I come seeking wisdom, but will settle for caffeination.

[lagilman]

Oh Internets, show me your combined wisdom. I need to replace my coffee maker, aka "Old Faithful." I have limited counter space, no need for an espresso machine (I had one and gave it away), and generally drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day (real cups, not what they claim is a cup).

So. Hand over your recs.

Also, I am tempted, based on the love I have for my wee travel-sized French Press, to buy a larger size one for everyday use, but am not sure how well that would work out for a full morning's iv drip....

Comments

[kriz1818.livejournal.com]

Our French Press makes 2 mugs of coffee, and my addicted, IV-drip-requiring husband thinks it's great. It also takes up less counter space than your typical electric coffee maker and doesn't have to be plugged in all the time.

[lagilman]

What brand, what model?

(I have basic Bodrun that makes one mug - I suspect they call it a 2-cup but I laugh at that description, laugh I say)

[kriz1818.livejournal.com]

For you, I trudge downstairs to the kitchen for the first time today to find out. (Okay, I also made my first cup of tea ... ;-) )

It's a Mr. Coffee "Coffee Press," aka "the cheapest one on the shelf." It makes 32 ounces or 8 cups - which shows, by the way, that they mean literal measuring-ingredients cups, which are 8 oz, while the typical regular coffee mug holds about 12 oz, and our larger mugs hold about 16 oz ... or two "cups" from this coffee press.

It appears from Amazon's listings (out of which I could NOT pick ours, hence the trip downstairs) that larger ones are available.

[lagilman]

Thanks! (and yeah, our ideas of a "cup" of coffee are about equal)

Me: "But I only have 2-3 cups a day!"

Dr: "Uh-huh..."

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I operate with a Melitta cone, #2 filters, and boil the water in a microwave pot. Can't get much simpler.

[lagilman]

The thought of "boiling" water in a microwave just made me gag. Sorry. :-)


(I was a tea drinker before I was a coffee drinker, and microwaved water tastes 'flat' to me, because it never properly boils.)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

The "pot" is a glass sphere and actually will boil water safely. Full rolling boil. Don't know if it would meet your higher standards.

[lagilman]

Most microwaved water is superheated, bypassing the essential moment of roil/maximum combination of heat & oxygen. Or so it was explained to me, when I griped about microwaved water...

(and that, ladies and gents, is how/why the geology department started boiling tea water over the gas jets in the chem lab. Shhhhh, don't tell...)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Nothing save inertia prevents me from boiling water on the stove. The rest of the system stands independent.

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

I use a no-longer-made Gevalia machine; it was a gift, and I've been using it every workday since 2004. Its innards are a #2-sized cone filter. I find it's perfect for my work mornings. Maybe see what Gevalia have in stock now?

[tialessa.livejournal.com]

I have a plain boring Mr Coffee - no frills. It was around $30 & I got 20% off with a Bed/Bath/Beyond coupon. I'm not a heavy coffee drinker, but I DO use the huge-ass mugs so those 12 cups equal 3 fill-ups on my super mugs. (I also use it for tea - let it boil the water & seep the tea in the coffee pot. This occasionally horrifies my coffee-religious family/friends)

[lagilman]

I have a Mr. Coffee now, and it has severed me faithfully for almost two decades.

However, the thought of making tea in a pot that has held coffee.... ack. The coffee oils remain, no matter how well you wash something, and will filter into the taste of the tea. I know some folk don't mind/notice but that's like nails on a chalkboard to me.

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

I use a couple of Bodum French Press cafetieres in the office; the "3-cup" size (0.35litre/12oz) which doesn't quite fill a normal sized mug. This seems to work fairly well, and with a good dark roast produces coffee strong enough to satisfy my caffeine addiction. Bodum also do "4-cup" (0.5litre/17oz) and "8-cup" (1.0litre/34oz) sizes.

At home I have another French Press, and a DeLonghi espresso machine, bought to replace a fairly basic Gaggia one which never worked very well. The new one is easier to operate and maintain, but the quality of coffee is still disappointing.

