Choosing a coffee maker for our camper turned out to be way more complicated than I anticipated.

I’m sure many of you agree with me that COFFEE IS LIFE.

I know, I know, this is a caffeine addiction and it’s unhealthy. I get it. Before you go judging me, I only have one or two cups of coffee a day. I promise I’m not constantly walking around with a venti latte shaking like a fiend.

However, that being said, I do need my morning cup of coffee. It wakes me up, makes me happy, and generally gives me good vibes for the rest of the day.

So when moving into our camper became a reality, not just an “idea” we were bouncing around, I had to find a new coffee maker.

Well actually first, my husband had to give up his nifty espresso maker, because yes we had two different coffee makers in our kitchen. We are special like that.

But I quickly realized my fancy Keurig that had a huge water reservoir and brewed all my different sized cups was very seriously going to take up the entire counter in our camper. The entire very tiny counter.

So began the search for a solution for me to be able to brew a cup of coffee every morning (and not boil water for instant coffee, because ew) and still have room to, you know, sit my cup down on the counter.

I did a quick Google and Pinterest search for “best coffee makers for a camper.”

A few things came up that I skimmed and then I found a blog post from another couple who had moved into a camper.

She recommended a Chulux single serve coffee brewer. She had some good points and why it was good for a camper, so because of the price point I was like yea! And purchased it immediately. This was after all a necessity BEFORE we moved into the camper.

I am sad to report though, I no longer have my Chulux because it crapped out on me. So I had to go on the hunt for ANOTHER camper friendly coffee maker.

This time I decided to stick with what I know and get a Keurig. A mini of course, I am in a camper.

Both coffee makers had their pros and cons so here are my thoughts on both of them:

Chulux

I really didn’t hate this coffee maker. I mean it wasn’t anything fancy. It didn’t have “bells and whistles”. But it brewed a decent cup of coffee.

Pros:

>It was VERY compact. Fit perfectly on the counter. And was a great height also, which I didn’t really even consider until the Keurig (see below). There was plenty of room around it. It just FIT in the camper on our small counter and didn’t look out of place at all.

>It was quiet! The brewing process hardly made any noise at all. This is a really important feature when you live in such a tiny space and work different shifts!

>Like I said it made a good cup of coffee. Not that I”m very hard to please, but I had no complaints. It rarely had coffee grinds in the cup and it was always a good temperature.

>Super easy to operate! You literally just poured the water in, put the k-cup in, shut the lid and hit the button. No decisions to make about size and brew strength is really nice at 5:00AM.

>Price. You can’t really beat the price. It was only around $40.00. And I actually think they had a coupon you could clip, so I only paid like $35.00.

Cons:

>Basically I have one big con for this coffee maker and that’s it. It died on me after only about 4 months! So I realize I just said I paid less than $40.00 for the thing. And you’re probably thinking I should have known this was going to happen.

But honestly, I was pretty disappointed. Four months seems like an insanely short amount of time for something to work. At least give me six good ones.

I also know what ya’ll are thinking… I could have tried harder to try to fix it. Why didn’t I Google or YouTube it. But at 5:00AM you do not have that kind of mental capacity. And it was only $40.00. And I have zero idea how to fix a coffee maker that just won’t come on.

Choose your battles people.

Oh, and you may be wondering at this point why I keep making 5:00AM comments. I have a precious dog who I love very, very much. She does not like sleeping in however. So we wake up between 4:30 and 5:00 every single morning. No alarm needed!

So, it was 5:00AM EXACTLY when my Chulux died. And I don’t know about you, but I cannot physically start my day without that cup of coffee.

As I’m sure you know by now, we are cheating on our camper living. So I put on my jacket and slippers and walked my unhappy tail up to my grandma’s and made a cup of coffee. Which worked in my favor in this instance, but was still not what I wanted to do in the freezing pitch-black cold of the very early morning.

Due to this inconvenient excursion, I had already ordered a replacement coffee maker BEFORE I ever finished that cup I had to walk in the cold to get. And I mean also I may have an addiction to Amazon.

And the next day (thanks one-day shipping!) my brand new shiny Keurig Mini was here!

Keurig Mini

As of this post writing, I have only used it three times, so maybe I am judging it too soon and slightly harshly. But whatever.

Pros:

>It makes a good cup of coffee.

> The style of it makes it much sleeker and prettier to look at than the Chulux.

>Very simple to operate, just pour in the desired amount of water, put the k-cup in, and hit the button!

>It is a Keurig, so it has a warranty! Yay! A warranty I haven’t actually signed up for yet and probably lost the paper already, but either way, this counts.

Cons:

> Ya’ll this thing is LOUD. I really cannot figure it out, but it is so much louder than the Chulux. Which in a normal kitchen probably really wouldn’t be that loud or a big deal, in a camper, it’s super loud.

>While it is a “slim” Keurig, it’s weirdly tall. Much taller than the Chulux. While the height isn’t really affecting anything, it definitely does take up more counter space. It just looks out of place to me.

>Slightly pricier than the Chulux. I bought an “old” model, not to be confused with a used coffee maker, ew. Just like not the newest year’s model. So it was around $65.00, however, I only paid like $8.00 out of pocket because of awesome Amazon credit card rewards points. They had a newer version (I’m still not sure what the difference was besides the “strong brew” button). This was $99.00 and I wasn’t paying that for a button.

Now trust me I know there are probably tons of other compact coffee makers that would be good for a camper, but these two are my personal experiences. I mean buying 16 small coffee makers to test them all out seems absurd, but maybe a good idea…

But in any case I hope these two will help you narrow down your choices or at least give you some ideas for a coffee maker for your camper. Have ya’ll had good experiences with any other tiny coffee maker brands? I would love to hear about them (in case I go crazy and do buy those 16 mini coffee makers!)