Thread: Calling All Coffee Experts!!

My coffee maker is dying What is the best coffee maker out there for brewing the morning cup of joe. I don't need anything real special just something to replace the auto-drip that is on its last legs. No steam, foam, fuel injectors or anything necessary I just want something where I can set a timer and wake up to the best possible brew. My budget is pretty limited but I can stretch it for a quality durable product. By the way I have softened hard water and might not always remember to brew with the filtered tap.

Options please??

I'm asking because I really don't want to have to study every maker on the market and become a cupping expert just to get a morning cuppa.

My wife picked up a Cuisinart at Bed Bath & Beyond. Auto drip, 12 cup, programmable, auto shut off, reusable filter. It might be a little steep at about $80.

A french press and a burr grinder will change your sense of things coffee. It's a slippery slope though and you may end up with another expensive disorder.

-Bob

French press is great way to make coffee. Problem is I usually need a cup of coffee so that I could grind some beans & press them!

First thing in the morning I need coffee for anything to make sense. A French press is good for and afternoon cup to enjoy or an evening cup to savor but for the morning I just need a cup to drink.

Well the best coffee maker is a vacuum unit but its a pain. technivorm is the best electric drip unit there is. Its about the only unit that actually heats the water hot enough to produce the proper extraction. They are hard to get, they are made in Holland. Check sweet maria's on-line they have them.

Over the past 10-years I've had half a dozen coffee pots... B&D, GE, Krups, Cuisinart, etc... paid anywhere from $40 to $100 bucks for each... none of them lasted much more than a year before they died. I even had 2 warranty replacements for the GE... what a piece of junk! Then I got a Mr Coffee at wally mart... the ISX20 (12-cup white... the number changes slightly for 10-cup and/or black)... bout $40. It's in it's 3rd year and still making a decent pot of coffee every morning. The water here in AZ REALLY has a lot of minerals in it, so it likes to have a couple cups of white vinegar run though it every couple months. I just checked the WM site and it looks like it's now a model ISX43 or similar. YMMV

Personally, I use a Hario vacuum pot, which makes a terrific cup of coffee.
Although you can go the more conventional route with a Cusinart or similar drip maker, I'd strongly suggest either a French press or a Chemex. They're both really simple to use, and make a superior cup compared to anything that you'd get out of a drip maker (exception being the lovely but expensive Technivorm). You boil some water and pour it thru a filter (Chemex) or into a pot with a plunger filter (French press) and viola!-good java in just a few minutes.

You wouldn't dream of using a Zeepk to shave with. Don't make the same mistake when it comes to something as important as your coffee!!

If you want drip, you have to get a Technivorm!

Not sure what the warranty is in the US but in EU I think they come with a 5 year warranty. As a transplanted Norwegian, and knowing that my fellow countrymen take coffee very seriously, I was surprised to note that Technivorm has captured 40% of coffee maker sales in Norway. In the past 25 years they have sold 1.5 million coffee makers to a country with a total population of about 4.5 million people!

Us Norskies may be crazy, but we know good coffee!

There are other sources besides Sweet Maria's in the US, I just picked them because I remembered they stock the Technivorms. The Technivorm is one of the rare few makers that actually brews drip coffee at the right temperature and the right speed to extract all the good stuff out of the coffee grounds and none of the bad stuff . It's built like a brick outhouse, nothing fancy and when paired with a decent coffee grinder and fresh beans will leave you nothing more to desire except for maybe a honking big espresso machine.

Check the reviews and then go to the phone and order yourself a Technivorm.


Regards

Kaptain "Life is too short to drink bad coffee, there's plenty of time to sleep after your dead" Zero

Originally Posted by Wildtim

My coffee maker is dying What is the best coffee maker out there for brewing the morning cup of joe. I don't need anything real special just something to replace the auto-drip that is on its last legs. No steam, foam, fuel injectors or anything necessary I just want something where I can set a timer and wake up to the best possible brew. My budget is pretty limited but I can stretch it for a quality durable product. By the way I have softened hard water and might not always remember to brew with the filtered tap.

Options please??

I'm asking because I really don't want to have to study every maker on the market and become a cupping expert just to get a morning cuppa.

Go with Gevalia- you can get a nice one with a timer plus a bunch of coffee for $15. Just cancel the subscription