Category: Daily Living
Hey all,
My old coffee maker is about to die so i thought i'd ask what ones people would suggest. It would havt to be able to be found on ebay or amazon at present however.
Also, have any of you had trouble with normal makers where you use coffee grounds? any tips for doing this as i plan to use one of these if i can
Mine is actually a demitas maker and it's wonderful. You simply fill the little cup with water, put the metal filter on it, add the coffee, put the top on it, put it on the stove and let it boil. This one was actually got at a good will store, so I'm sure that EBay would have it, though I'm not sure about Amazon. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of it, but if anyone's heard of something similar, feel free to chime in. Also, this one stops making the boiling noise when it's ready, so it's easy to know when it's done. It's also a breeze to clean. I also have a two-cup electric maker but don't know the name. It's just got a single switch that you flip to start it but I've never cleaned it on my own so don't know how easy it is.
We currently use the Starbucks Quattro. It is a 4-cup maker and we bought it off of eBay. It is wonderful! Great thermal caraffe, there is a tactal line in the water reservar, and we have use both the perminent filters and the paper.
Before the Starbucks makers, we had one from braun, aromamaster or something like that. It worked great as well!
Years,ago I had one of those free ones from Givalia. However that is spelled, they want you to sign up for their coffee delivery service. Great maker as well.
BTW, those above are all your standard drip.
I have used an electric perkalater, though I don't know if I'd really recommend that anymore. Easy to use though.
Good luck!
I have a mr. Coffee. It's easy to use...just standard.
I've never really had a problem cleaning out the standard coffee makers, although I do recommend reusable filters if you can get one. It saves the headache of trying to separate the paper ones for round baskets.
I use an old hamilton beech that is about 15 years old and will die soon i'm sure. it has the permanent filter and i love it. just a bare bones drip. perked coffee i don't care for a t all.
I also have one of the hamelton beach 42 cup units but of course you can make less than that if you wish. $40 at target in store or online. Also, I have a tassimo, which I purchased about 4 years ago as its one of those multi drink maker devices. Makes great coffee and xpresso, but the disks are 4 or 5 bucks for 20 online. Nice if you're the only one drinking coffee and you only want a cup or two a day, as you don't waste extra coffee making a large pot and never drink it, or it begins to taste burnt!
I had a hamelton beach and it didn't last long.
I've heard a lot about Hamelton Beach ones, but I've never used one.
Another option is a French press. Grandma has an electric one and it's very strange. It takes at least 20 minutes to make the coffee and is pretty loud. Listening to it, I was fascinated and knew what it was only after she described what it was doing. I'm not sure if the manual ones take that long but am assuming they don't. I certainly wouldn't use it daily but it does make alot of coffee and makes for an interesting conversation piece.
I've heard those...yup sure is loud.
My folks have one of those Kurig models (SP?), which I really like. That's the one that makes one ccup at a time, so no worrying about coffee going nasty and bitter in the bottom of the pot. You just put your cup on the little platform below the spigget, then put the little coffee container in the little compartment, close the lid and hit a button and it makes your coffee or hot chocolate in less than thirty seconds. And it's by far the best I've ever tasted.
I've a French Press as well, but you pour the boiling water into it from the teapot, then let it steep for two to four minutes, then press down. Tastes awesome and strong for sure.
Ah sounds great.
I use a Cuisinart grinder/percalator (spelling?) and LOVe it. Both husband and I drink coffee, and you can use either the reusable or the paper filters; we've kept the reusable one and we LOVE it. I can't find the actual one that we use, but here's the closest I could find:
http://www.amazon.ca/Cuisinart-Coffee-Maker-Grinder-Stainless/dp/B0000VZBGC/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1283742663&sr=1-1
CrazyMusician: Is your's an electric or a stove-top model? LeoGuardian: It sounds like you have the real deal! I've never seen a manual French Press but I'm tempted to buy a portable one called the Bottum Bistro. BryanP22: Mom has one of the Kurigs too and she adores it! I've heard that pod coffee is the worst as far as quality goes, but I must confess that I love the coffee from that machine too. She says that she'll give me another one from Kurig, a traditional electric single-cup maker. A friend gave me one of those and I've been using it, but it takes a very long time when compared to my demitas maker. Mom says that the one that she's giving me is easier to clean than my current electric.
Mine is an electric. I LOVe it! It's got a timer, which is super handy if hubby has to work shift work. Thankfully now it's set at 5:00 AM for the next nine weeks!
currently, I have an Italian Krupps combination coffee and espresso machine. I also have a stove top espresso maker which a good friend from Kitanya gave to me. Sadly, I have a gas stove here so can't use it. yes, I'd say go with the reusable filter. Over time, you do save money, and, you aren't tossing the disposable filter in the trash after every pot. Freshly ground coffee done in a French press is fantastic! I would never use a perkilator again. It's not a good way to make coffee simply due to the fact that it reheats and recirculates. However, that debate will never end. lol. I love strong rich black coffee, usually columbian. However, recirculating the water through the grounds many times doesn't make it stronger as much as it makes it bitter.
