone, which is made from BPA-free plastic to keep things light and affordable – not to mention ensuring coffee quality.

Plastic has the ideal combination of low thermal mass and good thermal insulation, so it doesn’t rob your coffee of heat (2).

A Thoughtful Design

I really like the little plastic insert that serves as a stand for the coffee dripper after brewing. It catches any drips, so you don’t make a mess of your counter or desk. This thoughtful inclusion makes it clear that whoever designed this product makes pour-overs regularly.

Just How Portable Is It?

Portability is clearly the selling feature of this brewer. The whole set-up fits inside the 10 fl oz travel mug and weighs just 0.7 lb. It includes everything you need to brew a coffee and sip it on the go, except for a way to boil water.

Personally, I like the 10-ounce mug, as I prefer moderate volumes of coffee. But in this era of ever-larger coffees, I can foresee its relatively small size being a complaint for some users. After all, a Starbucks “small” size is 12 ounces.

We often associate portability with just size and weight, but for adventurous travel, it’s just as important that gear be durable and practical. The Cuppamoka’s plastic and steel parts are virtually unbreakable, even when tossed in the bottom of a backpack, and I was happy to find the mug is spill-proof.

Is The Cuppamoka Worth Its Price?

The Cuppamoka is priced around $50 – less if you luck into one of the brand’s regular sales. It’s not expensive, but it does run slightly pricier than comparable travel coffee brewers, like the Aeropress Go or the Bodum Travel Press. 

The price includes the coffee scoop and 10 unbleached paper filters. Wacaco sells replacement filters, but you can also use any size 01 cone filters available at your local shop.

Its biggest value-add is the travel mug with vacuum insulation, so you’ll save money versus buying a separate brewer and mug. In fact, the mug itself, with the filter cone removed, is so nice that I often use it if I’m just grabbing a to-go coffee at the local cafe.

One thing to note is that if you already own the Wacaco Pipamoka, the two brewers are the same diameter. This allows you to mix and match their lids, which is quite handy and adds value to both.

What’s Missing?

I was disappointed that the Cuppamoka brewing system doesn’t come with a carrying case, which I think is an obvious addition to a portable coffee maker. Wacaco makes a case that’s sold separately, but it’s nearly half the cost of the brewer itself. 

Likewise, it would be great to see the inclusion of a metal mesh filter, especially for use in the backcountry, where every scrap of waste adds up (3). Again, this is something Wacaco sells separately.

Don’t Buy The Cuppamoka If….

• You want an immersion brewer: The Cuppamoka is relatively unique as an all-in-one travel pour-over coffee brewer. If you prefer an immersion brew, you have plenty of options. There are the original Aeropress, the newer Go model, or Bodums’s travel French press.
• You don’t need to travel: If you don’t need your delicious coffee on the go, many pour over brewers will meet your needs. Two popular and inexpensive options are the V60 and the Kalita Wave.
• You prefer espresso on your travels: If you like espresso more than pour-over coffee, then consider the Wacaco Picopresso instead. This latest addition to their portable espresso maker line is the best yet, producing truly cafe-quality double shots.

The Verdict

Wacaco’s Cuppamoka travel pour-over coffee maker system has a particular target audience, and it serves that audience correctly. If you want an ultra-portable dripper with a built-in travel mug, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for, and in my opinion, no one else is doing it quite as well. On the other hand, if your needs are more flexible, you may find better value for money elsewhere.

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