Getting A New Coffee Maker

True coffee lovers have been known to engage in some very heated arguments over which type of coffee maker actually produces the best coffee. The answer? It all depends. It's as simple as that.

Originally, coffee beans were chewed like vitamins or even candy. The effects were well known by ancient civilizations as they fed them to warriors before battles. Their descendants, however, figured out a more pleasurable way to enjoy coffee beans, and thus was invented real brewed coffee.

Some prefer nothing more than a good old fashioned pot of coffee that was made over an open fire. Cowboys had their coffee like this for decades as they conquered the Wild West. They drank it straight up - no girly stuff like cream and sugar. Even if you didn't head out to rustle cattle or roam the open range, these same coffee makers were used at home as well. And as anyone who ever percolated a pot of coffee over an open fire will attest to, they will ultimately boil over if not tended to properly.

Fast forward to the late 1950s. A leading houseware manufacturer invented the electric percolator and women scooped them up by the thousands. These worked on the same principle - water boiling up through the coffee grounds - but they had built it controls and monitoring devices to virtually prevent any messy mishaps. Just follow the simple directions and within minutes you'll have very good cup of java.

No major changes occurred until the 1970s when the drip coffee maker showed up. Housewives loved this new invention as well and many families even preferred the end result. These drip coffee makers did just that - they dripped. They water would be trickled from above, over the coffee grounds, and the coffee would drip into the pot. Water was kept separate and only touched the coffee grounds once, as opposed to a percolator where the coffee would continue to bubble through the grounds. Of course, what many women really loved was the fact that they could buy one to match their kitchen; they came in a variety of popular colors of the day from white to avocado.

Nothing much changed until the late 1980s when gourmet coffees became a hit and machinery to brew these new coffees was made available to residential homes, not just restaurants and coffee houses. Machines that made cappuccino and espresso and latte became the rage. Much more expensive than the regular coffee makers everyone used for their morning caffeine hits, these machines were big, bulky, expensive - and selling like hot cakes. Coffee lovers proudly displayed their new espresso machines right next to their regular coffee makers.

American technology didn't advance much further so we looked towards other cultures and borrowed from them. We became fascinated with the French press and what we call "the Cuban coffee maker". Both of these coffee makers tend to produce a very rich, and very strong cup of coffee, not always appreciated by the average American coffee lover. These two machines make coffee in the typical "drip" method, however, the grounds are very fine thereby holding onto the water for a longer time, increasing the strength of the ultimate brew.

Whether you prefer your coffee strong, average, or even a variety, there's a machine to suit your needs.

John McKain used many coffee makers in his restaurant and knows how to choose the best coffee maker that makes great coffee. He writes reviews and talks about his coffee makers in his best coffee maker reviews blog.

Shopping for an Espresso Machine? Here's a selection at affordable prices:

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Tags: coffee, coffee maker, coffee makers, coffeemaker, Drinks, electrical appliances, home, office, shopping

April 26 2010 11:46 am | coffee

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