If you use a reusable filter, after a while you'll swear you can taste the paper in the paper filters.
If you have to use paper, use the ones the preppy image-oriented kiddos who'll be frumpy at forty / wonder what happened would never ever use: the non-white, usually brown unbleached ones. At least then you get to give Klorox a miss.
Unbleached is best in most things, since it cuts down on, and sometimes eliminates, chemicals. Why can't the stovetop espresso maker be used on a gas stove?
oh yes that is a really good point on the chemical aspect. I was looking at it more in terms of saving money and decreasing waste.
Oh, and regarding my Sicilian espresso maker, you can't use it on a gas burner because it requires a flat burner to sit on, like on an electric stove. now, I have read that you can put a frying pan on the burner and sit the espresso maker on that, but, I haven't tried that yet.
I hope the original poster didn't get a Black & Decker. Shuts off once you have the amount you want, and I don't like lukewarm or cold coffee. I loved the Mr. Coffee when ours was still functional, but it shut down after 8 years.
True about the paper filthers. I'm posting 2 makers I like and will soon own one. Kitchen Aid Model KCM222CU this one is one that has the 24 hour timer, brew strength and all not accessible for us, but nice. The accessible features is that it has a coffee basket, so no paper filthers that can be slid in to the front of the machine buy opening the door on the front and pulling it out, setting it on the counter to fill. Next it has a removable water tank, so if you have issues filling one that loads from the top you can simply take it to the sink, or fill it with bottled water anyplace you like, then put it back on the maker. It also has a brew interrupt, so if you are in a hurry for that first cup you can take the pot off, poor, then put it back to resume. Next the carafe has a drip proof spout, so you push the button to allow the coffee to go, let it go it stops. The carafe is thick glass, so can take a few knocks. Price is 119 on sale about 89 to 99, but Kitchen Aid will support it. It also has a replaceable water filther. Next this one is the same, but comes only in Black and Stainless steel. Kichen Aids Model KCU111OB all the same features, but the price is 99 but it can be had for about 69 to 79. I personally have no trouble using any type of maker, but these are surely upgrades. Expensive sure, but they are made to last a while. Their is another one that allows you to remove the water tank and just fill it at the sink to. It's more like a bucket. The advantage of this one is that it has no carafe, so you press your cup on the switch to get it filled. Price is about 59. Check Sears for this one. I'll post it's name later. I don't like it because it must use paper filthers. I like the baskets better. No paper taste. Smile.
I love my Keurig! So easy! We also have a Cuisinart grind and brew.
heh i just got one of those myself, lets just say popping in a K-cup is much much easier than messing with grounds, and man is the coffee fresher tasting to me now.
Ah! But that fresh ground from beans taste is the best. Lol. You have a removable filter all you need to do is dump it.
Well as an early Christmas present my mom just got my wife and I one of those Keurig mini coffee makers. This is exactly like the regular model except that it quite literally makes one cup at a time. The reservoir only holds enough for one cup, whch equals out to about half of one of those bottled water bottles. In fact that's what we're using since the manufacturers recommend distilled water or failing that bottled will work. You don't want to use tap water for it though. But though we've only had it a day we've bot become hooked since it brews perfect hot cocoa (my hot beverage of choice), and so far my wife is impressed with the coffee. In fact they included some samples with the machine, two or three boxes as I recall. I'm thinking of setting up an auto delivery on our favorite brands so that we don't run out as often as we might otherwise. But I find the machine to be extremely usable since the mini in particular is extremely simple. You turn it on, set your coffee cup in the tray (although it only makes smaller cups so keep tat in mind), put your preferred K cup into the little tray, close the lid (and in any case you have to close the K cup lid in order to open the reservoir), pour the water in, lose the lid to the reservoir and push the Brew button. It takes about thirty seconds if even that long and you have a nice cup of coffee, tea, hot chocolate or even, I just learned, hot apple cider. In fact it sounds like there's a lot of options for this thing. Needless to say we've both fallen in love with the thing.
My parents have one of those things and I hate it. The coffee tastes like hot water that wishes it were coffee, and the hot chocolate tastes like the slow chocolate that rides the short hot chocolate bus. Its awful, the flavor doesn't have enough time to brew, so it doesn't pick up enough, and isn't strong enough. I'll stick with making a half a pot worth.
then i'm thinking someting's wrong with that brewer. honestly
I must agree. I've had all different strengths of coffee from Mom's, light, medium and very dark. But I've never tasted watery coffee from it. I like my hot chocolate made with milk and not water, but even that tasted half decent. I'll need to ask Mom how easy her's is to use, but this mini brewer sounds wonderfully simple. Does it come with a huge price tag (under $50) and what about the K cups?
