Why Melitta coffee pods, also known as java pods? While I prefer a gourmet mug of java brewed from freshly ground coffee beans in a high quality drip coffee maker, I appreciate that many people desire speed, ease and cost-effectiveness over purist quality. This is where the Melitta coffee pods become a legitimate option.

Coffee Pod Brewing Options

Melitta Coffee Pods

Melitta one coffee pods give you a variety of means to brew your coffee, unlike the Keurig K Cup Coffee Maker which requires its own proprietary brewer. You can go for Melitta’s ultra inexpensive Ready Set Joe coffee devices, Melitta’s own Melitta ONE Coffee Maker or one of the many other coffee pod single serve brewers (the Senseo model being one of the most popular).

The Melitta coffee pods are simple in concept: They are just coffee filter material wrapped around selected ground coffee. These little pillow-like pods can be placed in your drip coffee makers to brew a mug or two of hot java without the measuring or clean-up.

Ideally, you would use something like the the Melitta One One-Cup Coffeemaker or the Senseo Single-Serve Gourmet Coffeemaker. These coffee makers are calibrated with the right water heat and pressure to maximize the brewing from these pods.

However, you can also simply measure out a smaller amount of water and place the pods into a standard coffee maker where you would typically pour the grounds. This isn’t ideal, but it works.

Melitta ONE One-Cup Coffeemaker

Melitta ONE Coffeemaker

This one-cup coffee maker is becoming a standard in many office environments. It employs a simple design and it is easy-to-use. You can pour up to 28 ounces of water into the water reservoir then make up to 5 single-pod servings without having to refill the reservoir. While a little loud, this coffee maker makes a satisfactory mug of coffee at the five ounce size. I find the 8 ounce size to be a little watered down, so I recommend doing two 5 ounce brews for a larger amount (they call the 5 ounce brew the “European” style).

Senseo Single-Serve Gourmet Coffeemaker

Senseo Single-Serve Coffeemaker

The Senseo gourmet coffee maker is also becoming a standard; if you follow the coffee world, you’ll recognize its unique shape. It gives you the ability to make two simultaneous smaller but stronger mugs or one single larger mug. In all honesty, I find this model to be more consistent and flexible than the Melitta model. Yet I encourage you to use melitta coffee pods in it.

Senseo Coffee Pods vs. Melitta Coffee Pods

You would think that it might be best to match the Melitta coffee pods with the Melitta coffee maker and the Senseo coffee pods with the Senseo machine. I found it to be exactly the opposite. I think the better coffee maker is the Senseo model but I believe most people will find the Melitta coffee pods to provide the much better and more consistent mug of coffee.

Buy Melitta Coffee Pods:

So grab the Senseo Single-Serve Coffeemaker instead of the melitta coffee maker and order a bunch of the Melitta coffee pods for your melitta coffee filters and you’ll be all set for quick and easy coffee-making convenience.

A Grind and Brew Coffee Maker conveniently combines two critical steps on the way to a perfect cup of coffee. By blending two of these steps together, coffee maker manufacturers make it more likely that even the most impatient among us can achieve a better cup of coffee.

As most coffee connoisseurs know, each step on the way to that finished cup of coffee can make a fundamental difference in the quality of the end result. Most of us won’t go back as far as the roasting of the beans, but it wouldn’t hurt. In this article we will focus on how certain new drip coffee makers address three of these steps: the grind, the brew and the carafe (yes the carafe is a vital step).

If you’re here reading this page, then you’re ready to graduate from that standard Cuisinart coffee maker to a robust grind brew coffee maker.

The Advantages of A Grind and Brew Coffee Maker

The primary advantage of a owning and using a grind and brew coffee maker is the simplified process and minimized space of a single unit taking care of a formerly two unit process. You save counter space and you make the process simpler by putting both your beans and your water into a single machine.

