Our Cuisinart coffee maker died this morning. We never thought it made very good coffee (our previous Krups made great coffee) anyway, but used it because it worked, which probably sounds dumb, but there it is. We grind our own beans fresh and use filtered water, so it’s all up to the machine from there.
We don’t need, or particularly want a bunch of fancy controls, timers, grinder or that stuff, just a good, basic machine that makes a really good pot of coffee. Suggestions?
The Broken Bullhorn 
A former barista speaks on the art of coffee: Any coffee maker should do the job well as long as it takes no more than 4 minutes to brew the freshly ground beans. I’m sure you know about the proper grind level for a drip coffee maker. Or do you? That enters into the formula for “perfect” coffee, too. Plus, you need to know the proper ratio of ground coffee to water. The rule of thumb for drip coffee is about 2 tablespoons of coffee for every 6 oz of water. We own a Mr Coffee brand maker purchased about ten years go at a place like Target for less than $20. We grind our own beans and buy only good coffee. It has yet to fail us. It’s the quality of the bean, the ratio, and brew time that really determine the best cup of coffee not so much the coffee maker itself. But if your coffee maker takes more than 4 minutes to brew then you’re usually end up with poor quality coffee no matter how good the beans or how clean the water.
Thanks, John. I think the kaput one took longer than that, but the rest of the formula was okay by your guideline. The Cuisinart was a little slower, I think.
Wish I could help but I’m one of those who loves the smell of coffee but cannot bear the taste regardless of what one mixes with it. Ironically one of my favorite treats is dark chocolate covered coffee beans. Go figure.
I got nothing.
We like the Krups too, though I bow to John’s expertise on the measurements.
I think we’ll go buy a Krups today. Hope it makes decent coffee. We’ll follow John’s directions. We do like it strong and black.
Phil prefers Tasters Choice and I barely drink coffee. So I have nothing to offer either.
We did some research and have decided not to buy the Krups. But we can’t decide which to buy, so we’re holding off, using the old machine and still looking.