Any of the sca approved drip brewers are perfect for this, but most of them arent exactly cheap. I use a technivorm moccamaster for groups or anytime I’m feeling lazy.

Agreed on any SCA approved dripper. I have the Bonavita 8-cup that sits on a shelf until Christmas time every year.

In that context, I just use French press. Those are useful for tea, too. To get a drip machine that doesnt suck costs too much, and takes up to much space for something I'd only use every once in a while.

Answer to drip is always moccamaster.

Why not let them use yours though?

I think it really depends on how into coffee they are.

If they’re just drinking it for the caffeine and/or are putting milk/creamer in it anyway, probably anything will be fine. Just get the cheapest reliable machine you can find. Not something that’s gonna break down in a year, but you don’t need anything fancy if that’s all it’s used for.

If they appreciate nice coffee but aren’t coffee nerds, I agree with anything SCA approved. If you don’t want to hassle with that, anything that doesn’t have a hot plate should be fine. Ideally something that brews into an insulated carafe so it’ll stay hot but not continue cooking. That’s how you get the burnt coffee taste.

If they’re coffee nerds, a large Chemex will probably be your best bet. It’ll be more work but still not hard to brew with, and will give them the best flavours out of these options. But it does take more effort.

Ultimately though, the most important thing isn’t the brewer but the ingredients. Make sure you have coffee beans they’ll like, and your water isn’t too hard or chlorinated. Those two will be the biggest changes in quality, not the brewer (as long as the brewer doesn’t have a hot plate. A hot plate will absolutely affect the quality of the coffee).

Chemex or SCA drippers with thermal carafe are the go to solution. If it’s going in long term storage the chemex is going to be easier to deep clean and much cheaper, typically, but does have a bit of a ceremony to use compared with drip.

how long do you figure 3-5 people will be using this coffee machine on a bi-annual basis? seems like it might be worth considering pulling the coffee from elsewhere rather than dealing with potential storage issues if its not a long stint.

I hate to push you to spend $300+ for something that won't get used much but the Moccamaster is a great choice.

There is or was an Oxo 8 cup with thermal carafe that had SCA cert which I bought for a niece and she loves it. It was under $200.

Why not just buy a $8.97 one from walmart or something ?

I really enjoy the Nespresso machine