All About Coffee: What Makes the Best Drip Coffee Maker and Is It The Machine for You?
The best cup of coffee from the best drip coffee maker – this is what everyone wants in the morning before they go to work. However, coffee is a complex beverage: it can be prepared in many ways, offering various strengths and flavors. From the light and delightful latte to the strong and flavored espresso, there are various ways in which people around the world enjoy a cup of coffee.
Some of the drip coffee makers can be sophisticated but how this coffee machine works is quite the same. The drip coffee maker has three main components:
- A water tank;
- A compartment for placing ground coffee in a filter;
- A carafe where freshly made coffee is collected by dripping;
The machine works like this: the water is heated to boiling temperature and dripped over the coffee inside the filter cup. Using only gravity, the hot water seeps through coffee, extracts its oils and essences, and drips down into the carafe. This is the basic functioning principle of all drip coffee makers.
How Good Is the Coffee Made with the Best Drip Coffee Maker?
This type of coffee brewer makes only one type of coffee, called regular coffee. It is not as strong and flavored as the espresso, but it is stronger than cappuccino and latte. You cannot prepare any other type of coffee with this machine; all you can do is add condensed milk or other types of creamers in your cup.
Pros for Choosing a Drip Coffee Maker
Drip coffee makers are the ideal choice in offices where everyone drinks coffee or at home if several family members enjoy morning coffee. The standard carafe of the best drip coffee maker brands holds between 6 and 12 cups and is either a thermal carafe or it is placed on a heating pad which keeps coffee hot as long as the machine is turned on.
Basically, the drip coffee maker is your best choice if you are not a fussy coffee drinker and do not have the time or skill to operate manual coffee machines. All you have to do is fill the water tank, put coffee in the filter compartment and push the On button. You can put as much water as you want in the tank, thus make as many coffees as you want at once.
Cons of Drip Coffee Machines
Even the best drip coffee maker will not pass your test if you are a fine connoisseur of coffee and expect only the best of the best. The drip machine cannot prepare moka coffee, espresso, frappuccino, Turkish coffee or other exclusive varieties of coffee. You have no control over how coffee is brewed and this does not sit well with perfectionists.
Leaving this category of coffee lovers behind, you may find complaints with drip coffee machines if you do not buy a model with high power. These machines take longer time in heating up water and usually the water is poured over coffee at the boiling point, giving coffee a bitter taster (the ideal temperature for brewing is just below the boiling temperature).
Also, most of the drip machine models have a glass carafe and a heating pad, not an insulated carafe. If you plan to make a lot of coffee and drink it throughout the day, you will find that the last cups have bitter and unpleasant coffee tastes (owed to the continuous heating of the brewed coffee).
The quality of the coffee also depends on the size of the grind. The best ground coffee for the best drip coffee maker should be very fine, allowing water to extract all the aroma and oils. Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion between espresso and filter grind size, and most people end up buying the wrong type of ground coffee.
However, at the end of the day, it is all about convenience. People who are on a hurry and want to have their morning cup of coffee before leaving for work will appreciate the quick and easy operation of a drip machine. It does not require constant attention while the coffee is being brewed and the final product is good, strong coffee.
So, if you are looking for the best drip coffee maker, all you need to pay attention to is the power of the machine and the type of carafe it uses, otherwise, most models working in a similar manner.