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help choosing a coffee maker
Randall88
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey guys,
I drink coffee pretty often and I really enjoy the taste (as most people probably :P) but I am already tired of the instant coffee.
So I was looking into buying a cheap coffee machine.. I know there are several types (filter, manual, capsules). I guess the most convenient option for me would be a filter coffee machine, so I just add ground coffee.
Here are some cheap ones from ebay (I am in Germany right now).. however I have no idea how good they are. The one we had at home was similar to the 2nd one, but it was awful. I am looking for a machine that can create the crema (foam) on top as well.
link1
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Someone with more experience in this field that can give me suggestions?
Any advice whatsoever is appreciated
I drink coffee pretty often and I really enjoy the taste (as most people probably :P) but I am already tired of the instant coffee.
So I was looking into buying a cheap coffee machine.. I know there are several types (filter, manual, capsules). I guess the most convenient option for me would be a filter coffee machine, so I just add ground coffee.
Here are some cheap ones from ebay (I am in Germany right now).. however I have no idea how good they are. The one we had at home was similar to the 2nd one, but it was awful. I am looking for a machine that can create the crema (foam) on top as well.
link1
link2
link3
link4
Someone with more experience in this field that can give me suggestions?
Any advice whatsoever is appreciated
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Posts
Essentially you put your coffee in the press, then your hot water made (in about 1-2 minutes from your kettle), and let it sit for 3-5 minutes before pushing the grinds down to the bottom of the press using the plunger. Then pour and enjoy. Cleanup is super easy and aside from the actual coffee you don't need filters or regular descaling/replacement. It also doesn't need electricity (the kettle might, but if you lose power you are not screwed so long as you can heat water).
Lots of people write about the benefits, but for me its simply a matter of taste and time. Cleaning a coffee pot & machine takes a while and the heating pads on most coffee machines are imprecise and burn your coffee.
With my grinder, I buy about 3lb whole bean coffee bags from my local store which, if you look at the cost per cup, is about 1/3rd the price of ground coffee and tastes far better.
Also you can use the kettle for any number of other things you need boiling water for (tea, ramen, etc) and the carafe can also effectively be used for loose leaf and bagged teas.
It's always better to make fresh coffee than drink reheated crap. After 30 minutes you won't want to drink the coffee left in your massive 12 cup carafe anyhow.
I have not regretted it, price is a bit steep, but, there's deals and you can get a pod that can be reused with your own coffee, so there's that.
Never really touched our 'coffee maker' (three times in 10 years), but the kuerig has gotten used nearly 3-4 times a week. Just so convenient and easy to clean.
That said, I was really wowed by the convenience factor of making a single cup of something. I wouldn't switch my french press for it (the quality just isn't as good when you have 5 minutes to grind, boil, and brew), but I am seriously considering getting one for work.
French press is the way to go for quality.
where electric beats press is you can pre-load the night before, then hook it up to a socket timer set to 10 mins or so before your alarm clock goes off. nothing beats staggering out of bed to find freshly brewed coffee just waiting for you...
Except your grounds are exposed to air overnight and are slowly oxidizing and losing flavor, and the water in the tap is slowly collecting bacteria that inevitably ends up in your reservoir unless you descale and sanitize weekly, which is a pain (if not impossible) to do in a complex machine. Between the bacteria growth in the internal piping, in the gold filter, and loss of flavor in your grounds you end up with vastly tainted flavor over time for that wake up convenience.
I had one of these for years:
Which even had the grinder built in! And was programmable! After trying coffee from a french press I tossed mine in the garbage. The flavor profile is really noticeably better and the time sink to make coffee is about the same as making toast (in that you do 10 seconds of work, wait a minute or two, and then do 10 seconds of work a second time).
Easy to clean too and you never have to worry about things like cleaning the water lines (which can happen with a traditional coffee maker)
It's a Melita pour over maker and cost about $5 at the grocery store (and came with a ceramic mug!). Just put in a filter (I like the Melita #2 filters, but you can use any kind), put in coffee, put on a cup, and pour over hot water. It tastes slightly better than drip coffee since the grounds steep a little while the water is draining (drains more slowly due to the Melita filters). Just rinse and dry and it's good to go.
At home, I use this:
An Aeropress. They can be had for anywhere from $20 to $40 online (I got mine for $20 from a sale) and make great coffee. A little more work than the pour over, but not much. Fill with coffee, fill with hot water, wait a few minutes, push coffee out through filter into cup.
We were using a french press in a hotel where I was working, but never really used it myself. Looks like I am going for it then.
Just out of curiosity.. what makes grinding your own beans better than buying pre-ground? (taste-wise)
Moka pot coffee is amazing, but it takes a good deal of time to make.
It's also Hulk strong, so expect an appreciable caffeine buzz from it.
