The single cup coffee maker is perfect if you only drink one cup of coffee a day, are the only coffee drinker in your household, or prefer to brew your own in the office. As I used to have a single cup coffee maker years ago in the office, I was interested to see in this Dnsly coffee maker review just how much the single cup ground coffee machine has evolved - I remember mine was a very simple coffee maker with just a basket for the ground coffee and room for a small cup underneath.
Continue reading to find out exactly how much these single cup coffee machines have moved on. Not only does the Dnsly coffee maker hold up to 20 oz of water to brew ground coffee but it can also be used as a K-Cup brewing machine and it even has a self-clean function!
Overall Verdict
Overall 4/5
Portability 4/5
Ease of use 4/5
Ease of Cleaning 5/5
Brewing Quality 4/5
Value for money 5/5
Why Buy a Dnsly Coffee Maker?
If you keep a large pot of coffee brewing at home or in the office all day, or enjoy the art of pour over, then this coffee maker is probably not for you. This is a one cup machine which is ideal if you are the only coffee drinker in your household, limit your coffee intake or you have your own office at work and prefer to drink your own coffee. It would also be ideal for dorm rooms and other small living spaces.
This coffee maker is also a much better priced option than Keurig brewers so if you need a second machine for brewing K-Cups then this is definitely one to consider.
Features of The Dnsly Coffee Maker
The Dnsly coffee maker is 1000 watts and has a BPA-free black plastic outer with a brushed stainless steel plate at the front below the lid – a design that should suit most styles of kitchen or office. This does have quite a small footprint - similar to size of a small table lamp - it stands just under 12" high, just over 5" wide and just over 7" deep.
The company markets this as being portable, and I can see how it would be great for big camping trips or RVing although due its size and weight of around 2½ lbs. I think I would still prefer to take my old stovetop pot camping rather than pack this into my bag!
The water tank/reservoir is easily accessed at the top and its lid pops open with a push button and then locks back when you close it over. The reservoir has a removable blue inner tank that can be filled to the 6 oz or 14 oz line, or you can choose to fill the tank to its maximum 20 oz capacity. The machine will brew with however much water is in the machine, but you will need to press the fill button a couple of times to fill larger cups.
If I were going to use this coffee maker in the office, I would keep a spare water bottle or small jug for filling the tank with as it is awkward trying to fill it with a cup.
The grounds basket is a simple mesh design with a lid and although it is unclear whether you can buy a spare basket from Dnsly, it does look like a generic basket size so should be available from any store that sells replacement parts for coffee makers.
The space underneath to place the cup is around 7" high and it can fit taller cups, although I struggled to fit a larger travel cup under it. Removing the drip tray will give a little more space for a bigger cup as well. I personally would prefer to use larger cups with this coffee maker as I think smaller cups cause more ‘splash back’ when the coffee is running through as the height of the drip tray cannot be adjusted.
Like any new coffee maker, its removeable parts needed cleaning before using for the first time. The user manual also recommends 14 oz of water be run through the coffee maker with all the removeable parts in place (but without coffee).
Once you have added your ground coffee or K-Cup, you need to turn on the power and select the button for what you are brewing - ground or a K-Cup. If you need to stop the brewing at any time, you can just press the flashing button, otherwise brewing will continue until the water reservoir is empty- unless you have filled it with the maximum 20 oz of water in which case you may need to press the brew button again once it has dispensed 14 oz.
Once the coffee brew cycle has finished (water run through), the machine turns itself off - always a bonus for me! Like any coffee maker, the grounds should be disposed of, the basket and drip tray rinsed after use and the machine given a quick wipe over.
There is also an auto clean function. I have yet to try this out, but the manual says to fill the tank and then hold down the coffee brew and capsule brew buttons together. Descaling should be carried out as required depending on water hardness.
This maker comes with a one year warranty and owners are asked to contact Dnsly direct if any problems arise during the warranty period.
How Well Did It Do at Brewing?
I tried it a few times with fresh ground coffee. As with any new machine, there is always some trial and error until you get the right grind which I eventually managed. I used around the same amount of coffee as I would use in other types of coffee maker although I found I needed to add a little more coffee and/or less water than I would when I was brewing drip or with a French Press; perhaps the brewing time is a little short or I did not have the grind setting quite right. I would also use the 3 minute brewing time as a guide – with ground coffee it will depend on how much water you add and the grind.
It says it brews at 180°F, so I decided to get the thermometer out to check and found that the temperature was accurate. So, I was more than happy with the water temperature for brewing at and I did get some decent cups of coffee from it.
Although I do not use K-Cups, I ‘acquired’ a couple of pods as I wanted to test them out too. It brewed them fine although I found I had to be careful putting the pod in and taking it out as one of the pins which punctures the pod is on the inside of the lid where I could catch my hand on it.
One negative is that you cannot use the reusable K-Cup pods in this. I would definitely like to see that option as newer designs come out. Not only because more people choose to use reusable pods for sustainability, but also because they offer the freedom to brew what coffee you choose.
As it can use K-Cups, I would expect that it will brew most of the K-Cup range successfully and although not marketed for brewing tea, I guess you could brew some herbal teas and other hot drinks which do not need boiling water or to be steeped in water for any length of time.
When the weather is nice I guess it would also be nice for making a glass of iced coffee with.
Where Can You Buy the Dnsly Coffee Maker?
You can buy the Dnsly coffee maker from the Dnsly Store on Amazon.com. This is a budget friendly coffee maker which comes out on top cost-wise against the branded machines such as those from Keurig or Nescafe.
Final Comments
I have to say I did enjoy revisiting the single use coffee maker and while doing this Dnsly coffee maker review I was impressed to find out just how much these little machines have evolved in recent years.
Although I do not use K-Cups, I think the fact that this coffee maker is able to brew K-Cup pods makes it much more of an attractive options, especially when you compare the difference in prices!
I also liked that this was BPA-free and has an auto shutoff function along with the self-cleaning function.
On the whole, I thought that the negatives were very minor ones. Getting the cup size right to stop the coffee from splashing as much or needing to be careful when adding and removing K-Cup pods would not really be dealbreakers for me.
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