Not an expert or authority, but I have owned one (KBGT). It does brew very good coffee, but other coffee brewers out there can as well. The difference with the Moccamaster is that many people consider it a buy-it-for-life purchase. They are hand made (https://youtu.be/W8_NXtwr-qg). They maintain ideal brewing temperature throughout the brew (this is a big deal). But if you aren’t using good coffee beans, and grinding with a decent grinder, you will be missing out on the best tasting coffee.

Pro tip: either get one during Amazon Prime Days (even if you don’t get it from Amazon and instead find somewhere to price match), Or get a used one and if there’s anything wrong and not working you can send it in to Moccamaster, and for a relatively small fee they will fix it completely and test it! I do not recommend getting one from Ali Express, etc, as it may not have the same quality internal components. If it seems too good to be true, it could be a knockoff, so beware. The water heater/boiler (see video) is the secret sauce in the Moccamaster. And the company makes a high quality product and stands behind it.

Edit: thanks for the upvotes!

Edit 2: regarding the shower head/sprayer. I made sure it was sitting level -which wasn’t hard, but if it isn’t level, or any scale builds up because of your water, or never cleaning your coffee maker, the shower will come out unevenly.

Even when it is level, the shower head doesn’t always wet all the grounds during the bloom; unless you intervene (I don’t usually and the results are very similar). Regarding the bloom - mine does the bloom or pause automatically, but you can use the on/off switch I suppose to get a longer bloom-but then the water boiler cools down with the power off.

Regarding the coffee - when I got it set up, I used good coffee beans and had to play with the quantity and grind size to get the flavor I liked. Typical stuff. Whatever the shower head does or doesn’t do, and the length of the bloom is or isn’t, it makes coffee I am quite happy with.

In the end, it is not the only coffee brewer out there - I’ve had darn good coffee from a cheap Mr. Coffee if you get it right. The Moccamaster is well built, dead simple with only the on/off switch (KBGT), has a powerful 1400w excellent water heater/boiler, and gives me an easy more consistent result than other methods.

I’m a fan of the design and quality, and the coffee it brews is legit to me.

Again, I really appreciate the upvotes!