This, 100%. You even have to be careful with the whole beans, they wont last very long if exposed to heat and/or light. Gotta keep them dark, cool, and preferably as far from air as possible. This thing is good for storing whole beans. They will last a couple of weeks easily in it.
Also, if you are going to be grinding your own beans, invest in a quality (conical burr) grinder. A good one will last years and be nearly maintenance free. They are more expensive though, and usually start over $100 for decent ones.
though if you want an amazing cup, listen to Enc, french press coffee is great.
There is a difference in quality for using those better grinders, and buying more expensive whole beans, and all sorts of other tricks you can do to increase your flavor profiles, but the cost to value starts getting unmanageable for all but hobbists and enthusiests.
I liken it to beer vs wine. Beer cost to quality is a pretty shallow curve. You can get a 6 pack of cheap swill for $4, and a 6 pack of a nice microbrew for about $8 in my state. You can go higher than that, of course, but at most you are going to top out at 4 pack limited brews at ~$12-13 a pack. Going from instant to french press with commonly available whole bean blends is pretty much in this range, with things like Aeropress being the top end. Is it better? Sure is. Cost is not really prohibitive either. Generally speaking, in this range things are easily affordable over time and things are pretty much ok.
Kuereg I liken to something like Whiskey. Up front you will pay more for a bottle, but by the ounce you arent that much far off from the beer costs when you break it down. Bad/cheap kureg varieties are pretty bad. Good ones are pretty good! But like Whiskey you typically cant get the good stuff at your grocery store and you will need to find a specialty store or order online, and you will end up paying more than beer (or the above) over time. That's not to say that is bad! It's got some pretty great aspects, but up front costs must be accounted for.
But then you can start getting into the serious, limited edition coffee beans and specialized grinders/expresso machines/ and other gadgets that can get pricey. Wine Pricey. Where costs make little or no sense to flavor increase and generally speaking fad drives value more than quality. There are many blends that can be $80-$200 dollars per pound for whole bean. Are they better than the 2lb whole bean bags you can get at your grocery for ~$8? Yes, yes they are. Is the quality increase as exponential as the price? Probably not. For that slight increase you are paying a considerable premium, and generally speaking you are not that noticeably better off unless you are a hobbyist or enthusiast.
1. Taste - you don't get dissimilar sized pieces or burned pieces from blade spin inconsistencies.
2. Durability - Burr grinders are pretty bombproof whereas blade grinders are more prone to burning out from the higher RPM/cheaper price point factors.
So if you plan on drinking coffee for a while, it ends up being the same price/less for a burr.
Starbucks in the United States grinds coffee, any coffee for free. We once ground a 5 pound bag of Folgers's beans for a customer, big bright red bag with Folgers's on the outside in the middle of Starbucks. So keep that in mind if its an option at your local Starbucks.
You can dishwash the entire thing. It's all metal and glass. Or soak it in bleach soultion, descale it, dry and air it out well.
No different than a coffee mug or drinking glass.
Besides the method of brewing/extraction, there are five factors which influence the coffee you get:
1) The beans
2) The size of the grounds
3) The amount of grounds
4) The temperature of the water
5) The extraction time
Basically the biggest thing you want to do is not over-extract ("burn") the coffee, which is what causes that terrible bitter taste. Using grounds that are too fine and putting them in near-boiling water for too long will do that. Adjusting either of those things will help prevent it. After that, figuring out how you like your unburnt coffee is entirely up to you.
I bought a coffee dripper (which also requires these) and put it on top of this big jar. All you need after that is a kitchen scale (or you could just eyeball it based on your scooper/spoon/whatever).
Works like a charm.
What this basic setup does is it allows you to experiment with the amount of grounds you want to use, the temperature you pour the water through, and the speed of the drip. I changed it up every morning for a few days and was able to calibrate everything pretty easily.
If you want to buy beans and a grinder, go ahead. There are tons of good, cheap options out there. If you'd rather just buy the grounds, don't let people pinch their noses at you. Just buy the grounds and see how you like the coffee.
The nice thing about grinding yourself is that it does produce "fresher" coffee (whether you actually like it is another question entirely). It also lets you experiment with the size of the grounds, which as mentioned above can also have an effect on the coffee.
For reference, I grind my beans to medium-large and put about 30g of ground into the dripper. Then I let the water sit for 2 minutes after boiling and pour through the dripper until the 32oz jar is full in about ~2 minutes (the more water you put in at once, the faster the drip, and the shorter the extraction time).
I hear really good things about the Aeropress, though, so I'm kind of tempted to pick one up and see how it goes. The same basic principles that I described above also apply for the Aeropress, and any other method, except cold-brew coffee. Unless you're talking about the Japanese method, in which case they still apply (basically you put big ice cubs in the jar so that the coffee instantly cools after extraction).
Please stay the hell away from Keurig cups. They are an environmental disaster.
I think my coffee takes around 8 minutes start to finish. The only real cleanup a Moka Pot has over drip is you can't be lazy and not dump the filter or rinse out the pot. It is hulk strong though.