Well, I should say that I like my coffee strong enough to make a spoon stand up straight when you drop it in the cup. I don't like just slightly flavored coffee, so for me it tastes weak. Even some normal coffee makers taste weak to me. And the cups still don't give you that freshly ground flavor, they still have that staleness about them that totally ruins a cup of coffee for me. As for hot chocolate, I make it myself, and I know exactly how I like it, and those things simply don't stand up.
i believe you're being too picky then if it has to be absolutly right. you'll be lucky to find a cup that will match you twice in a row with that strong of a pickyness about it. sorry to sound harsh, but that's that way it seems to me
If coffee tastes like water, it was made too weakly, not enough grounds.
I am very picky about it. that is why I make it myself with a brewer that suits my needs, and the ones that make one cup at a time simply don't. I use exactly the amount of grounds I want, for exactly the amount of water I want to use, and I get a cup of coffee that is just right, every single time. Its a matter of practice. It isn't the most convenient way to do it perhaps, but I get a cup of coffee that tastes superb, every time I get a cup.
Right on. As a coffee press user, I can appreciate that.
I don't know about this one cup deal, but I can make a pot or a small amount of coffee pretty much exact every time. I received the KitchenAid maker I was speaking about a few days ago, and it has features that make sure that happens. Even with a lower priced maker I can achieve pretty good and exact coffee, so if I had a device that wasn't consistant I'd change. Lol. I don't like really strong coffee, but decent tasting is a must, or forget it. The KitchenAid will allow for really strong coffee if you want, mild, or what they call regular. About like a cup you get at a coffee shop. Coffee in my opinion should be good each time or it's not worth drinking.
So long as you measure the water and the coffee, you should be able to get a consistant cup from any machine. The trick is knowing exactly how much of each you require for that perfect cup.
iever that the machine can make the difference in your cup as well. Smile. I didn't think so, but it's a fact. Fresh coffee as well.
that's the problem tif. With the pod machines, you don't get to choose how much of a grind you use, or the fineness of the grind, which is what makes most of the difference. Its also god knows how old when you actually use it. The oil that gives coffee its flavor begins to decay and lose its flavor immediately after grinding. That is why the sooner its used after being ground, the more flavorful your coffee cup is.
With those pod machines, you don't get to choose how much to use, or how fine it is, so your only recourse would be to change the amount of water, and with the little amount they put in those things, that would only get you about half a cup of cofee, and who wants to go through all that work for half a product?
I suppose the vacum cealed coffee is fine as long as you use it pretty fast after you open it, but I just like grinding my own. Plus I won't use a package of coffee vary fast, so would need to ceal it back as best I could and freeze it. Beans are just fresher. Yes more labor, but I like a good cup, so I'm willing to make the effert, or just go to Starbucks, or some other coffee shop. Lol
The water, temperature, bean amount and grind coarseness, all factor in. Generally, hotter water produces more bitterness, a coarser grind tends to not lose the fuller flavors you expect in a cup of coffee.
Unfortunately Tiffanitsa the Keurig ini costs around 99 dollars rather than 50 and the k-cups can be a little expensive depending on where you get them and what you prefer, but I think it's well worth it since the machine's easy to use and it cuts down on if not eliminating outright the problem of making messes with coffee or cocoa powder while trying to measure it out. And then like I said it's perfect for situations where you don't want to risk having most of a full pot of coffee go to waste if not everybody in the house is going to want any.
Both my electric and stovetop maker only make a cup at a time, so there's no waste in my case. Besides, I personally don't mind just reheating coffee so having an extra cup around couldn't hurt. I once saw a manual grinder from the 1900's at a very good price and in excellent working condition but didn't get it because I didn't have the money at the time. Mom has one, probably electric, that she said I could use. But I'd like a crank-style one just to have. Does anyone still make them, and if so, can you choose the coarseness of the grinding?
Apparently, not only are there vintage manual grinders out there but modern ones as well. I just saw a whole bunch of them on Ebay. Think I'll get one. *smile*
I have an electric and you can choose the grind by how long you hold the button. Also their are electric one that you can set the grind with a switch and leave it. Nesce Sears model 00871839000 and Kruts sears model 00821446000 are 2 that come to mind, but their are other cheaper and more expensive. If you want manual, can't say if it will be antique, check out specialty coffee shops online, or goggle "manual coffee grinders."
Thanks for the models! I'll check them out on Ebay and see what else they have in electrics, just to be fair.