A drip coffee maker allows you to quickly and easily make delicious coffee. No special skills are required, and the device is inexpensive. However, there are still some nuances here. Let’s figure out how to make coffee no worse than in a coffee shop – and what to pay attention to when choosing a drip coffee maker .
Contents
Operating principle
First, let’s figure out how a drip coffee maker works – this will help you better understand the features of preparation.
Coffee in a drip coffee maker is brewed in much the same way as in a pour-over. Hot water is poured through ground beans in a filter. The device is also not much more complicated than that of a funnel.
Main elements:
- water tank;
- heating element;
- coffee compartment;
- connecting tubes;
- coffee pot for ready-made drink.
The heating element is usually located in the platform under the coffee pot. So it can not only heat the water, but also heat the finished coffee.
Water is poured into the reservoir, ground coffee is poured into the compartment above the coffee pot. The brewing cycle starts.
- Water from the tank flows down the tube and enters the heating element through a one-way valve.
- The water is heated until bubbles appear.
- Pressure is created and the water rises up the tube to the coffee compartment. At the same time, the valve does not allow the water to return to the reservoir. It has only one way – up.
- The tube through which hot water flows ends above the coffee compartment. Water from it gradually pours onto the coffee, and the finished drink drips into the coffee pot.
A drip coffee maker usually brews from half a liter to a liter of coffee at a time, although there are also larger models. The system is simple – and at the same time allows you to make a lot of drink at one time. Therefore, such models are often used in cafes. If the menu says “filter coffee”, then it is a drink from a drip coffee maker.
Recipe
Strictly speaking, practically nothing is required from the user to prepare coffee.
First, fill the tank with water. Most models pour out all the water in one cycle. Therefore, fill in as much as you want to get.
If you use a paper filter, it is worth pre-wetting it. This will reduce the chances of the coffee retaining “cardboard notes”. Some models have a pre-wetting function, but nothing prevents you from doing it yourself.
Pour ground coffee into the filter. Proportions: 30 g of beans for 500 ml of the finished drink. Some models come with reusable nylon or metal filters. Others are designed for disposable paper filters.
The coffee should be lightly tamped – just lightly. If you press too hard, the water will pass through the coffee with difficulty. The drink itself will be bitter. And if you don’t tamp it at all, some of the coffee may float up when brewing, and the taste will be watery.
Close the coffee compartment, start the brewing process and wait. The brewing time depends on the power and volume. On average, up to five minutes per half liter.
In some models, the design allows you to open the compartment without interrupting the process. In this case, you can try to stir the coffee poured with water slightly. Sometimes this improves the taste of the drink. Sometimes, on the contrary – it all depends on the coffee maker, but it is worth checking.
The finished coffee is kept warm. In most models, as mentioned above, the platform under the coffee pot is heated. There are options with a thermos coffee pot, in which the platform is not heated.
Everything is simple and convenient: in the morning you can quickly make coffee for the whole family. But there are tricks that will help improve the taste of the finished drink.
Coffee and grinding
It is better to buy coffee beans and grind them before brewing: the taste and aroma are preserved longer in beans. Ground coffee will lose half of its aroma in a couple of days. After a week of storage, the taste of the resulting drink will become flat.
Roasting
Medium roast is suitable for a drip coffee maker. You can take dark, but then the coffee will be more bitter. Light roast coffee with this method of brewing will almost certainly be too acidic and flat. Although here, of course, everything depends on taste.
Grinding
Medium grinding is suitable for brewing in a filter – the size of fine salt. If you grind coarser, the coffee may come out watery: the larger the particles, the more time it takes to brew. Finely ground coffee will make a drink that is too bitter. In addition, its particles can get into the cup through a nylon or metal filter.
Coffee grinder
For delicious coffee, you need a uniform grind. When the particles are the same size, extraction occurs evenly, which results in a richer taste. This type of grind is only possible in burr grinders. Most household electric coffee grinders are blade grinders.
In blade coffee grinders, the beans are cut with blades, like in a blender. Therefore, ground coffee may contain large particles (even whole beans). The longer the coffee is ground, the finer the grind will be, but even so, large particles may still be present. And it is impossible to achieve a uniform medium grind.
