What's the Best Coffee Maker?

[Madmick]

I want to stay under $50, or are any differences substantial enough to matter with a price range this cheap? I don't know anything about coffee makers or coffee extraction beyond the most rudimentary fundamentals (i.e. ~20% of soluble extraction is ideal, and coffee is far more complex than wine in terms of its natural variation of substances like tannins):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coffee_chemicals#Tables
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_extraction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_preparation


COFFEE MACHINES

Anyways, it seems like french presses are the way to go, since all the machines seem to use a drip method, but I was curious about them, too. The below $35 Mr. Coffee (5,820 reviews, 3.8/5) is the #1 bestseller on Amazon for all "Coffee Machines".
If one did want a machine that produced a substantially better cup of joe by flavor extraction due to consistency of heat/pressure/whatever, then how much would I be looking to spend, what would be the chief thing I would look for, and how much of a difference does this make? We're just talking normal coffee, here, not espresso, so I'm not sure if any expenditure above a rinkadink $12 Walmart Mr. Coffee machine makes a worthwhile difference:
Amazon product ASIN B0047Y0UQO
This $142 Keurig K575 (3,783 reviews, 3.9/5) is a big step up and the #3 bestseller in the "Coffee & Espresso Machine Cleaning Products" (I'm not sure if this simply means it's self-cleaning) and the most popular unit I'm seeing that offers guaranteed temperature control; if I'm comprehending the brewing process correctly this is all that matters for flavor with these drip machines besides the beans themselves. It also sports nice luxuries like a color touchscreen, but I'm mostly interested in making a better flavored cup of coffee:
Amazon product ASIN B018UQ5VEK

Spoiler

To really step above that you have to go industrial with the familiar BUNN design for $240 that you see in cafes and diners around the country, but I just don't see how these produce better coffee. They're just designed to make buckets of it for years without dying:
Amazon product ASIN B0037XIP22

FRENCH PRESSES

This $29 Bodum Chambord (1,006 reviews, 4.4/5) is the original french press design by a Danish company (now Swiss) which popularized the device globally in the 1980's-- it had been invented by an Italian in 1929. Nevertheless, Amazon lists the country of origin for manufacture as Portugal. So...Italian, Danish, Swiss, Portugese. Yeah, totally makes sense to call it a "French Press". In any case, this is still the #1 bestseller in that category. The internal components are all stainless steel and will not affect flavor. The reason these should be superior to drip machines is that they add pressure to the equation for extracting the flavor solubles:
Amazon product ASIN B00008XEWG
This $40 SterlingPro (1,285 reviews, 4.8/5) is the #1 bestseller in the "Commercial Espresso Machines and Coffee Makers" category, and is an alternative to the Bodum with an unrivaled premium double-walled 100% stainless steel build which keeps the water hot while the grounds steep. It also sports the modern double-filter design filtering the grounds in order to ensure they don't make it into the cup. I suppose the only sacrifice is that you can't see the liquid. This is averaging 4.8 stars with Amazon reviewers and is the heavy frontrunner with me right now:
Amazon product ASIN B00MMQOZ1U


I don't comprehend the difference between all these categories, perfectly. Any resident coffee experts here? I need some education and guidance. What's the best way to do this?

 

[dildos]

my sisters friend really likes aero press and he swears by it for a great coffee and he is a coffee junkie/hipster too. this link says $45 AUD so thats like $33 USD

https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/kitchen/coffee-machines/articles/aeropress-review

 

[Madmick]

Yeah, it's $30, here. That looks pretty dope. Do you know what advantages it offers the traditional french presses? Because it is plastic, so I'm wondering if it's the paper filter system that appeals to its fans. It's the #2 bestseller in the "Espresso Machines and Coffeemaker Combos" category and the #5 bestseller in the "French Press" category.
Amazon product ASIN B000GXZ2GS

 

[Cheese]

I have one and mainly use it on weekend and after dinner but the taste differnce between this and the daily morning krueig i use is night and day.