Grind and Brew Coffee Maker

Another advantage is that it makes it easier to brew fresh coffee. All grind and brew coffee makers brew the coffee immediately after the beans are ground. As you may know, coffee oxidizes and begins breaking down immediately after it is ground, so the longer you wait to brew your coffee after it is ground, the lower the quality and lesser the flavor of the final brew.

One catch here, however, is that it is debatable whether you should leave your beans in the grinder overnight for a timed grind and brew in the morning. Some may argue that it is getting a bit picky to think about the beans growing stale over just a few hours, but for maximum flavor, you do want to keep your beans in an airtight container within a cool, dry location until right before grinding and brewing.

One final advantage associated with the grind and brew coffee maker is that it reduces the mess two separate units can create. However, depending on the grind and brew coffee maker you choose, this isn’t always an advantage. Some drip coffee makers which combine the grinding and brewing aren’t always easy to clean afterwards (I will go into more detail with my drip coffee maker reviews).

Your Grind and Brew Coffee Maker’s Brewer

The basic construction of the brewing mechanism for a drip coffee maker hasn’t changed much in recent years. Different companies use different materials, different brewing temperatures and different brewing speeds, but the process remains largely the same.

The primary components of the brewer are the water reservoir, a heating component with a thermostat, the filter and the pot or carafe. Water is taken from the reservoir, run through the heating component, then poured into the filter. In the filter, the hot water brews with the ground coffee beans with the fresh brewed liquid then working its way down from the filter in to the pot or carafe.

Generally, more expensive models of grind and brew coffee makers will have a quality thermostat which brews the coffee at around 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Other variables to consider are the quality of the water and the speed of the brew. Some models include a charcoal water filter in the water reservoir to clean the water and minimize the flavor of minerals and chemicals. If your coffee maker doesn’t contain its own water filter, I urge you to filter your water before pouring it in the water reservoir.

The brew speed must be calibrated with the brewing temperature and type of filter. Generally, a faster brew doesn’t absorb as much flavor. Some quality coffee makers pinch the filter every few minutes to maximize the flavor by keeping the brew from finishing too fast.

The carafe isn’t really part of the brew, but I’ll quickly note that better grind and brew coffee makers feature thermal carafes rather than pots. I explain why this matters on the front page of Drip Coffee Makers Guide, but the basics are that you don’t want to allow oxygen exposure or reheating of the freshly brewed coffee.

Your Grind and Brew Coffee Maker’s Grinder or Mill

Coffee grinders (or “coffee mills”) come in two basic types, blade grinders and burr grinders. Most real coffee aficionados agree that burr grinders are usually best. A burr grinder provides an even, gentle grind which can be more easily adjusted to obtain the ideal grind for your taste or the coffee bean you’re grinding.

In recent years, some coffee fanatics have come to claim that conical grinders are best. Currently, the only widely available conical grinders are made by one company: Capresso. The Capresso Grind and Brew Coffee Maker is an excellent choice if you’re willing to pay a good amount for a coffee maker with a grinder.

A finer grind will result in a stronger coffee but oils become blended into the grounds. A more coarse grind can lead to weaker coffee, but allows oils to remain independent of the grind. For most drip coffee makers, the ideal is a pretty even, medium grind with some finer grinds and coarser grinds in the mix. However, some beans work better with different grind levels. For example, a really oily coffee bean roast will taste best with a slightly more coarse grind.

Cuisinart Grind and Brew Coffee Maker

The very best grind and brew coffee makers give you different grind granularity settings, but some other models do a surprisingly good job of creating a nice, even medium grind with their default and only setting. Generally, modern grind and brew coffee machines are much better about their grinding capability than they were even three or four years ago.

My first grind and brew was a Melitta Grind and Brew Coffee Maker which always ground the beans too fine. A couple years later I bought a Cuisinart Grind and Brew Coffee Maker and while it has its problems, I was really surprised with how well Cuisinart pre-configured the grind to be so balanced and proper for a wide variety of coffee beans.