I've also been served espresso from several machines which use individual foil packets of ground coffee - the results can be OK, but not to the point of wanting to buy one.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Does not compute? Should I assume you meant the 'standard' 4oz tasse à café size? 8 of those would fit in 32 oz.

(I, being British, have no real feeling for what size a measuring cup is supposed to be, though I thought it was half one of your slim-line US pints. Or in other words 8oz.)

I have always understood there to be a capacity difference between a cup and a mug, just as there is between a glass and a tankard. As one who almost always drinks coffee from a mug, I reckon half an imperial pint is a decent size (i.e. 10 oz in US terms) for a mug, but a full pint is not outrageous.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

If your cups were demitasse size, then that's ony 4-6 fluid ounces. Which isn't much.

(Though usually being used for espresso, it's not so limiting in the caffeine.)

[lagilman]

The advertising for the coffee presses (and coffee makers in general) says "cups." It does not specify a cup size, nor that they intend a measuring cup measurement. So.. interpretations vary until you break down the per-oz stats.

Their cup =/= my 14 oz coffee mug, hence the doctor-discussion humor (I drink too much for my stomach's ease)

[lagilman]

The 34 oz size sounds like it will be what I need of a morning. Also, I found one on-line made by Oxo, which pleases me. Oxo stuff has served me well in the past....

[controuble.livejournal.com]

I have never used a French press, but if you are going with a standard electric coffee maker, make sure to get one that uses cone filters rather than basket - the difference is amazing. My current pot is a 12-cup (6 mug) Hamilton Beach, but I really miss my Krups and those used to be available in the 4-cup size which made 2 mugs. Unfortunately, Krups is rather too pricey when unemployed.

[girasole.livejournal.com]

The Other Three of my Household use, and love, a Zo.

http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-EC-BD15BAFresh-Thermal-Carafe-Coffee/dp/B0000X7CMQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1334501336&sr=1-1

We didn't buy it from Amazon, but that's where I found the picture. They are very serious coffee drinkers, grind their own beans, sometimes even roast them. The Zo has coffee ready when the First Guy gets up at 6am.

I do not drink coffee, ever. It upsets my digestion mightily. But I am a serious and snobby tea drinker, as you know .

[ramblin-phyl.livejournal.com]

I am so not a connoisseur, so I use whatever cheap drip machine I can find, add a permanent mesh filter, or natural paper brown filters. It's the coffee and the water you put inside, not the maker.

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

I have a Bodum French Press and a Bialetti. I use the Bialetti more but the Bodum makes a good cup of coffee.

[fireun.livejournal.com]

Do you want my larger French Press? I don't use it any more, and I can send it along (was used very lightly for about three months). It filled my mug, for pre-work caffeine, and then the travel mug for work.

[cepetit.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

If you get a drip coffeemaker, the first thing to do is get yourself a "permanent" metal-foil filter and never go near the paper ones (you can, instead, use them for making up spice sachets for making clear broths). The paper filters adsorb* some of the essential tasty oils -- ones that, in a proper roast, balance some of the alleged off-note bitterness.

And I would never choose a Mr Awful brand coffeemaker -- they consistently produce weaker coffee than better, but still-affordable, machines like Hamilton Beach, Black & Decker, and (slightly less affordable, but still ok) the Bunn consumer-oriented line. But then, I grew up in Seattle when "Starbucks" still meant "the plural of that character from [the original] Battlestar Galactica", and used to host Arab diplomats, so I suppose my preference for coffee that can stand on its own is at least understandable...

* Yes, that's spelled correctly; according to one undergraduate degree, I'm a biochemist.

[graygirl.livejournal.com]

I'm French Press all the way.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

we just purchased a Hamilton Beach "The Scoop" 2-way brewer about a month ago, and we love it. It has both a regular 12-cup carafe, and a single cup brew on one side.

So my husband gets a full pot in the monring, and I can have a cup whenever I want throughout the afternoon and evening. (BTW, you don't have to use the pictured cup for the single brew. I just stick my coffee cup under there.)

