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Drip coffee makers are the single most popular small kitchen appliance in the US. You can buy an automatic drip coffee maker for as little as ten dollars, or go all out for one with all the bells and whistles – including its own coffee grinder – for over two hundred dollars. And despite the growing love (and resulting culture of) espresso, even espresso lovers sometimes admit that they just want a good cup of joe.
A couple of years back, I worked in an office where coffee was the lubricant that kept the wheels humming. We ran round the clock, and the coffee pot was always on and always full. It was also more often than not, barely drinkable. The standing rule of the coffee pot was “If you drink the last cup, put on another pot”. From the day that I started working there and made my first pot of coffee, there was a new rule. “If you drink the last cup of coffee, let Deb know so she can make another pot.”
Whenever I put on a fresh pot, people would drift from the far side of the building, and by the time it was finished dripping, there was a line at the coffee pot, waiting for that first cup.
There’s no big secret to making good coffee with a drip coffee maker. It’s simple and straightforward – but there are a few things to keep in mind.
1. Invest in a coffee grinder.
It’s amazing what a difference that one single thing makes. When you grind coffee, you increase the surface area of the coffee bean that is exposed to air, hastening the release of the oils that give coffee its rich flavor. If possible, grind coffee right before you use it. If you don’t have a coffee grinder, buy at a store that sells whole beans that you can grind yourself. Buy just enough for a few days at a time, and store it in an airtight container at home.
2. Buy good coffee.
The better the coffee you start with, the better the coffee you’ll end up with. Of course, good coffee is a subjective thing. The one big suggestion I have here is that you avoid those big supermarket displays with plastic bins of coffee beans – the kind where you scoop or pour out beans into a bag. The bins aren’t airtight, and you have no idea how long they’ve been sitting in those bins getting stale. Vacuum-sealed bags or cans of coffee beans are better. Even ground coffee in a vacuum sealed bag is a better choice.
3. Keep your drip coffee maker and coffee pot clean.
Coffee oils cling to everything, and once they’re deposited they start growing rancid. Wash out your pot and filter basket every time you make a fresh pot, and clean your coffee maker once a week. Descale it once a month. And do remember to clean the shower heads up under where the filter basket goes. That’s an area most people never think to clean.
4. Use a paper filter.
You’ve probably seen ads for “permanent coffee filters” in gold or nylon. They sound like a great idea, but see #3 above. Coffee residues tend to collect in hard to clean places on them. It’s better and easier to buy good quality paper coffee filters and have a fresh one for every brew.
5. Use enough coffee.
The biggest mistake that people make when making coffee in a drip coffee maker is using too little coffee. So, how much coffee for one cup of coffee? You should use a full tablespoon of ground coffee for each 8 ounces(about 227 grams) of water. Measure it out the first few times and you’ll be surprised how much coffee that actually is.
6. Use fresh, cold water.
I’ve heard people recommend using distilled water with all the minerals and impurities removed. Frankly, distilled water is good for your machine, but it makes flat tasting coffee. If your tap water is good for drinking, it will make good coffee. If it’s not, use a water filter or use spring water.
7. Avoid the temptation to use the brew pause.
The first cup or so of coffee will carry most of the coffee flavor. If you pour that off and return the pot to fill the rest of the way, the first cup of coffee will be very strong, and the rest of the pot very weak. Practice patience, grasshopper.
8. Take the coffee off the warming plate when it’s done brewing.
Coffee left on the warmer plate will continue to “cook”. Instead, pour any coffee that’s left over into a thermal pot, preferably one with a vacuum seal.
That’s all there is to it. Follow that advice, and you’ll have the entire office lining up to drink your coffee, and skipping the afternoon run to the nearest Starbucks.
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Bill Berry says
My wife and I have owned a coffee maker since the day we met; 14 years and we’ll be replacing it with it’s new counterpart. Of us who own this type of maker understand in 3 minutes your coffee will be ready unless you use the “decaffienated” tap (lack of a better word) which slows the amount of water passing to the grounds. The current thinking today is 2 tablespoons not 1 tablespoon per 5 oz cup of coffee though when 5 or 6 oz. became a cup I have no idea (isn’t a cup 8 oz.) and who has 5 oz. coffee cups? Alton Brown of Good Eats aired an episode which he also inferred that each 5 oz. cup of coffee requires 2 tablespoons as well as Starbucks. In our hourse it’s been a 1:1 ratio up to we began reading the labels on coffee; the bottom line is if you own your own grinder as we do we use whole beans; generally from Sam’s Club which sells Starbucks and other generic brands that are rated in the high 80s but the really good stuff is going to be expensive at wherever your local coffee shop might be and of course, online. Personally, I like a coarse grind; my wife medium, but the grind will determine how much coffee you’re going to need. It’s simple math when you’re making just one or two cups and the size of our cups is 16 oz. and 18 oz. of coffee so in my case 4 tablespoons go in the basket. It is not an exact science. The bigger the pot the more exotic the math gets. The reason is how much water do you want to pass over your grinds and for how long. One or two cups is easy math; a pot is balancing act between flavor and bitterness and to avoid bitterness you’re talking about a serious amount of coffee and then the question becomes permanent or paper filter and is it big enough to hold the grounds; remember 3 minutes is likely to fill your filter all the way up with grounds when you’re making a full pot. I use the “restricter” decaf tap but it too will change the strength of your coffee. The bottom line is you have to manipulate what is good for you, not what is on the label. There is no hard rule about a good cup of coffee; we all have our quirks. The rule however for coffee strengths is constant – one is the roast and how dark and the darker..the stronger to bitter. I prefer coarse as I just said a moment ago and while it requires more coffee grinded it’s flavor and aroma is 2nd to none; but that’s me. We own a Cuisinart grinder and we generally make our coffee to different strenghs, but that’s us. For the moment I’m dying to get my hands on a good espresso maker that won’t break the bank; any idea? Thanks and all have a wonderful day/evening; take care!