When the Right Grinder and Brewer Come Together

There are a wide variety of grind and brew coffee makers. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the more expensive they are, the better they are. Ideally, the best grind and brew coffee maker provides variable grind settings and brew settings, features a water reservoir with a water filter, and brews the coffee into a high quality, vacuum-sealed thermal carafe. However, combining all these elements leads to a pretty hefty price tag (don’t realistically expect to find a quality one for under $250 or even under $299).

However, many a grind and brew coffee maker still exist which provide a balanced, flavorful mug of coffee with convenience and minimum expense. I encourage you to write down your own requirements before you go shopping. It can be confusing as you’re lured to the various features and amenities after you start shopping. Keeping a list of what matters most to you will keep you on track.

Size is certainly a variable you should consider. A single cup grind and brew coffee maker may provide all you need for your lifestyle (but remember that the much hyped K Cup Coffee Maker uses pre-ground coffee). Or perhaps you need one that provides far more than the standard 10 or 12 cup brews.

A timer is becoming more and more common, with automatic or programmable grind and brew coffee makers becoming the norm. There simply isn’t anything like waking up to a fresh brew of coffee made from just-ground coffee beans without your having to lift a sleepy finger. However, if you’re a stickler for top quality, you’ll still want to keep coffee beans airtight before brewing, so a timer isn’t optimum for coffee-flavor purists.

I hope this helps you understand how a grind and brew coffee maker can be a fun and convenient way to a tasty mug o’ coffee. Please return to my Drip Coffee Makers site soon because I will soon roll out specific grind and brew coffee maker reviews of specific models.

K Cup coffee makers are a single cup coffee makers which utilize the patented Keurig single cup brewing system to brew a tasty yet concise cup of coffee. This is essentially a precise and concise version of the drip coffee maker we all know and love, but now with trendy little K-Cups for your flavor joy.

The Compact and Fun K Cup Coffee Maker

K Cup Coffee Maker

K stands for Keurig and a K cup coffee maker is also known as a Keurig single cup brewing system. Keurig is a wholly-owned subsidiary Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.

To create a delicious mug of coffee with this method, you require a K-Cup portion pack and the patented Keurig single-cup coffee maker.

Each pack features coffee grounds and a filter within a small, air-tight cup. You place the k-cup portion pack into a K Cup Coffee Maker and hit brew. The Keurig then punctures the portion pack’s lid and forces steaming water down through the K-cup , into your glass or coffee mug. It usually takes only thirty to sixty seconds to brew a tasty mug of java.

And now you can hot cocoa or tea as well. K-Cup portion packs have grown popular in recent years after Keurig licensed the creation of various packs to a variety of popular beverage companies. For example, you can purchase tea k-cups from popular tea companies like Celestial Seasonings or Twinings or hot cocoa from Newman’s Own.

Types of K Cup Coffee Makers

Keuirg offers four different models of K-Cup Coffee Makers for home use. These models include the Elite, the Special Edition and the Platinum. They have yet to produce a model simply entitled The Mediocre. An Australian company named Breville also manufacturers a model named after itself (The Breville).

You will also find a model they named The Mini. Keurig rates the Mini for both commercial and household use. It offers the most color choices (red, black and white). Which model is the best k cup coffee maker? That’s entirely up to your personal taste as they all perform roughly the same.

Commercial Keurig Machines

The commerical keurig machines don’t differ that much from household models. The two primary features provided by the industrial-strength k-cup coffee makers are that they automatically dispense of used portion packs into an internal refuse container and that they can be attached directly to a water line. Household models require you manually remove old k-cups and feature the traditional water reservoir. The models Keurig rates for commercial purposes are the B140, the B200 and the B3000 as well as the Office Pro.

How Do K Cup Coffee Makers Work?