 

[Cheese]

 

[BJ@LW&WW]

Yeah, it's $30, here. That looks pretty dope. Do you know what advantages it offers the traditional french presses? Because it is plastic, so I'm wondering if it's the paper filter system that appeals to its fans. It's the #2 bestseller in the "Espresso Machines and Coffeemaker Combos" category and the #5 bestseller in the "French Press" category.
Amazon product ASIN B000GXZ2GS

aeropress has the advantage of generating a little bit of pressure during extraction, which most would believe gives you better extraction. if you get either, i recommend also buying a reusable steel mesh strainer to go with it instead of a paper filter. a large part of flavor in coffee comes from oil compounds that get trapped in paper filters. also, you dont have to keep buying new filters.

if you want a coffee stronger than your typical american drip coffee for cheap, id say either aeropress or moka pot is the way to go. these both are far less automated than what most people use so you will have to play around with some variables to dial in on your favorite brew method. personally i enjoyed that process in teh beginning, so if you think you would too, i'd definitely go for one of these.

the moka pot typically makes stronger coffee than the aeropress and also typically extracts at higher pressure, but used improperly its very easy to let the temperature get too high and end up imparting a burnt taste in your coffee.

the classic moka pot is the bialetti, which i think you can get for around 20$. it is made with aluminum and can rust quickly if not taken care of well, and even when taken care of it will still rust eventually. the stainless steel pots from bialetti are more expensive, but there are other brands that also make them for less than 20$. i've bought two from off brands. one was garbage, the other ive been using for quite some time now with no issues.

 

[Madmick]

aeropress has the advantage of generating a little bit of pressure during extraction, which most would believe gives you better extraction. if you get either, i recommend also buying a reusable steel mesh strainer to go with it instead of a paper filter. a large part of flavor in coffee comes from oil compounds that get trapped in paper filters. also, you dont have to keep buying new filters.

if you want a coffee stronger than your typical american drip coffee for cheap, id say either aeropress or moka pot is the way to go. these both are far less automated than what most people use so you will have to play around with some variables to dial in on your favorite brew method. personally i enjoyed that process in teh beginning, so if you think you would too, i'd definitely go for one of these.

the moka pot typically makes stronger coffee than the aeropress and also typically extracts at higher pressure, but used improperly its very easy to let the temperature get too high and end up imparting a burnt taste in your coffee.

the classic moka pot is the bialetti, which i think you can get for around 20$. it is made with aluminum and can rust quickly if not taken care of well, and even when taken care of it will still rust eventually. the stainless steel pots from bialetti are more expensive, but there are other brands that also make them for less than 20$. i've bought two from off brands. one was garbage, the other ive been using for quite some time now with no issues.

But don't the $28 Bodum Chambord and $40 SterlingPro Double-Wall presses I listed in the OP also add pressure? It's not like those are prohibitively more expensive, and they appear to be made out of much better quality materials. The latter is made in China, but hey, it's pure stainles steel (including even the mesh filter). Both are dishwasher-safe. They are also the bestselling units of all coffee presses on Amazon.

This Cook's Illustrated roundup review offered the most detailed and useful information of all the articles I researched on the web about coffee presses. My favorite aspect of it is how they divided their reviews into three categories with a high score of 3* for each: Heat Retention, Quality of Coffee, and Ease of Use/Cleanup. Now that is really nailing my criteria in this search on the head. They read my mind. A drawback they list for the #1 bestseller Bodum Chambord is that it has a thin glass wall, so it doesn't retain heat well:
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/1441-french-press-coffee-makers

They have the upscaled $59 Bodum Columbia (689 reviews, 4.5/5) which is also double-walled stainless steel as their highest recommendation among all French Presses. It's heat retention should be great; in fact it is the #8 bestseller in the "Thermal Carafe" category at Amazon. Unlike the Chambord above, which is listed as having an origin in Portugal, this unit is apparently also made in China:
Amazon product ASIN B00005YY9X

 

[Big Burly]

Personal opinion here...

If you put anything in your coffee, milk, cream, sugar, flavorings, etc, then get a standard coffee maker or Keurig.

If you appreciate good black coffee, then go for a Moka pot or French press. If you need the coffee to be really hot, then the French press is out because by the time the extraction is complete, the coffee is very warm but not really hot.

 

[TeTe]

As a coffe snob.. you can never go wrong with a press.

But I also use a pretty basic Mr Coffee maker as well for mornings when I just don't have time. Delay brew is God's gift.

Personally, I think K-cups taste like complete garbage.