E says
Need some advice about the grind. We have had a Krups blade grinder forever. Just got a Capresso burr grinder for my birthday. We use a Cuisinart drip with paper filters. Both like dark coffee.
I have read that I should be grinding coarse of medium/coarse. Wife believes grinding fine will lead to a stronger cup. Any advice???
Thanks!
Sue says
I would like to know why if I use a paper filter or one I bought to set into the coffee area.
I always end up with grounds in my coffee pot.
Thanks Sue
Goodie says
I have gone through several automatic coffeemakers over the past few years seeking the Holy Grail of a good, strong, hot cup of coffee. I’ve tried Cuisinart, Mr. Coffee, Capresso, Black and Decker. No success. The best was an old-style Melita grind-and-brew that’s no longer made, and unfortunately finally broke.
They all seem to break, leak, produce weak or cool coffee. One even produced bad smelling coffee!
I use Gevalia, grind it myself and toy with the proportions of grounds ans water.
From another website, a Technivorm Moccamaster seemed a good/expensive bet – then I read reviews and found it easily leaks and doesn’t pour properly.
friends had a ceramic pot with a ceramic grounds holder that sat into the top and a water holder on top of that (a true drip pot) Terriffic coffee, but I can’t locate one like it (antique).
What should/can I do to get that perfect cup of coffee?
NewsView says
TEMPERATURE
I agree with Karen, #22. The automatic drip coffeemaker manufacturers don’t publish their design specifications on how hot an optimally functioning machine should get. That leaves the guesswork up to us. You can get automatic drip coffee fresh brewed into a carafe anywhere from 150 – 180 depending on the brand. Mr. Coffee seems to settle around 165, whereas KRUPS and Cuisinart dispense slightly hotter (170-175). Not sure about BUNNs because I have no direct experience with that brand, but most users report that those brew a very hot cup ‘o joe.
Karen has a point, here, however. We all know the optimal temp for proper extraction if we’ve read anything on the web (just below boiling. However, there is only one Dutch-made coffeemaker endorsed by the trade association for achieving this. Which implies that results with other machines will be hit or miss, with variation in brew and extraction temps even between machines with identical model numbers. It also seems to diminish the flavor/heat when an automatic drip coffeemaker is beginning to wear out or scale over inside from infrequent cleaning. It’s vitally important to descale with diluted white vinegar religiously!
AROMA
Moreover, what is the significance of the “smell test”, which is to say if your coffee tastes bad and your grounds smell burnt, is it getting *too* hot. Can you tell by the odor of the used grounds anything about how little or how much extraction, and can it be a reliable troubleshooting method? This, too, is something I’ve never read anything about, but conceivably it might yield some clues as to how well an automatic drip machine is running.
SEMANTICS
RE: #21
Alan, the key word here is the word “AUTOMATIC”, as in automatic drip coffeemaker. That is the industry nomenclature, and has been since the early 1970s. You are confusing Jeremy, and others here, by leaving a critical modifier out.
Second, do not put hot water into your automatic drip coffeemaker (in answer to a previous question).
ON TOPIC
To those going off on tangents about non-automatic drip brewing methods (Alan, etc.): Please stay on topic! The subject on *this page* is the use of an automatic drip coffeemaker, the type most people are going to have questions about. You don’t need to tell the “coffee snob” how to do other types of brews or even the pros and cons between them because they’ve already made up their minds. The article on this page is going to be useful to new coffee drinkers and/or people trying to figure out if there is any way to get their new automatic drip machine to produce a more flavorful brew. Personally, every time I start with a new automatic drip coffeemaker, I find myself having to experiment with the coarseness of the grind, the amount measured out per cup and to also account for the fact that some automatic drip coffeemaker manufacturers define a cup as 5 oz whereas other brands a “cup” is 6 oz (but never a standard 8 oz size).
A CUP IS NOT A CUP
The article here, in this instance, doesn’t even touch on the havoc it plays when one realizes that their 10-cup automatic drip coffeemaker is actually making only 6.25 8 oz cups (5 oz), or for a 12-cup Mr. Coffee, at a presumed 6 oz measure, a total per pot of just nine 8 oz cups. That’s why the measurement you use for one coffee machine may not produce similar results for another. One might be using a 5 oz cup, and the other 6.