Keurig coffee machines utilize a spray nozzle to puncture the top of the k-cup portion packs and discharge nozzle to puncture K-cup’s bottom. The Keurig machine forces a carefully measured volume of hot water through the K-cup and to your awaiting mug. The base brewing temperature for all Keurig coffee machines is 192 degrees Fahrenheit. Some models allow users to slightly reduce this temperature if they prefer. In some ways, K Cup Coffee Makers represent a compromise between steam-driven espresso makers and traditional drip coffee makers.

The following companies have licensed the K-cup technology to manufacturer a wide variety of tasty choices for your keurig brewing machine: Van Houtte, Caribou Coffee, Celestial Seasonings, Twinings, Bigelow Tea Company, Newman’s Own, Tully’s, and of course Keurig’s parent company Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.

How Do I Feel About The K Cup Coffee Maker?

In general, I think K Cup coffee machines a lot of fun. If you’re really into coffee, they’re fun and convenient way to make a quick cup of coffee or mug of cocoa. However, they require relying on small volumes of coffee brewed from pre-ground coffee in a paper filter. This isn’t the path to optimum flavor no matter how clever or fun the Keurig brewing system.

If you’re looking for the very best flavor, I’d suggest a true drip coffee maker like the Saeco Coffee Makers. But if you want convenience, speed and fun, it’s hard to deny the K-Cup Coffee Makers modern appeal. They’re simply the best and most fun of the single cup coffee brewers or single serve coffee makers.

If you’re interested in a more detailed visual explanation of how to clean your drip coffee makers than I’ve provided on my site so far… well here you go.

It provides a playful atmosphere and portrays a really basic coffee maker, but the tips are all valid and useful. You no longer have an excuse for making stale-tasting coffee resulting from your poor coffee cleanliness:

For what it’s worth, you can still do the salt and ice trick with a thermal carafe. This helps remove the “coffee ring” thermal carafes sometimes develop over time.

I hope this helps and I hope you’ve found your visit to my Drip Coffee Makers Guide worth your while. Now you know how to clean a coffee maker!

While Saeco is synonymous with high end espresso machines, can they do basic drip coffee makers?

If money is no object and you’re looking for a top notch machine to automatically create your perfect shot of espresso, Saeco’s got you covered. They esssentially invented the automatic espresso machine and in the two decades since they’ve refined the process to an art. So you might hope they’ve also developed an art for drip coffee makers as well…

Saeco Coffee Makers

Saeco Quality

With a Saeco espresso maker, you get high quality components for creating consistently delicious espressos. lattes and cappuccions. Saeco espresso makers grind your coffee and within moments present you with a beautifully time ounce or two of rich espresso.

I needed to make the quality and reputation of their espresso machines clear so you understand that it isn’t the brand I’m about to criticize; it is the coffee maker. Saeco is highly reputable Italian espresso machine manufacture, but cleary Saeco puts their money into high end espresso machines rather than daily-use drip coffee makers. The Saeco coffee machines I’ve tested consistently disappointed.

The Saeco Usa Renaissance 11-Cup Coffee Maker with stainless design would look great if you didn’t compare it to its competition. But at its heart it is just a basic, mediocre coffee maker with relatively cheap plastic internal components. Saeco coffee makers just don’t live up to the same level of quality as Saeco espresso machines.

Saeco Drip Coffee Maker Not Like Their Espresso Makers

This is their only real consumer model for the price range I’m reviewing right now: around or under $100 US. And unfortunately for Saeco, you can purchase far higher quality machines from Cuisinart, DeLonghi, Mr. Coffee or Black and Decker (and others) in this same price range.

It does have a few positives, but they’re overshadowed by the mediocre tasting coffee and non-insulated carafe with weak heating plate. These positives include a fast brew time, an easy-to-clean design and generally stylish appearance. The carafe itself almost looks better removed from the rest of the machine.

However, the fast brew probably contributes to the fair taste and you’ll need to drink it faster than you brewed it because despite its stylish appearance, the stainless steel carafe doesn’t do so well in actually keeping your coffee hot.

So don’t be turned off by Saeco just beause of Seaco coffee makers; just understand and appreciate that their expertise is in espresso machines rather than their saeco coffee makers.

