How to Find the Best Coffee Maker: Tips and Tricks

For many people the first thing in the morning is their best friend, the coffee maker. Often this friend is their companion throughout the day, whenever they feel like sipping a good cup of coffee. Choosing and finding this companion is as important as most major decisions in the coffee-lovers life. You want the best and deserve to have it, so let's look at the options available and what you should be looking for in a coffee maker.

Obviously, you aren't interested in some off-the-shelf $12 unit at the discount store. You need a good, solid, reliable coffee maker. Above all, you need a quality coffee maker that will give consistent results from the first cup to the thousandth one.

Quality is all-important and many consumer reviews note that a number of the coffee makers on the market today are not very consistent in quality. They deliver mixed results in consistency when brewing coffee and so are not a good choice for the aficionado who wishes to have good coffee every time. These tips will help you find the best coffee maker, so you can have the best coffee possible.

Find the Best Filter

The filter is the unassuming little workhorse that generally gets ignored when coffee is being made. It does its job and is otherwise unnoticed. Different types of filters produce different results in coffee making, however, and it's important to note what kind of filter is being used in the coffee maker you're considering. Basket-style versus cone-type seems trivial, but the two deliver very different results in the final brew. It's not a matter of which filter type is best, but rather what the filter offers (whether it be basket or cone). Contact time with the grounds is what is key here, so whichever style you choose it needs to follow this guideline: more contact time means better coffee. If you use a smaller maker with a lower cups-per-brew capacity, go with cone filters. They have the added benefit of less spillage. If you use a large coffee maker with a higher cup capacity, use the basket-style and try to get the deepest you can. The new "gold tone" filters are premium and have been reviewed as giving the best consistency overall, so if you can afford them, this is the way to go.

Attached Grinder

If the maker you're considering includes a grinder (attached or internal), make sure the grinder is of the best type: burr or blade. If the grinder uses something else, it's likely not to deliver a consistent grind each time, which means the coffee won't be consistently brewed either. The more uniform the grinding, the more uniform the coffee from one batch to the next. A finer grind does not necessarily mean a better brew, however. A "powderized" bean ground will make for watery coffee, as the grains are too small to hold the water long enough to impart their flavor to it. Too course, however, and the same effect happens. A good, consistent, medium to fine grind is what you're after and most good coffee grinders will deliver this.

Color

While this might seem trivial, it actually does play a role in your coffee's taste. Not directly, of course, since the coffee has no idea what color the coffee maker it's being used in is. You do, though, and studies have shown that there is a psychological link between taste and color. Choose a maker in a color that is pleasing to you and that matches the coffee maker's surroundings (décor). Note that it's been shown that white coffee makers tend to rank lower in this regard, probably because of their starkness and how easily they show coffee that has been spilled or overflowed.

There you have it, these three simple items can make the difference between your having a good, quality and consistent cup of coffee and having mixed, undesirable, or downright nasty cups of brew.