Description
The Mixpresso DCM-B-TM is a personal drip brewer that brews directly into a 14 ounce travel mug supplied in the box. There is no carafe and no pod holder. You slide the mug into the base, add ground coffee to the reusable filter, pour in water, press one button and the machine brews and then shuts itself off. At 2 pounds and 9.5 inches tall it is the smallest coffee maker covered on this site.
It is filed under the single serve brewer category because it brews one cup, but it is not a pod machine and the listing is emphatic about that. Anyone arriving here expecting K-Cup compatibility should read the next section before going further.
It Does Not Take Pods
The manufacturer states plainly, in the first bullet point and with an exclamation mark, that the machine is compatible with coffee grounds and not with K-Cup pods. That is unusual honesty for a listing in this category and it is the most important fact about the product.
The distinction matters because single serve has become a synonym for pods, and a buyer skimming the title, which describes a personal single serve coffee maker, could easily assume otherwise. What this machine is, precisely, is a one cup drip brewer with a reusable filter. That makes the running cost the lowest of any single cup machine here, since there is nothing to buy but coffee, and it makes the convenience lower, since you have to measure grounds and clean a filter every time. If pods are what you want, the BLACK+DECKER CM618 is a comparably simple machine that takes them.
Power and Brewing
This listing gives a wattage, which almost nothing else on this site does: 120 volts, 60 hertz, 700 watts. That is a meaningful number on a machine this size. Seven hundred watts driving a 14 ounce brew is a reasonable power density, and it is the only quantitative evidence available about how quickly the machine works, since no brew time is stated anywhere.
The brewing sequence is described in enough detail to be useful. Grounds and water go in, one button starts the cycle, and the machine shuts off automatically at the end. Pressing the button again without grounds runs water through to rinse the path, which is a sensible cleaning routine to have documented and one that most manufacturers leave to the manual.
The Travel Mug
The 14 ounce mug is included and the machine brews directly into it, which removes the step where you pour hot coffee from one vessel into another and spill some. Mixpresso states it has an easy grip and fits most vehicle cup holders, which is the specific use case the product is built around: brew in the kitchen, take it to the car.
The Special Feature field describes the mug as waterproof, which is a strange claim to make about a drinking vessel and tells you nothing. What the listing does not state is whether the mug is insulated, which is the property that actually matters for a commute, or whether the lid is sealed for a bag. It also does not say whether replacement mugs are available, and on a machine designed around one specific mug that is a real question.
Cleaning and the Reusable Filter
The permanent filter removes paper as a consumable entirely, and the listing states the machine can be washed by hand or in the dishwasher. It does not say which parts, and a machine with an electrical base clearly cannot go in a dishwasher as a whole, so the statement needs reading as applying to the mug, the lid and the filter rather than the appliance.
A mesh filter on a single cup brewer passes more coffee oils than paper, which gives a fuller cup and also allows fine particles through. On a machine with no carafe to let sediment settle, that sediment ends up in the mug you are drinking from. Anyone grinding fine for this machine should expect some silt at the bottom.
Size, Portability and What That Means
The dimensions are 6.2 inches deep by 5 inches wide by 9.5 inches high and the weight is 2 pounds. Those figures are internally consistent and unusually modest. A 5 inch width means this fits anywhere, including an office desk or a hotel room shelf, and the 9.5 inch height clears a wall cabinet with ease.
The listing describes the machine as portable and lightweight, and at 2 pounds that is defensible in a way it is not on the corded twelve cup machines elsewhere on this site that carry the same claim. It still needs a 120 volt outlet, so portable here means easy to pack rather than usable away from mains power. There is one typographical error in the listing worth noting only because it appears in the product copy itself, where easy grip is spelled with a doubled letter.
What the Specifications Do Not Settle
There is no brew temperature, no brew time, and no statement of how long the automatic shutoff takes to engage. The mug is 14 ounces but no maximum water fill is given for the reservoir, so it is not clear whether the machine can be overfilled. There is no descaling guidance beyond the rinse cycle, and no statement about how the water path is accessed for cleaning.
Nothing states the mug material, whether it is insulated, or whether it is dishwasher safe as distinct from hand washable. The Model Name field carries a long descriptive string rather than a name, and the real identifier is the item model number DCM-B-TM. The Included Components field lists only a filter, which cannot be the whole contents of a box that also contains a mug. The record dates the listing to July 2017, so this is a long running product with an established owner history.
Who It Suits
This suits one person who drinks one cup, wants it in a travel mug, and would rather buy ground coffee than pods. It suits a desk, a dorm room or a small office where a carafe machine makes no sense, and it suits anyone who objects to the cost and waste of pods on principle. The published wattage and the documented rinse cycle are more than most machines at this price provide. The Elite Gourmet EHC114 is another machine built around a travel mug.
Look elsewhere if you want pod convenience, if anyone wants a second cup at the same time, or if you need an insulated mug and cannot confirm this one is. The Elite Gourmet EHC113 is a comparable personal brewer, and the other Mixpresso single cup machine on this site is the closest sibling to compare. The Amazon Basics AB-1178B is the alternative for anyone who wants pods as well as grounds.