But of course, don’t just buy a Saeco coffee maker because of the name: clearly that name is more dedicated to espresso machines rather than Saeco coffee makers.

I found this video where a curious fellow decides to dissect and examine a drip coffee maker. While it is a basic coffee machine, the fundamental way it works is really how most drip coffee makers work, even those costing several hundred dollars.

Kids, don’t try this at home. =)

I hope you enjoyed that and thank you for visiting my Drip Coffee Makers Guide.

While at home you may not always require a perfectly timed espresso or a balanced cappuccino, you may want a consistently good, rich mug of good old fashioned coffee. Classic drip coffee makers are the way to go for achieving an easy and consistently good pot of coffee at home.

Automatic drip coffee makers are the most popular coffee makers on the market — especially in North America — and you’ll find them in a wide variety of styles, shapes, sizes and price ranges.

You’ll find everything from a single cup coffee brewer to 12 cup electric drip coffee makers with timers for grinding and brewing your coffee so it is sitting there waiting for you when you awake. A timed coffee maker is a wonderful thing for those who love coffee first thing in the morning.

How Drip Coffee Makers Work
Tips for Brewing Great Coffee
How to Clean A Drip Coffee Maker
How to Buy Drip Coffee Makers

How Drip Coffee Makers Work

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Drip coffee makers operate by pouring water through ground and roasted coffee beans held in some kind of filter. Water pools within the grounds, absorbing coffee flavor, oils and texture before slowly seeps through the filter and into a coffee pot or carafe. This slow process creates a drip beneath the filter and into the pot, hence the name drip coffee maker.

In most modern drip coffee makers, a paper filter is used. The paper filters allow for easy disposal of used coffee grounds and for easy maintenance of the coffee machine. However, paper filters also filter out some of the oils and sediment which gives coffee dimensions of flavor.

Metal and plastic filters are also becoming more common. These filters feature a mesh-like filter which needs to be rinsed or washed between each coffee brewing. These coffee filters vary in quality but are popular in places of the world where manufactured paper filters are difficult to find. These filters reduce the overall cost of making your daily coffee (no need to buy paper filters regularly) and are favored by environmentalists.

A quality gold filter brews coffee without affecting its taste while also allowing a little more of the oils and sediment through to the pot, providing a robust flavored coffee. Many coffee connoisseurs, particularly in Europe, prefer coffee with the oils and sediment intact. But this filtration method does change both the flavor and nutritional profile of a cup of coffee. Commercial drip coffee makers, like those used at Starbucks, use permanent metal coffee filters.

Drip coffee brewing is the most common method of brewing coffee, especially in the United States.

Tips for Brewing Great Coffee

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These may seem like basic drip coffee maker tips, but in fact if you implement them all you will experience a significantly better cup of coffee.

• Start with fresh filtered water. Bad tasting or chlorine-tasting coffee will lead to an inferior tasting coffee brew. A simple Brita-style water filter with charcoal filter will do. Some more expensive models come with a charcoal filter for the water reservoir.
• Buy a grinder or a coffee maker with a grinder then buy fresh whole bean coffee instead of pre-ground coffee. Just as an apple begins to brown quickly when you peel it, coffee begins oxidizing as soon as the bean is broken. To really achieve quality pot of coffee, you need to use whole beans and grind them right before you brew your coffee.
• Keep your coffee maker clean. Coffee includes all kinds of oils, essences and sediments. These matters accumulate in your coffee maker and become stale, affecting your fresh brews. So keep your coffee maker clean. See below for some simple ideas for keeping your drip coffee makers clean.
• Drink soon after you’ve brewed your coffee. As a coffee lover, it pains me to see how often people brew a pot of coffee then let it sit on the warmer of their electric coffee maker for an hour before they really start drinking it. Both air exposure and reheating dramatically change the flavor of coffee in just minutes. So don’t grind the beans and start the brew until you’re ready to consume the coffee. If the coffee must sit for a period, brew the coffee directly into a vacuum-sealed thermal carafe to avoid air exposure and reheating.

