Coffee Makers: a Necessary Appliance in Almost Every Household

Coffee makers come in a variety of styles, variety of sizes, and have many different convenience options. Nothing starts a day off better than a hot, fresh brewed cup of your favorite coffee and nothing can spoil a day faster than a bad cup of coffee. The coffee maker you choose can make all the difference.

There are three basic types of coffee makers: percolating, French press, and automatic drip. A percolating coffee maker uses boiling water to brew the coffee grounds to extract the coffee flavor. This method of making coffee tends to give you a tarry, bitter cup of coffee, but there are many people who prefer their coffee made this way.

A French press coffee maker has a glass carafe and requires coarse grounds. To make coffee using a French press, you would place the grounds in the bottom of the carafe and pour water at the desired temperature over them. After allowing the grounds to steep or brew for 3 – 6 minutes (depending on taste), the press (basically a mesh filter on a stick) is used to compress the grounds to the bottom of the carafe and the coffee is ready to pour. The French press gives you a stronger, bolder, more aromatic coffee, but you will have grounds that get through the press into your cup.

The most common type of coffee maker is an automatic drip coffee maker. This type of maker allows you to place the grounds in a filter, pour in cold water which the machine heats, and wait for the now heated water to brew through the grounds into the cup. Very few, if any, grounds get through the filter so you do not have grounds in your cup. The major drawback to this type of coffee maker is that some machines do not get the water to the correct temperature before it gets to the grounds so the brew is not as good as it can be.

There are a variety of conveniences available on automatic drip coffee makers. Some of the features include a timer, automatic shut off, pod compatible, and types of filters. Wouldn't it be wonderful to put the coffee grounds into your machine at night and have a fresh brewed cup of coffee when your alarm goes off? You can choose and program the coffee maker to come on at a certain time. You will just need to remember to change the settings when daylight savings time begins and ends.

Automatic shut off features allows you to pour a cup of coffee before the brewing cycle is complete. This is for those of you who can't wait to have that first cup – you know who you are. Pod compatible machines are for coffee drinkers that only need one or two cups or want different flavors of coffee. Another feature to consider is a basket filter or cone filter. The cone filter contains more of the grounds giving you a cleaner brew.

Coffee makers are a necessity for anyone that loves Coffee and it can really get your day started out right.