Burr grinders grind beans by rubbing them between burrs. This ensures that the grind is uniform and repeatable. You can set up the grinder once and get the same results every day.
Until recently, the author believed that the main thing is quality beans and proper roasting. And with this confidence, he ground good expensive beans in a good blade coffee grinder. The result was quite tasty coffee (though not every time). And then a manual burr coffee grinder appeared. And then it became clear that proper grinding dramatically improves the taste.
Ground coffee from the supermarket is not the best idea. The most “commercial” beans are used for it. The roast is usually dark, the grind is often too fine, you can forget about the taste and aroma. Even options from famous brands in vacuum packaging can please only the first cup. From contact with oxygen, all the taste evaporates in a day or two.
Water
The taste of the drink directly depends on the quality of water. That is why many coffee love
Water characteristics
The Specialty Coffee Association has a guide that lists the requirements for water parameters for coffee. The main ones are a total mineralization of about 150 mg/l and a pH of about seven. These characteristics are usually listed on the label of bottled water. It will be difficult to measure the parameters of tap water at home.
Bottled water
Based on the characteristics above, you can choose the right store-bought water. From proven brands: “Svyatoy Istochnik”, “Pilgrim”, “BonAqua”. But there is a nuance: the characteristics differ depending on the packaging. In a two-liter bottle, the mineralization may be suitable, but in a 19-liter bottle – no longer.
Tap water
You can make coffee with tap water too. The main thing is to filter it after the tap. Water quality varies depending on the region, so the filter should be selected based on local conditions.
Water from the well
It seems more suitable: it is clean, natural, etc. But groundwater is rich in minerals – it is good for the body. But coffee made with such water is not very tasty.
Filters
Budget drip coffee makers come with reusable nylon and metal filters. More expensive models are usually designed for disposable paper filters. Paper options filter better, and reusable ones do not need to be constantly purchased. Here, everyone chooses what is more important.
Coffee makers with reusable filters can usually use paper filters. Special filters for coffee makers should be the right size. However, you can always bend the corners. The main thing is that the filter is not smaller than the coffee compartment.
In the test format, the author first brewed coffee in the complete nylon filter, and then in a paper filter from the V60 funnel. With the bent corners, everything worked out. After a comparative tasting, two out of two opinions decided that with a paper filter, the taste of coffee is more subtle and pure.
Tips for choosing a coffee maker
The main advantages of a drip coffee maker are ease of use and low price. You shouldn’t overpay for additional functions in this segment. A timer, strength settings, and Bluetooth connection to your phone won’t make your coffee tastier. They won’t simplify the brewing process either – because there’s nothing to simplify.
Brand and price
The manufacturer decides everything. It is worth buying coffee makers from brands you trust. If you buy almost the cheapest coffee maker from a good manufacturer, it will most likely last a long time. The coffee will also be delicious. There is nothing to break in the design, so there is nothing to overpay for.
Traditionally, Bosch and Phillips brands are valued in this segment. But, as it turned out, lesser-known brands also produce good models. For example, Kitfort, which the author tested for the article.
Material
When choosing, we look to make sure that the plastic is not completely “Chinese”, that the lids are not loose, etc. A standard set of checks for budget equipment.
Volume
For home use, a 500 ml reservoir is enough – this is two full cups. If there are many coffee lovers in the family, you can take a model with a liter reservoir. You can always pour less water into it if you do not need a whole liter of coffee.
Additional Features
“Drop-stop” will definitely not hurt. Thanks to this function, coffee will not drip onto the platform when the coffee pot is removed from it. Automatic heating shutdown is a must. Setting the serving volume can be useful if the overpayment for the function is small.
Care
Basic rules for caring for your equipment will help your coffee maker last longer.
- The reusable filter needs to be washed after each use. Brew, wash, leave to dry. Detergent is not necessary, but a soft brush will come in handy.
- Throw away the disposable filter after use. Do not try to use it a second time.
- The coffee compartment should also be washed after each use, leaving it to dry next to the filter.
- The coffee pot should at least be rinsed with water after use. And washed with detergent once a week. Otherwise, it will quickly become dirty.
- Descaling. The coffee maker needs to be descaled periodically. How to do this is usually written in the instructions. Most often, special products are used, but there are also budget options (like citric acid).