How to Clean A Drip Coffee Maker

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I’ll describe two methods for cleaning drip coffee makers. I personally prefer the vinegar method because sometimes the baking soda method can be a little difficult to rinse, but some people hate vinegar and cringe at the prospect at pouring vinegar through their precious drip coffee maker.

To clean your drip coffee makers with vinegar, simply create a mixture of two parts clean, fresh water and 1 part vinegar. I suggest filling the reservoir. Then simply run your drip coffee maker as usual without any filter in it. When it completes, turn it off and dump the solution from the pot. Rinse the pot thoroughly with clean, warm water.

Then fill the reservoir with just fresh clean water to rinse the vinegar out of the coffee machine’s system. Run the coffee maker once more without a filter. You may be able to stop now and consider it clean, but some people like to run another round of clean water through the machine to make sure there is no vinegar residue left behind to affect your next coffee brew.

To clean your drip coffee makers with baking soda, create a solution of one part baking soda and four parts warm water. Make sure you mix and dissolve the baking soda before placing it in the coffee makers reservoir. Then proceed just as I described in the vinegar method. If I use this method, I usually do have to run fresh water through the machine twice to properly rinse away the baking soda.

Don’t underestimate the importance of cleaning your drip coffee maker. Even the highest quality coffee makers will start brewing stale-tasting coffee if you don’t cleanse its insides with vinegar or baking soda.

Tips to Buy the Best Drip Coffee Maker for You

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Before you buy drip coffee makers, consider these tips to make the most of your time.

• I encourage you budget how much you’re willing to spend in advanced. A little extra money can go a long way, but before you start looking at all the fun new models of drip coffee makers out there, make sure you’ve set your limits. This will help you speed the process as well because you’ll be able to quickly disqualify coffee machines out of your range.
• Next you need to weigh how much you will use your drip coffee maker. It would be silly for you to spend a fortune on something you use only once a month or so, but by the same token, if you care about quality coffee and you drink it every day, you may regret going cheap. Also, you need to consider how much you’ll drink and how many people will be drinking from each brew.
• It would be silly to buy a drip coffee maker with a 12 cup pot if you only ever drink a couple cups a day, but you’ll find yourself frustrated and making multiple pots a day if you indulge in this caffenated pleasure often or frequently server others and you only buy a 4 cup brewer. There are small drip coffee makers, so you don’t need to buy a 10 or 12 cup drip coffee maker if you don’t need one.
• Next you need to consider how much maintenance each coffee maker requires. This will actually vary. For example, my favorite coffee maker requires extensive cleaning (because it features a gold filter rather than disposable paper filters and because it also grinds the beans before brewing), but I’m content with the cleaning process because I love my coffee and it is an integral part of my day.
• However, I know coffee lovers that think my coffee maker is just a pain because it takes extra effort to clean after every brew. So be honest with yourself. Do you need a low maintenance coffee maker or are you willing to take apart and clean your drip coffee maker every day? If you buy a more difficult to clean coffee maker then slack on cleaning it regularly, you’ll suffer the consequences of a shorter operating life with reduced quality of taste in each brew.
• Next, write yourself a list of must-have features. This isn’t a wishlist, but a list of features your coffee maker absolutely must have. This will make it easier for you to quickly disqualify some models and narrow down the list of available drip coffee makers.
• And last but not least, be sure to shop around for the best prices. Sometimes it can be really tough to compete against Amazon (especially with their free shipping on items over $25 and if your state doesn’t charge taxes on online purchases), but occasionally you’ll find a great deal at local places like Bed, Bath & Beyond. Whatever you do, don’t just settle for the first price you find.

I hope this helps you better understand the origins and options of drip coffee makers. Please return soon as I will provide reviews of kinds of all the best drip coffee makers as well as links to the best prices I can find online.