Over the past 10 years, Portland, Oregon-based Ratio has gone a long way in broadening the niche of beautiful, well-wrought, simple-to-use automatic home drip coffeemakers.

The company’s first two machines, the Eight and the Six, have both earned accolades not only for their good looks and serene user experiences but also, importantly, their effective delivery and dispersal of hot water at a steady temperature over an entire bed of grounds for an even and delicious batch of brew.

Both excel at filling every cup around the Sunday brunch table, but neither is optimized for the average weekday morning or afternoon pick-me-up when just one quick cup is in order. Both also tend to be too tall for use beneath the lower kitchen cabinets found in older homes, and though their value becomes clear as soon as one experiences the build quality and performance, neither is inexpensive.