Mr. Coffee vs Hamilton Beach: Which is Better?

In this post, we’ll be comparing Mr. Coffee vs Hamilton Beach. Both are solid manufacturers when it comes to making home coffee machines.

We’ve selected two comparable and prominent models from both manufacturers. Our mission by the end of the post is to have helped you make a decision between them.

To help make your decision easier, we’ll be covering the following:

• Features the Mr. Coffee and Hamilton Beach coffee makers share.
• Key differences between these coffee makers and why they matter.
• Our guidance on what you should consider before choosing one or the other.

Let’s jump right into it.

Quick Summary

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Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Coffee Maker

The Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Coffee Maker is a simple and reliable machine. Unlike many other complicated models with numerous settings, operating this one is easy with its simple on-off switch. We recommend this coffee maker to anyone who wants a basic model with pared-down functions.

Hamilton Beach Flexbrew Coffee Maker

On the other end of this comparison, the Hamilton Beach Flexbrew Coffee Maker is as flexible as its name implies. You can use it to brew a 12-cup carafe to share or to brew a single cup using K-cup pods. Its versatility is what makes the Hamilton Beach Flexbrew Coffee Maker ideal for those who will be sharing their coffee maker with a whole household or friends.

Similarities

Carafe Brewing

The first similarity between the Mr. Coffee and Hamilton Beach is their brewing capacity. Both can make you batches of coffee with up to twelve cups in them.

If you have a small gathering of friends over or you’re serving your family, this large brewing capacity is ideal. You’ll have more than enough to go around when you need it.

Read Also: Keurig K Duo vs Hamilton Beach Flexbrew

Water Reservoir Window

Refilling your coffee maker’s water tank is just a part of having a coffee maker. Without water, you wouldn’t be able to make fresh, hot batches of java to sip on.

The coffee makers in this comparison make the process of refills even easier, though, because of their water level windows. Just by looking, you can keep an eye on where the water level is at, so you’ll know precisely when a refill is necessary.

Warming Plate

Sometimes, when you brew yourself some coffee, it feels a bit like you’re setting a timer. You need to make sure you drink the coffee quickly enough, otherwise it will just get unpleasantly cold.

We can safely say this invisible timer is nowhere to be seen on either the Mr. Coffee or Hamilton Beach. Because of their integrated warming plates that rest beneath the carafe, each pot of coffee will be kept nice and toasty for you for up to a couple hours.

We also need to clarify that this refers to the carafes only. The single-serve brewing side of the Flexbrew does not have a warming plate beneath it.

Automatic Brew Pause

You might not always have time to wait for a whole carafe of coffee to finish brewing. When you’re in a rush, you’ll probably be grateful that both the Mr. Coffee and Hamilton Beach have brew pause functions.

What the brew pause does is allow you to pour yourself some coffee in the middle of brewing. Just lift the carafe off the plate, and the coffee makers will automatically stop brewing temporarily. You don’t even need to press a button to make them stop.

When you’re finished pouring yourself a cup, just put the carafes back and walk away, coffee in hand.

Read Also: Mr. Coffee vs Delonghi

Carafe Material

The carafes on either coffee machine are made of glass. There are a couple reasons why you might appreciate having a glass carafe.

First, you can tell just by looking how much coffee is left. On thermal carafes that aren’t transparent, you need to lift them up and see how heavy they are to gauge if you need to brew more.

Second, glass is resistant to staining and odors. Brewing batch after batch of coffee won’t result in a stinky, stained carafe – it will remain pristine and odorless.

Cord Storage

Have you ever tried to move an appliance to storage and tripped over the cord or struggled to wrap it up neatly?

You’ll be pleased to know those annoyances are a thing of the past with the Mr. Coffee or Hamilton Beach coffee makers. They each have a storage compartment that you can keep the cord in when you’re trying to store or transport them.

Differences

Hamilton Beach Flexbrew Single-Serve Brewing

The single greatest advantage the Hamilton Beach has in this comparison is its optional single-serve brewing. You may not always want an entire pot of coffee.

While you could always use the small batch option on the Mr. Coffee to brew four rather than twelve cups, even that may seem like too much. For those times when you only want a single cup, you can use the single-serve side of the Flexbrew.

Plus, the single-serve side is compatible with Keurig’s K-Cup pods. This gives you hundreds of flavors and types to choose from.

Interested in getting a Keurig instead? Here is our comparison on the Keurig K-Slim vs Classic.

Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Coffee Maker Dual Water Windows

We mentioned earlier that monitoring the water levels in your coffee maker is important. To help you stay on top of it, both these coffee makers have water level indicators you can just glance at to see the water levels.

The difference here is that the Mr. Coffee has two of them. No matter which side of the coffee maker you are on, you will be able to tell with a look whether or not your machine needs a water refill.

You could technically say the Flexbrew has two water windows, as well. However, the Flexbrew’s water windows are for two separate water tanks: the carafe side and the single-serve side. This means you cannot visually gauge the water levels for both tanks from either side.

Hamilton Beach Flexbrew Adjustable Brew Strength

Every once in a while, you have one of those days where you just need a stronger cup of coffee. When you’re having a morning like that, you can rely on the Hamilton Beach Flexbrew for an extra-strong cup.

Before brewing a carafe, just press the Brew Strength button on the panel. This will allow you to tweak the strength of the coffee’s flavor, so you can get something a bit more potent when you’re craving it.

Hamilton Beach Flexbrew Programmable Brewing

If you’re not a morning person, you probably don’t want to have to deal with setting up kitchen appliances first thing in the morning. Fortunately, with the Flexbrew, you can take one less appliance out of the morning equation.

It has programmable brewing. You can set it up to brew up to 24 hours in advance, which means you could use it to make a whole pot right before you wake up. You could also even use it to brew a pot for you right before you come home from work or school for a little pick-me-up.

Hamilton Beach Flexbrew Auto-Shutoff  

The Flexbrew continues to up the ante when it comes to convenience with its auto-shutoff feature. Thanks to the automatic shutoff, it’s impossible to forget to shut it off.

After a couple hours go by and no one uses it, the Flexbrew will automatically shut itself off. This prevents wasting energy and could potentially protect you from an increase in your utility bills.

So, Which is Better?

Either the Mr. Coffee or the Hamilton Beach will give you a tasty pot of coffee. Beyond their ability to brew carafes of coffee, there are a couple things you might consider to help you pick one over the other.

A good starting point is determining how much coffee you’ll need every time you brew. If you’re going to need only single servings more often with the occasional batch mixed in, then the Flexbrew is obviously the better choice. It gives you the ability to brew a single cup.

Drink variety can come into play here, too. Because the single-serve part of the Flexbrew is compatible with K-Cups, you’re not just limited to coffee. There are cider, hot chocolate, and even tea K-cups.

In other words, if you want a brewer that can make more than just coffee, go with the Flexbrew.

What the Mr. Coffee excels at, on the other hand, is simplicity. It doesn’t have a control panel filled with buttons, just a single switch. This is the superior choice for anyone who just wants a basic coffee maker without any frills or complex settings.

Our opinion is this:

Pick the Hamilton Beach Flexbrew Coffee Maker if you want to be able to brew single cups or a wider variety of drinks. Its single-serve brewing side will give you the ability to brew personal drinks using various K-cups.

But if you just want a basic coffee maker, you can’t go wrong with the Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Coffee Maker. It doesn’t have a bunch of settings to mess with and will just brew you pots of coffee reliably time and time again.