 

[BJ@LW&WW]

keep in mind if you plan on buying coffee that is not preground, youll need to throw some dough down for a grinder as well. there are blade grinders and burr grinders. one of the most important things in grinding is uniformity; if you have a distribution of small and learge particles extracting under the same conditions, either the small particles will be overextracted, the large under, or both. burr is superior but also costs more. you can get manual burr grinders of decent quailty for ~20$, but they are quite tedious to use. ive seen some automatic ones for ~50, but havent used them and they seem to get mixed reviews.

But don't the $28 Bodum Chambord and $40 SterlingPro Double-Wall presses I listed in the OP also add pressure? It's not like those are prohibitively more expensive, and they appear to be made out of much better quality materials. The latter is made in China, but hey, it's pure stainles steel (including even the mesh filter). Both are dishwasher-safe. They are also the bestselling units of all coffee presses on Amazon.

This Cook's Illustrated roundup review offered the most detailed and useful information of all the articles I researched on the web about coffee presses. My favorite aspect of it is how they divided their reviews into three categories with a high score of 3* for each: Heat Retention, Quality of Coffee, and Ease of Use/Cleanup. Now that is really nailing my criteria in this search on the head. They read my mind. A drawback they list for the #1 bestseller Bodum Chambord is that it has a thin glass wall, so it doesn't retain heat well:
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/1441-french-press-coffee-makers

They have the upscaled $59 Bodum Columbia (689 reviews, 4.5/5) which is also double-walled stainless steel as their highest recommendation among all French Presses. It's heat retention should be great; in fact it is the #8 bestseller in the "Thermal Carafe" category at Amazon:
Amazon product ASIN B00005YY9X

Regular french presses do not operate under pressure. the plunger in them is for separation; it pushes the grounds to the bottom and leaves the liquid behind so you can pour it out. in the aeropress, the grounds are mixed with water in a similar way but then the water is pushed down using the plunger and trapped air through the coffee grounds and then into the bottom chamber.

its not like espresso or even the moka pot where the coffee grounds are a truly uniform bed that liquid passes through, but it is similar.

Personal opinion here...

If you put anything in your coffee, milk, cream, sugar, flavorings, etc, then get a standard coffee maker or Keurig.

If you appreciate good black coffee, then go for a Moka pot or French press. If you need the coffee to be really hot, then the French press is out because by the time the extraction is complete, the coffee is very warm but not really hot.

i drink my coffee with a little bit of whole milk and sugar. there is still a huge difference between a mokapot, aeropress, and a standard coffee machine.

 

[Madmick]

Regular french presses do not operate under pressure. the plunger in them is for separation; it pushes the grounds to the bottom and leaves the liquid behind so you can pour it out. in the aeropress, the grounds are mixed with water in a similar way but then the water is pushed down using the plunger and trapped air through the coffee grounds and then into the bottom chamber.

its not like espresso or even the moka pot where the coffee grounds are a truly uniform bed that liquid passes through, but it is similar.

Ahhhhhh, and there's the light bulb. So the reason I'm seeing these cultish love-filled reviews from self-professed coffee snobs for the Aeropress is because it actually DOES apply pressure similar to the legit espresso machines which only start at $80 (and my friend who is a professional chef and makes the most ungodly coffee says the ones really worth buying are $400+). Nice. So it really is the poor man's espresso maker. Okay, I have to admit, that has me a little hard.

*Edit* Damn, I can see from Grinderman's chart below that the only drawback to the Aeropress for me is that it only makes 1 cup at a time. I'm looking for the ability to make a 20 oz. batch.

 

[dildos]

Yeah, it's $30, here. That looks pretty dope. Do you know what advantages it offers the traditional french presses? Because it is plastic, so I'm wondering if it's the paper filter system that appeals to its fans. It's the #2 bestseller in the "Espresso Machines and Coffeemaker Combos" category and the #5 bestseller in the "French Press" category.
Amazon product ASIN B000GXZ2GS

have a read of this link, pretty informative.
- http://coffee-brewing-methods.com/coffee-maker/aeropress-vs-french-press/

summary pic

Here is a summary of the differences between the two brewing devices:

• Brewing time: AeroPress has a shorter brewing time, 1:30 to 2 minutes, whereas French press brewing needs around 5 minutes.
• AeroPress uses pressure to improve extraction, French press does not.
• The grind is coarser with French press, in order to avoid grounds in the brewed liquid, AeroPress uses a fine grind which allows more soluble solids to be extracted.
• The standard AeroPress kit contains only paper filters, which create a cleaner beverage, whereas French pots cup is more bodied, containing more oils an suspended solids. There are, however, third party metallic disk filters, and mesh filters.
• Coffee gets hotter from the AeroPress. In a press pot, the coffee gets colder during the 5 minutes needed for brewing.
• French press can easily brew 4-6 cups at a time, with some pots with 12 cup capacity. AeroPress can only brew one serving at a time.
• Aeropress can be cleaned easier.
• With standard press pots you invariably get some fine silt in your coffee, many times you get some grounds too. Aeropress coffee is clean.

