Drip Coffee Makers Buyer's Guide

Drip brewing remains the most common method of brewing coffee in the United States. It's relatively quick, easy to clean, and can make a satisfying cup of coffee.

There are more drip brewers on the market than fleas on a coon dog. Hmmm, I wonder what part of the country I’m from! Well anyway, in this guide, I will mention some of the more popular features and give you my comments on them.

1-4 Cup Setting:

One of my favorite features! My wife does not drink coffee so I only want to make a few cups for myself most mornings.

Unless the coffee maker has a 1-4 cup feature, it probably won’t get up to the proper temperature before the brew cycle begins. This will create an under extracted, weak cup of coffee.

The 1-4 cup feature will cause the machine to wait a little longer before starting the brew cycle.

Removable Water Holder:

(Suggestion from Peter Brown of Canada - another friendly snob!)

If you have never experienced a coffee maker with a removable water holder, you don't know what you're missing.

We are all familiar with the normal method of taking the carafe to our water source, filling it up, and then going back to empty the carafe into the water holder. It's a 2 fill method. However... with a removable water holder, you just take the holder to your water source, fill it up and put it back on the machine. Voilà!

You only have to try this out one time and believe me you will NEVER want to go back to the old 2 fill method. Now, at this time there are only a handful of manufacturers who include this trouble saving feature, but we expect that as more coffee lovers demand this option the number of choices will grow.

Built-In Grinders:

If extreme convenience is your goal, then these are the machines for you. If you go this route though, get one with a burr grinder instead of a blade grinder. A blade grinder does a poor job of grinding the beans consistently and actually burns the beans due to friction.

Personally, for many reasons I much prefer to buy a separate grinder, but if a drip brewer is the only way you’ll ever make coffee, and convenience and maybe counter space is important, then this could be a great feature.

Glass Carafe or Thermal Pot:

Coffee will begin to burn on its heated pad after about 20 minutes and by 40 minutes the taste has changed considerably for the worse. The less coffee in the pot, the faster it will scald.

If you need to have the coffee remain in the pot for more than 30 minutes or so, get a coffee maker with a thermal pot. Since thermal pots do not have heat applied to them constantly, the coffee will not burn.

Since the pots are also insulated, they will keep the coffee hot longer without the detrimental scorching effects.

Some other advantages of thermal pots are that they are sturdier. Glass pots can break, and unless it's a popular model finding a replacement can be a pain.

Filter Basket Shape:

Most coffee makers have changed over to a cone shaped filter basket instead of a flat bottom shape. The reason is so the water will flow more evenly through more of the beans. This creates a less bitter, more consistent cup of coffee. This is especially true when brewing a partial pot.

Programmable Timers:

Personally, I love and use the programmable timers. I am all but useless first thing in the morning, and if there are any shortcuts I can implement into my morning routine, I'm all for them.

I gladly grind my morning's coffee before I go to bed, put water and grounds into the machine; hit the timer that I have programmed (just once) and wake up to great coffee without even pushing a button or waiting.

It kind of makes me feel like my butler made it for me!

Try to think about if you would use this feature or not, and how simple it needs to be to program. Everyone is different and this is a very personal feature. Now that I've had it, I'll never go back.

Capacity:

Some of the newer coffee makers have extra large capacity pots. Some even have side by side pots. If you frequently entertain guests, this option can really come in handy.

There are some side by side pots that pour into travel thermoses. This is a neat idea as a his/her time saver. I personally like the flexibility of buying my own travel tumbler, because I'm pretty opinionated about them. As Gomer would say "Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!"

Built-In Charcoal Filters:

Many coffee machines come with built-in charcoal filters. This is nice, but it's not really a plus for me.

The bad thing about the filters is you have to buy new ones. The replacements are probably going to be pretty hard to find since there is no common standard.

Since I use an inline water filter in my kitchen, I don't need to filter the water again. If you can find a coffee maker that uses a standard filter that you can buy at most places such as Wal Mart, then it may be worth your while.

I still think a Brita or a Pur brand filter for your refrigerator or sink is a better way to go because you can use it for all you drinks, not just coffee.

One more thing, some machines will not work at all without its filter. I would avoid these machines.

Pause and Serve:

Impatience has spawned a feature that most machines have now adopted, the pause and serve. Although a nice feature to eliminate drips after brewing, try to exercise patience and wait.

Like I said earlier, many drip brew machines do not get up to the proper temperature before brewing starts and therefore the coffee is under extracted at first and needs the remaining brew to balance it out.

Stainless Steel Housing:

Many coffee connoisseurs say that in order to maintain the proper brewing temperature, a metal housing is a necessity.

I also like the weight, sturdiness, and overall quality of build these machines typically have. Expect to pay a premium for it though.

Overall aesthetics is always a consideration when you plan on leaving it out in the kitchen.

Single-Serve Pod Machines:

The newest coffee makers on the market are single-serve pod coffee machines. These are pretty neat machines. They are extremely easy and clean to use. Just open the package and insert the pre-measured coffee pod and hit brew.

They are excellent for people on the go or those whose brain doesn't function until 10 AM (like me).

The only disadvantage is the coffee may or may not be fresh and the pods are not the most economical way to brew coffee.

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