It takes 30 seconds to grind, fill and assemble the pot. I put it on the stove on high and set a timer for 7 minutes. Pour my coffee when its done and then because its all metal construction I quench it in cold water then rinse it out. I keep a folded towel on my countertop in front of my grinder I let it dry on, and I keep my coffee cup rinsed after use and waiting there as well.
It's just something that became a ritual. The 7 minutes it takes to brew is just enough time to do dishes if there are any so I can rinse it out in an empty sink.
It's more laborious than drip in the short term but honestly keeping your coffee implement clean no matter what you go with should be important. It's just impossible to make more coffee in a french press or Moka Pot if you don't clean them.
On the other hand you can make coffee in a gross keurig non stop whether you clean the reservoir and drip spout or not.
Also the component photo above of the aeropress makes it look way more complicated than it is - it's incredibly simple and easy to clean. It's basically a giant syringe with a coffee filter. Put coffee in, full with hot water, stir, push coffee through grounds into mug, push grounds into trash (with a soul satisfying plop) aaaand done.
The french press on the other hand, I really hated cleaning.
Anyway.. if you grind yourself, do you do it always fresh before each cup of coffee, or can I grind up for a couple of days. Would be much more convenient and still better than buying pre-ground from the supermarket I guess.
Ideally you grind them immediately before using them. But grinding in batches isn't the end of the world, especially if you get an airtight container to hold them in.
Grinding for a couple of days is essentially the same problem as buying ground coffee. For best flavor you would want to grind right before brewing. My morning routine is thus:
Total active time ~1.2 minutes (can be done during passive time)
Total passive time ~8 minutes.
When done with coffee:
About once a week:
For what it's worth, you can use plain old number 4 cone filters with a V60; make a fold in them so that the bottom corner is 90 degrees (so one end of the fold is at one end of the crimped bit, and the other is at the other end of the crimped bit, like so, and they fit just fine. It sticks out of the top a bit, but that doesn't matter, and it's much easier to find these than the official filters.
-it doesn't take much more time than a drip-coffee machine. there is slightly more Effort Time in grinding beans and cleaning up, but it's "about ten minutes" from zero to coffee with a drip maker, and "about ten minutes" to make coffee in a french press from whole beans. cleanup is basically the same, cleaning a mesh filter basket & decanter takes about the same effort as cleaning a french press. the downtime is still enough to toast a bagel/dump yogurt and fruit together/fry an egg/other breakfast tasks if you time it right. but this is usually before I've had coffee so I still screw it up on a daily basis and it's like five more minutes.
-it makes much better coffee... when you get it right. I've converted to weighing everything (because measuring boiling water is a fool's errand which will probably burn you on a regular basis) so it's 30 grams of ground beans from the burr grinder + 500 grams of water using a digital scale. this has the added benefit if just dumping stuff in until you hit the number. also I feel marginally more cosmopolitan and/or drug-dealer for using grams instead of typical kitchen measurements.
-fresh ground coffee with a burr grinder really is that much better. there's no real cleaning to speak of (I wash the receptacle maybe once a week, it doesn't get serious build-up) and if you just assign a measuring spoon to the task you can get close enough to your grind amount with no thought given to it (two scoops plus a bit for me). once I went to the scale instead of measuring things it takes zero effort to try and get the right amount; I throw away a small amount of grounds every time, but that's just to account for beans passing through it at an uneven rate (turns out they do that!). I go through a pound of coffee in about two weeks, so I'm not too worried about efficiency if I'm committed to drinking fresh stuff. the howling noise of the infernal machine makes you feel like you are Accomplishing Thing in a burly manly way instead of just like making coffee or whatever.
-there are minimal failure points for the process. I've been using the same burr grinder for five years (even before the french press) and I guess it could die at some point. I've had three drip coffee machines die on me in my adult life, granted they were $15 Target Specials but that's all I could justify. I've broken my french press once and a $20 piece of glassware hurt to lose (while cleaning) but that's the same as breaking your drip machine's decanter so it's a wash. digital scale is a luxury, not a necessity. the kettle could die, but then I have a stove and a pot so there's backup. basically if something prevents me from making coffee I probably have bigger things to worry about.
the downsides:
-being unable to "press button, go shower, coffee!" kind of stung for a few months. still does, some mornings and hangovers. if you are absolutely, utterly incapable of functioning without caffeine first thing you may have difficulty adjusting. on that note, I noticed I became slightly less of a morning zombie once the promise of caffeine was locked behind a slightly-complex task instead of a mere push of a button.
-I still hate cleaning my french press, almost as much as I hated cleaning my drip machine. this not an indictment of the device, rather of its user.
-the french press and grinder were gifts from my ex and her family. beware of relationships where your gifting process is tied to things that stimulate the reptilian part of your brain.
...I am not entirely sure what we were talking about.