What Kind of Coffee Maker is Best?

Discussion in 'Food & Drinks' started by Yvonne Smith, Feb 2, 2015.

  1. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I have used just about every coffee maker/method in existence. We routinely use a Mr.Coffee, but my wife uses a French Press for her "Fu-Fu" coffee (flavored coffees, which I cannot stand). I use the percolator when I am out camping on in a cabin with no electricity, but I do "boiled" or "cowboy" coffee when I am out on a boat or in a really primitive situation. I also made and used "coffee concentrate" (a type of cold brew) when I was living on the Altiplano in Bolivia, and I used a vacuum system when I was in college...and of, course, there are various kinds of instant. I also used Melitta filters at various times and places. Keurig-type systems are best for offices and workplaces where tastes differ, and I find the electric drip systems best for those of us who drink copious amounts of the stuff.
     
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  2. Neville Telen

    Neville Telen Veteran Member
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    Over the past thirty some years I've gone through a horde of different devices, from the enamelware percolator, to the french-press, to junk I don't even remember. I now use the copper Turkish coffee pot:
    https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/c...H3AIVjsBkCh0SAgY1EAQYBSABEgIXQvD_BwE#1091=649
    Mine looks more fancy, but they are all pretty much the same. I use a MugMate filter:
    https://www.sunnysports.com/p-msrmc...id^298032326762-sku^MSRMCTF@ADL4SS-adType^PLA
     
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  3. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't Keurig's K-cups just a modern version of the dreaded "Instant" coffee?:eek:
    [​IMG]
     
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  4. Beatrice Taylor

    Beatrice Taylor Veteran Member
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    Another vote for the percolator!

    I recently found a 4 cup copper bottom Revereware percolator in a thrift shop and have put it back into service.

    This summer I've started making cold brewed coffee. I put the coffee and cold water into a mason jar and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning I let it drip through a coffee filter and heat it by the cup in the microwave or drink it cold over ice. Ice cold coffee and a scoop of vanilla ice cream is a nice treat on those hot and humid dog day afternoons!

    Did you know:

    The Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather. In modern times, the term refers to those hot, sleepy afternoons when dogs (and people) prefer to lay around and languish in the summer heat.
     
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  5. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    @Beatrice Taylor I was just about to say that is something I need to try until you brought up the dead dog. Now I don't think so.:(
     
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  6. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    No, it is really a one-cup drip coffeemaker. I know because I tear them apart and compost the grounds.
     
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  7. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I think that a percolator makes the best coffee, too; but I don’t usually drink enough coffee in the morning to make it worth brewing a whole pot, especially in the summer.
    We have a regular 12 cup drip coffee maker that Bobby uses because he gets up early and drinks a LOT of coffee in the morning. By the time I wake up, his pot is almost out of coffee, and even if it still has some, it is old and smells bad.
    What i usually do is make a single cup with my Melita filter, and maybe some flavored coffee, which I love.
    In the afternoon, Bobby unplugs the big coffee maker and we use the little kuerig , which makes either the k-cups or uses a little filter container that can hold regular coffee.

    I also make iced coffee during the summer, but i use ice cubes, instant coffee, and almond milk, put it alll in the blender and it ends up like a milkshake.
     
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  8. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    My favorite coffee maker is my Wife!

    She makes me 2 cups of coffee per week...one after breakfast on Saturday, and the other after breakfast on Sunday.

    None of this Latte stuff either...just plain Folgers!

    Hal
     
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    Last edited: Jul 6, 2018
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  9. Tim Burr

    Tim Burr Veteran Member
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    We use a Keurig at home and one of these when we go camping.

    [​IMG]
    I thought about getting the Coleman drip one, but it just seemed wrong...

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    When I was single, I had a 40-cup coffeemaker. I wasn't as much of a coffee snob then, as I am now, and it allowed me to drink coffee all day without having to keep making pot after pot. When I was a paper bag machine operator on the graveyard shift, I would take it to work with me and avoid having to spend the money on the far worse coffee that came from the vending machine, and not have to make the trip to the break room. Of course, I would also share because even I couldn't drink 40 cups of coffee in an 8-hour shift. I had to move the coffeemaker out before the office people came in though, because it was technically against policy to have a coffee maker at your table while running a machine. When I became acting supervisor, I'd have the coffeemaker in the supervisor's office, and that wasn't against policy.

    They must still sell a lot of these things because there are several of them on the market, and they don't look like they've changed much. Mine was similar to this one. It was a Hamilton Beach.

    40-cup.jpg
     
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  11. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    We still use a combination of ways to make coffee. The coffee pot that we use will either make a pot of coffee, or a cup of coffee, and it will use either the Keurig k-cups, or regular coffee in a special little container.
    Bobby makes his large pot of coffee when he gets up in the morning, and by the time I get up, he has usually finished drinking all of it, and if not, it is old coffee, in any case.
    So, usually I just use the little container and add grounds and make my coffee a cup at a time, and don’t drink more than one cup. In the afternoon or evening, we just use the k-cups, or I make flavored coffee with the container cup. During our really cold weather, I will sometimes use my little percolator and make several cups at a time, because I drink more coffee when the house is cold.
     
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  12. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    We use the K-cup coffeemaker upstairs, although we currently have a Hamilton Beach coffeemaker rather than a Keurig on. It accepts K-cups but you can also make a pot of coffee in it. Downstairs, I have my Ninja coffeemaker, which is what I usually use. From time to time, I'll make coffee in our non-electric percolator. I do prefer the taste of coffee made in a percolator but I don't use it often.

    Michelle doesn't drink tea but I like tea sometimes. Rather than heating water, I use the K-cup coffeemaker without a K-cup in it to heat the water.
     
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  13. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    We like the Keurig for ease of use, since we don't drink as much coffee as we used to.

    I still have a 4-cup Mr.Coffee, a glass Pyrex stovetop coffee pot and a Chemex drip pot that must be close to 40 years old.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  14. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    We have one of those little Melita funnels that you can use to make a cup of coffee, and sometimes, I use that. It seems like my coffee has a better flavor when I get the water hotter, and by using the Melita filter and coffee and almost boiling water poured slowly over the top, I get a really good tasting cup of coffee.
    I am still deciding whether it takes more or less time to make coffee with the Melita filter than it does to use the k-cup coffee machine. It is pretty close to the same amount of time, but the filter means I have to be right there and doing it, and the k-cup does it whether i am watching or not.
     
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  15. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    My wife took our K-cup coffeemaker to her recovery center and we bought a much smaller K-cup coffeemaker. It's only $40, works great, looks good, and it doesn't take up much in the way of kitchen real estate. I am not a huge fan of K-cup coffee anymore but this isn't a bad coffeemaker. Small to regular sized coffee cups will fit under it, but large cups won't fit.

    mueller.jpg
     
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    Last edited: Feb 12, 2020
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