Description
The OXO Brew 8718800 is the eight cup member of OXO’s drip range, and it is aimed at a specific buyer: someone who wants Specialty Coffee Association Golden Cup certified brewing without stepping up to a full enthusiast machine. It brews into a double wall vacuum insulated carafe rather than onto a hot plate, and OXO sizes the whole thing to clear a standard wall cabinet at 13.5 inches high, 10.5 inches deep and 7 inches wide.
Eight cups is a deliberate middle ground. It is more than a compact brewer such as the Hamilton Beach 46111 can manage and less than the 12 and 14 cup machines that dominate the coffee makers category. If you brew for one or two people and want certification level extraction, that is exactly the volume the SCA standard is easiest to hit at.
Brewing System and the Golden Cup Standard
OXO calls the control system BetterBrew, and the claim is that it manages water temperature and the shape of the brew cycle closely enough to meet the Specialty Coffee Association Golden Cup standard. That standard covers brew temperature, contact time and extraction yield rather than taste, so what it really tells you is that the machine holds temperature through the cycle instead of dropping off as the reservoir empties. The manufacturer specifies the certification; no temperature figure is published on this listing, which is a gap given that temperature is the whole point of the claim.
Water reaches the bed through what OXO calls a Rainmaker shower head, a perforated disc that spreads flow across the grounds rather than drilling a single channel through the middle. On a small bed of coffee this matters more than it does on a 12 cup machine, because a narrow basket concentrates any channelling. Owner reviews consistently describe even, sediment free results and a quiet, quick cycle.
Capacity, and a Contradiction Worth Knowing
The capacity figure on this machine has confused buyers for years, and the confusion is in the listing rather than in the machine. OXO rates it at eight cups using the coffee industry five ounce cup, which is 40 fluid ounces in total. A detailed published owner review points out that the Amazon description at the time of capture still described the machine as making 64 fluid ounces. Those two numbers cannot both be right, and 40 ounces is the one consistent with an eight cup rating and with the physical carafe. Treat this as a two large mug machine, not a four mug machine.
There is a second contradiction in the same listing. The feature bullets describe single serve capability as coming from an “optional brew basket accessory”, while the included components field lists “Base, Carafe, 2 Baskets, Coffee Scoop, Rainmaker”. Two baskets in the box would mean the single serve basket is included rather than optional. The listing does not resolve which is true for the current packaging, and it is worth confirming with the retailer before buying on the strength of the single cup function.
The Thermal Carafe and Heat Retention
There is no warming plate. Coffee brews through the carafe lid into a double wall stainless vessel and stays there. The advantage is that nothing is being cooked after brewing, so the flavour does not turn bitter and the inside of the carafe does not build the scorched film that glass jugs develop. Owner feedback is honest about the trade off: one review reports the carafe holding coffee properly hot for around 30 minutes and merely warm for about an hour after that, which is typical for a vacuum carafe that is opened repeatedly.
The lid brews through and pours through, so you are not unscrewing anything to serve. If long heat retention is the priority rather than certification, a heavier insulated machine such as the Bonavita BV1900TS is the direct comparison at the same eight cup size.
Controls and What Is Missing
The specification table lists “Operation Mode = Manual”, and nothing in the feature list mentions a clock, a timer or a delay start. That is unusual at this price and it is the clearest functional difference between this model and OXO’s programmable nine cup machine. If waking up to a finished pot is non negotiable, the OXO 8710100 and the OXO 8721200 are the models in the same family worth comparing on that point.
The specification table also files this machine as “Coffee Maker Type = Vacuum Coffee Pot”. It is not a vacuum pot. A vacuum pot is a siphon brewer with two chambers and a heat source. The importer appears to have read “vacuum insulated carafe” and picked the wrong category. This is a drip brewer with an insulated serving vessel, and nothing about the brewing method is siphon based.
Build, Cleaning and Running Costs
At 10.28 pounds this is a substantially heavier machine than the plastic bodied brewers at a third of the price, and the stainless and black finish is the reason people buy it as a countertop object as well as an appliance. A removable well cover lets you drop in a short mug or clear space for a tall one when using the single cup basket.
OXO includes a cleaning mode, which is a guided rinse cycle rather than a full descale, so you still need a descaling agent on a schedule set by your water hardness. Ten paper filters and a scoop are in the box, which is a starter quantity rather than a supply. Running cost after that is paper filters and coffee, with no proprietary consumable, which is the structural advantage drip holds over any pod machine.
What the Specifications Do Not Settle
The brew temperature is not published despite the certification claim. The reservoir capacity in ounces is not stated separately from the carafe. Whether the second basket ships in the box is contradicted within the listing itself. There is no statement of how long the carafe holds temperature, so the 30 minute figure above comes from an owner rather than from OXO. The 4.1 average across roughly 4,445 published ratings is a large enough sample to take seriously, and the criticism in it tends toward price rather than performance.
Who It Suits
This suits a one or two person household that cares about extraction quality, wants no hot plate, and does not need a timer. The certification and the shower head are real engineering rather than badge work, and 40 ounces is enough for two people who each drink two mugs.
Look elsewhere if you need a programmable start, if you brew for more than two people, or if you expect a carafe to hold serving temperature for a full morning. A larger thermal machine or a manual method such as the pour over coffee makers we cover will serve those cases better, and pour over gets you the same control over temperature for a fraction of the outlay if you are willing to stand over the kettle.