 

[windkick]

Thanks for the input in here, I have a french press and had been wondering if I should get a aero-press and if it was any different.

 

[windkick]

Goddamn that's allot of fucking work for a cup of joe. Motherfucker is using scales and shit

 

[BJ@LW&WW]

Ahhhhhh, and there's the light bulb. So the reason I'm seeing these cultish love-filled reviews from self-professed coffee snobs for the Aeropress is because it actually DOES apply pressure similar to the legit espresso machines which only start at $80 (and my friend who is a professional chef and makes the most ungodly coffee says the ones really worth buying are $400+). Nice. So it really is the poor man's espresso maker. Okay, I have to admit, that has me a little hard.

yes, but keep in mind real espresso is made under like 900 kPa and something special happens at pressure that high in that volatile compounds that would typically be lost in the air actually temporarily become emulsified in the liquid in what they would call the crema and that is one part of why espresso tastes good. with the mokapot, you can get up to about 200kpa depending on the relief valve that is used and how well packed the bed of coffee you make is. with the aeropress, you'll get even less than that pushing as hard as you can, so neither of these really make something similar to espresso. however, it is closer to espresso than any other common method and both are designed such that you can make a cup of coffee stronger than other common methods.

 

[Madmick]

Goddamn that's allot of fucking work for a cup of joe. Motherfucker is using scales and shit

Sometimes that's the only way to make a really great drink worth living for. For example, if you are a bartender, there is simply nothing that will replace the time it takes to make a proper Mojito or Daquiri or Caiparinha. You have to muddle the mint, you have to squeeze the lime fresh, you have to use fresh simple syrup with the right hydration level to complement the rum.

The first time you have a truly proper Mojito or Mint Julep or Whiskey Sour or Ramos Fizz you never forget it. The last there is truly a high-skill drink to make and quite an experience. All of these will knock you on your ass and it's like you're drinking a grown-up's candy. True Daquiris are NOT a girly drink, and are NOT to be fucked with (especially if you've spiked them with some overproof rum).

But as you can see with the knowledge BJ is dropping the real key is pressure, and that's what separates the espresso machines from the sissy crap. I've tasted the difference between french presses and coffee machines, and that's why I didn't see any way it was possible I wouldn't be getting a press, but I was open to enlightenment if there was some machine technology I overlooked. Clearly, the only machines that can compete are legit espresso machines. Don't want to spend that much.

 

[Madmick]

So this is the Moka Pot, right, @BJ@LW&WW?
Amazon product ASIN B000CNY6UKJust $35. Can make more than a cup and appears to be of higher quality build. I don't need the portability of the plastic.

*Edit* Whoops, the "cups" are 2 oz., not 4 oz., so this is only 12 oz. The 12-cup version (24 oz.) sits right at the crest of my listed price range @$51. Serendipitous:
Amazon product ASIN B000CNY6UK

 

[BJ@LW&WW]

i dont see any pictures but yeah Amazon product ASIN B000CNY6UK is the original aluminum one. for the moka pot, an actual 12oz of coffee is a lot of coffee as it is very concentrated and from my experience, you'll get a little less than what the pot is called. for the moka pot i probably use about 2x more coffee per volume of liquid in the final product as compared to most brewed coffee.

 

[touchedbyjab]

Personal opinion here...

If you put anything in your coffee, milk, cream, sugar, flavorings, etc, then get a standard coffee maker or Keurig.

If you appreciate good black coffee, then go for a Moka pot or French press. If you need the coffee to be really hot, then the French press is out because by the time the extraction is complete, the coffee is very warm but not really hot.

I agree with this. Just get a $20 Mr. Coffee unless you like the taste of coffee black.

 

[Cheese]

Goddamn that's allot of fucking work for a cup of joe. Motherfucker is using scales and shit

you should see how hew makes vacuum pot coffee


Its looks like a some good coffee. I would like to try a cup of of vacuumm brewed coffee