So here’s the deal, folks: The New Orleans style coffee is fascinating, but it is off topic. Moreover, for those who want to talk about the percolators that some people hate and others love, there’s a separate page on this site just for that topic.
ARE THERMAL COFFEEMAKERS A POOR CHOICE FOR BEST TASTE?
I would like to see comments here where people share their best tips for a good cup of coffee using an *automatic drip coffeemakeer*, either the conventional glass decanter type or the stainless steel thermal variety.
Example: I have found that brewing from an automatic drip coffee machine into a stainless steel thermal carafe gradually imparts a somewhat “old coffee” taste to the all-metal carafe, despite using baking soda, dish soap and vinegar to clean the carafe with each and every use. I once bought a certified KRUPS refurb stainless steel thermal carafe model from a mainstream retail store and even straight from the factory it smelled of old coffee associated with prior use. Then, when I recently purchased a Cuisinart DTC-975, the coffee odor began to cling to the inside of the thermal carafe from the very first use and no amount of soaking and cleaning has made it as “odor neutral” — like-new smelling — as my old machine using a glass carafe. There has to be a negative impact to the coffee flavor when just ONE USE will make the receptacle into which it brews start smelling stale or off. With continued use, I suspect the coffee itself can’t be far behind. Or at least that is *my* theory — and most recent disappointment since I was looking forward to the thermal design carafe in pursuit of coffee that wasn’t “baked” on a warming plate.
Chris Healy says
I would disagree with Alan’s excellent instructions on a few opints. First, for good, traditional New Orleans coffee, one must use coffee and chicory–the darker the better–but the tastes are changing from the old Creole preferences to more “American” standards. I like Union, CDM, and French Market (particularly the City Roast rather than the Creole Roast, although both are good), finding Community New Orleans Blend somewhat light. Second, boiling water is a no-no: place the French drip pot (la grégue) in a saucepan of simmering water, then use a teaspoon of that water at a time to drip through the gounds. Keep the pot in the simmering water to keep the coffee warm, but be aware that it will strenghthen over time.
The coffee itself can be drunk in two ways, either as cafe au lait (a half-and-half mixture with scalded milk) or straight in a demitasse. If you are familiar with Cuban coffee as either cafe con leche or cafe cubano, you have the general principle. My Oklahoma ex-inlaws used to call my coffee “starter coffee” because they had to mix it with water.
My own five-piece pot is a different design than Alan’s, for my bottom filter is flat, with a lifting handle (so a paper filter is not an option), while the top filter (more of a disperser) is rounded.
johhny says
to jeremy –
yes, using hot water in a drip coffee maker may damage it. It is heating up the water internally, and doesn’t know how hot the water you are supplying will be, so if you put in 120 degree or hotter water, it’ll heat it up beyond the proper temperature for brewing coffee – so it’ll brew incorrectly and may get too hot internally.
by the way, the best machine to use for consistent results and no hassles is a bunn pour-over model.
good luck
Alan Durfee says
You want decent if not great coffee? Please don’t use an electric anything!
If you must use an “electric” drip pot, then it will heat its own water. You don’t start with hot water.
As I said before, read my first post. There i no need for confusion. If you must use an elecrtic “something”, then get a modern one of some sort, not an old aluminum or stainless antique.
Alan
Karen says
Wow the more I read about coffee makers the more confused I am! How hot should the water be in an electric drip coffee maker?
Alan Durfee says
Jeremy,
you have the wrong idea about what a drip coffe maker is. You MUST use hot (boiling water). any maker that requires cold water, is some type of percolator, NOT a drip coffee maker. And percolators, by design, require power to operate. A drip maker (at least the only ones I have ever used) do not need power.
see my April 25th post above.
jeremy says
can you put hot water into a drip coffee maker….i have heard that if you use hot water instead of cold water it will ruin the coffee maker…true or false…”?
brspiritus says
I just scored a new old stock biggin from Normandy France on Ebay. In it’s original tissue paper and box. A note on home grinders making a fine grind, you must invest in a good burr grinder to be able to do this. I used to have a Hamilton Beach burr grinder and it would make a grind as fine as talcum powder for expresso. Just my .02 cents.
Norma Zellers says
I do not like strong coffee, so I use two heaping scoops for 12 cups of coffee.
Jim McLoughlin says
Please allow me to take exception to Mr. Durfee’s take on New Orleans French drip coffee preparation. First, chicory is simply a matter of taste. If you grew up drinking it daily as cafe au lait it creates the fondest of memories if you now live in Texas and drink some of the dish water they call coffee here. I would say that most New Orleanians would agree that a tablespoon of coffee per 6 ozs. of water plus a tablespoon for the pot would satisfy most New Orleans coffee drinkers. Of course, tastes vary and some might like it stronger or weaker. I have seen some people add the water one tablespoon at a time but this really tests one’s patience. The best advise is to just take your time adding the water. No place in the U.S. made better coffee than New Orleans but things are changing now.
Gioia says
PLEASE: I need a simple formula for my Mr. Coffee automatic drip machine. Mine is a 12 cup pot BUT each of those cups are only 5 oz. What I would truly appreciate is a formula for Strong Coffee and one for Medium Coffee based on the 5oz. cup. Any takers here? Thank you!