The Coffee Makers

Welcome to The Coffee Makers – For People Who Just Love Coffee…

If you're a  coffee addict then you’ve certainly come to the right place.  Here at The Coffee Makers, we hope to give you the best information on anything to do with Coffee.  From how to make the perfect cup, right through to coffee recipes and finding the best coffee brewers for you.

So lets get started, lets talk coffee and in particular, coffee makers.    

Coffee makers have been around, not surprisingly, almost as long as coffee itself. The very first coffee brewer was the ‘Turkish Ibrik’, a copper vessel with a long handle and a grooved tongue. Surprisingly it’s still used in the Middle East today, and produces a very strong brew since it has no actual filter in place.

For those more interested in drinking a beverage rather than eating pure coffee grounds, a wide variety of types are available from the plain to the esoteric. We’ve narrowed down a few things to look out for when buying a coffee maker...

A large percentage of coffee brewers today are the cheap drip models. Simply pour water in at the top and watch as the water passes through coffee grounds and into a glass pot sitting on a heating plate which is heated by means of an electric coil.

But beyond these basics types of makers, there are a few features that are handy to have.

The 'degree of brew desired' control is a minimum requirement, but more control rather than less is always more beneficial to the coffee drinking connoisseur.

Auto-shutoff is handy for those who forget to turn it off. Most people these days are too busy to wait for the brewing process to complete, so they remove the pot before the water has finished draining. In the past, coffee would continue to drip, splashing onto the heating plate. The automatic shut-off solves this by stopping the water flow when the pot is lifted.

The illuminated displays also help on those dark mornings when you can't find the light switch and haven't yet had your coffee to get your eyes completely open.

Cleaning has been made easier, too, by the invention of coffee 'pods' - small pre-measured paper containers of coffee through which the water flows. They have the added advantage of providing good filtering for grounds. Once the brewing is complete you just pop them out (after they've cooled!) and toss them into the waste basket. Essential for the busy - and opposed to cleaning up - coffee drinker.

Several models of coffee brewers are available with water filters, essential for the urban dweller where the city supply often tastes like the local swimming pool. The coffee filters are pricey, but a perfect cup of coffee is priceless.

Permanent coffee filter styles can be had, but with the coffee pods they're much less important. Debates rage over the environmental impact and the taste effect of the paper from the pods. Vote your conscience.

Some coffee makers even have integrated bean grinders, but I prefer to do that in a separate device for easier clean up. I haven't seen one, but wouldn't be surprised if there were even integrated roaster/grinder/brewers.

In my opinion that really is taking things a little too far. Sometimes the old-fashioned ways are best. Maybe the Turks have something there. My coffee has been tasting a little weak, lately...

Make sure you check out the rest of our Website for more coffee related information.