Please, I need help! LOL In the past 6 months, I’ve gone through 4 different coffee makers. Two of them were, IMHO, lemons–one, the water wouldn’t go through the brew cycle completely, and the other it just wouldn’t brew from the start! I had gotten a nice Black & Decker with a carafe that seemed to be doing fine, but the other day the on/off button snapped off and today, it shorted out completely. While I was trying to brew my morning coffee! :eek: So you can try to see my problem: I am -without caffeine- this morning!
I wish that I could go out and spend money for a -really good- coffee maker, but my funds are kinda short right now, so I’m looking for something under $20. Any recommendations would be -greatly- appreciated. Cause I’m headed out as soon as the stores open to get one.
I’ve gone through several automatic coffee makers, myself. I’ve now happily settled on a Melitta manual filter. You buy the carafe and the plastic cone. You boil your water in a kettle and slowly pour it over the coffee grounds yourself.
Disadvantage: it’s not ‘press button and go’. Can’t shave while coffee brews. Can’t wake up to the aroma of coffee like you can with timer automatic coffee makers.
Advantage: Not much can go wrong with them. Watching and controling the process is pleasant. Price should be under US $20 (was CAD $20 here). It makes good coffee. It’s easy to clean.
Check out this French Press . I started using one of these a few years ago, and I will never go back. Basically, you set it up the night before, put grounds in bottom. In the morning pout hot water over thr gounds and put ‘press part’ on the top, press it down and serve. Lovely.
$14.95 gets you a great coffeemaker, two half-pounds of coffee, and two days after it arrives, you call and cancel the monthly service and they’ll actually let you!
I’m drinking coffee from my Gevalia coffeemaker right now. The coffeemaker has a timer to turn it on in the morning and brew the coffee for you. It works great.
Hmmm…in looking at their current offer, it’s the more expensive Thermal Coffeemaker. I got the lesser one.
But it’s only $14.95 including coffeemaker, coffee, mugs AND shipping and handling.
IMHO, a great deal. Just don’t forget to cancel when it arrives. The coffee is a tad expensive on its own.
I am going on 24 years with my Bunn home coffee maker - had to change some O rings once, but otherwise, it just keeps making coffee. Keeps a reservoir of water hot at all times, brews in 3 minutes.
I was going to recommend the French Press, too.
You can get one at Target or Bed, Bath & Beyond types stores for less than $25.
You put the ground coffee in, pour in water that’s just off the boil, let it steep for about 4 minutes, then push down the plunger-screen thing.
Very important - The coffee will need to be ground chunkier than for a drip machine. If it’s ground too fine, you’ll get gritty coffee.
IMHO, the taste difference between a French Press and a drip machine is incredible. It’s just somehow fuller and richer.
If you want to spend a little more money, I highly recommend the Cuisinart Grind N’ Brew. You pour the beans into it, and when the timer goes off in the morning it grinds your coffee and brews it fresh, with a pressure regulated drip just like commercial machines. It makes the best coffee I’ve ever tasted, and I used to spend a lot of effort in search of the perfect cup of coffee.
I got something from bed bath and beyond that works pretty well - I don’t really know if it has a name. It’s a big clear plastic mug w/ attached lid. You put the grounds in, poor hot water in (simular to the french press). It has a filter at the bottom and a valve. By placing the clear ‘mug’ over (on top of) a regular mug the valve opend and coffee is gravity feed into the mug, lift the clear ‘mug’ and it stops.
I have never used a french press but this is what I assume the differences are:
Advantages: use standard grinds (I assume gravity feed and a perfect seal around the edges prevent all by the finest grinds from getting through - just like the last cup of an automatic drip), easy to clean, I would guess easier then a french press just becasue there is 1 part not 2 - but I assume it’s pretty easy to clean a french press)
Disadvantages: Size really makes 1-2 servings at a time, chance of valve failure which would make it useless but after many uses and trips through the dishwasher there is no sign of leaking, Chance of accidental coffee release but with a few uses you quickly learn not to touch the release lever.
I’ll chime in and agree with both Philosphr and BiblioCat: if you’re looking for a good and inexpensive coffee maker, it’s hard to beat a French Press.
Many years ago, my old coffee maker–a good friend that saw me through seven years of college and two degrees–finally stoped working. I was still a poor graduate student, so I opted for the French Press while I saved up for a “real” coffee maker. I’ll have you know that this very morning as I compose this post I am sippling coffee made from that very same French Press. It’s cheap, easy, and IMHO makes the best coffee.
(Note that I did eventually buy that replacement drip coffee maker–it’s a Black and Decker Thermal Caraffe, which is a great machine–but it stays at the office, where I’m unable to boil water. If you really want a drip machine, that’s the one I’d recommend.)
Thanks so much for all the input, folks! I had to get a replacement pronto, and ended up with a Proctor/Silex auto-drip that was on sale, but I think I’m going to get one of the french press ones, based on the recommendations here. I have to admit that I wasn’t originally keen on having to boil the water (LOL I actually need an IV with coffee first thing in the morning!), but the more recommendations that I saw, the better that it sounded.
Thanks again, and I’m off to look for a French Press next pay day.
I certainly understand the ‘pronto’ part of needing a new coffee maker! I hope it works out for you and makes a great cup of coffee.
My 2¢ on the French Press: if you’ve never had coffee made with one, I’d recommend seeing if you can try some before you invest in one (not that they’re that terribly expensive). I may horrify coffee purists, but I actually prefer coffee made by a good drip machine than by a French Press. Not that I dislike French Press-made coffee mind you; I just find I prefer drip. I dunno; maybe it’s just what I’m used to. Anyway, it definitely has a different quality to it, so if possible, you might wanna see if you can try it first. You might agree with me, or you might agree with everyone else in this thread and think I’m insane!
Another vote here for the French Press, it is the unquestioned lord and master of all coffee makers. One caveat though about the french press is that you pretty much have to grind your own beans. As others have mentioned you need to use a rather coarse grind to prevent getting coffee in your teeth, as a result you also have to use more grounds than with a drip machine for the same strength coffee. Also the french press seems to draw out a lot richer flavor from the coffee than drip makers do which I think makes it more sensitive to the quality and freshness of the beans being used. In other words good coffee will taste even better while bad coffee will be even worse.