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/kitchen-appliances/coffeemakers/drip-coffeemaker-ratings/models/overview/hamilton-beach-the-scoop-two-way-brewer-49980-99042511.htm

[lagilman]

That looks very cool, and would use more than half my available counter space... (NYC galley kitchen! It's wonderful but compact)

[saruby.livejournal.com]

Most manufactures use a 6oz. "cup" size, in my experience. In other words, laughable.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the ittle bitty kitchens....I tend to forget ;o)

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

I see what you mean about caffeinated...

The standard French Press is meant for making coffee to be drunk immediately, but I believe there are double-wall glass versions which would probably keep it warm for rather longer. However, I'm not sure what the effect on strength and taste would be of leaving the last mugful sitting on the coffee grounds for a couple of hours.

[lagilman]

Typically I drink my coffee between 6am and 9 am - anything longer than that and it's the dread nuke-it-warm routine.

[blazedglory.livejournal.com]

Just replaced our old Proctor-Silex with a new fancier Proctor-Silex. Sixteen dollars for the shelf model. The fancy part is the pour-and-serve bit, useful mostly when hubby has to run out the door before the coffee's done.

[axsister.livejournal.com]

I second/triple/join the chorus on the French Press. Since we got one last year our poor coffee maker was ignored until I've finally packed it away in a dusty corner already forgotten. What I've taken to doing for morning computer work is preparing my perfect first cup and then pouring the rest into a travel mug/thermos/whathaveyou and bringing it with me to the computron and then each time I want a warm up or refill I simply top it off without having to even stand. It's a little more work to set up each morning than the simple coffepot but oh so worth it.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Go not to the internets for advice, for they will say both this and that...

Having said which, I used to have a drip-filter machine, but I only ever liked the first cup out of the pot; I like my coffee fresh (and the beans freshly ground, but that's a whole other issue). So I have been a French-press devotee for years now. And I adore my current model utterly: it was a wedding gift from fireun, and it's a Bodum Young 8-cup, and it has double walls so you won't burn yourself on the glass and a rubberised frame so you won't shatter the glass when you accidentally knock it against something. I would give you a link, but Bed Bath & Beyond is no longer selling it on the internets; we got there just in time, apparently. Look elsewhere. (Also, it's red and black. Honestly, it's the coolest thing.)

[lagilman]

Oh, I grind my own (although I admit to doing a few days' worth at a time, because I'm lazy and noise first thing in the morning hurts me, even when I'm stone cold not hungover.

I'd looked at the Bodum Young, actually. Hrm.

Also? you will be getting a prezzie from me once things have settled down over there. I'm a firm believer in after-party prezzies. ;-)

[lrcutter.livejournal.com]

I use an aeropress. It's portable, I take it with me when I'm traveling, and it doesn't take up much room.

http://aerobie.com/products/aeropress.htm

I then use an electric kettle for heating my water. It has a thermometer built into it, so I can get the water temperature right when I'm making coffee (170) or tea.

It means making an Americano every time you want coffee, but it makes a sweet, non-acidic cup every time.

[lagilman]

I already have a single-serve Bodum press for traveling, if needed (or when I know I'll only have time/need for one cup. This would be for the work-at-home days.

Another vote for AeroPress

[wolffire.livejournal.com]

I second the aeropress recommendation, especially because of your comments above regarding microwaved water. And that you grind your own. Great flavor from good beans every time and way better than the typical drip variety machine.

Also, if you go aeropress and are sensitive to the flavor of paper filters, I'd sugget getting the permanent filter right away: http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/coffee-brewers/aeropress/coava-disk-stainless-steel-filter-for-aeropress-brewer.html
That's going to be my next coffee gear investment.

Also, I'm headed to THE coffee convention of the year this week. I'll report back if I see anything other than what's been mentioned already.

[kriz1818.livejournal.com]

Americans, at least in the Northeast, tend to use "cup" to refer to any drinking vessel that isn't made of glass (and sometimes even those that *are* made of glass). Even when we're talking about mugs. At the same time, measuring of ingredients is indeed based on the 8-oz "cup."

And believe me, around here you have to make an effort to find drinking vessels smaller than 8 oz. This is, after all, the country that pioneered the cardboard drinking vessel size range that *starts* with "large."

(And what are drinking vessels made of glass called? Glasses, of course. Even when they're imperial pints. Isn't language fun?)