I ordered the Bunn from Walmart and it came from the Ft. Worth area, so only about 5 hours from here. I haven't used it yet because I'm back to obsessing about the thermal carafe. When did I get so indecisive? This is not whirled peas.
Yeh, I later felt stupid buying an appliance that was over $50 that close to Black Friday without waiting for the sales. What the heck was I thinking? Regarding that sale-priced $250 Breville...exactly what am I gonna do with features like "adjusting bloom time, flow rate and brewing temp"??? For all the coffee I drink, this is one cooking rabbit hole I'm not interested in going down. I'm not gonna be buying any of the high-end stuff, and I certainly wouldn't go through enough volume to fine-tune the technique. I stepped my toe into the coffee forums when I was reading about making special coffee water. I don't want to be one of "them." And my Black & Decker grinder ($5 brand new at Goodwill) does a fine job. I'm not inspecting each ground for uniformity.
Amen, brother. I'm the type that buys ground Folgers and likes it. So a Mr.Coffee would likely get the job done at my house. (And actually has, many times.)
I've ordered a couple of things from Walmart that showed up the next day, just as you described. Ordered in the evening and was on my porch the next day...and I think the next day was a Sunday. I've been vacillating about the carafe style I settled on, too. I think the thermal carafe that I ordered will be the proper choice for me. But I'm not gonna go to the trouble of boiling water to pre-heat it and then brewing the coffee. We'll see how it works. I have a Cusinart carafe that was real good before the machine died (I kept the carafe.)
Add this to the crazy mix: I'm also looking at that Bunn that doesn't have the water tank on it. I'm not sure how often I will be brewing a whole pot of coffee, so that one might be the best for us. Argh.
I don't understand. You mean you're looking at the one where the water is not always ready? I did not realize that you needed a full tank for it to keep the water hot in those that have the stainless tanks. Be advised that there are some folks who complain of a "can't get rid of it" plastic taste (although others poo-poo the concern.) I bet water quality/content has something to do with this. The main reason I'm finally upgrading from a Mr. Coffee is because those few times I manually pour boiling water over the grounds to brew a pot (power outages), my cheap 8 O'Clock coffee tastes restaurant-quality. So getting a maker that does proper brewing temp makes sense. I should have done it a long time ago.
I use Chicory Root Roasted Granules, which have the appearance of ground coffee. It's not a drink mix; it's intended to be used like coffee, or added to coffee.
I have never had any "plastic" taste nor any other off-taste from a Bunn, and I've owned at least 3 of them over the years. I'm just thinking that if I only use it to make a pot of coffee a couple of times a week, there may be more evaporation from the heated tank (because of the "water displacement" method of brewing). I'm pretty sure we will continue to use the Keurig because it is so convenient and fast. So the Bunn will only be used when I want a pot of something different, like that Cafe du Monde. Anyway, I'm overthinking this, as usual. I'm just going to use the Bunn that I got and get on with my life. If it seems that there is any issue with excessive evaporation or off-taste, I have until the end of February to return it.
The coffee maker that makes the best coffee, in my opinion, is my percolator. If my office were upstairs, where the kitchen is, I'd probably use that more often.
I like perked coffee, too. I have an old glass pyrex percolator that we use during power outages; it takes about 4 pots before I get the time/coffee/water ratio right. By that time the power is back on.
I used to work at the Cafe du Monde when the coffee and 3 beignets were $3.00. Only one person tipped me a buck the entire summer I worked there but the average tip was 25-50 cents and I’d carry home $50-$60 nearly every day. By the bye, The ratio used at the Cafe’ is 2/3 coffee to 1/3 lightly scalded milk. (frothed might be even better)
I read that the beignets are $2.65 an order now, which is still a bargain in my book. Not sure how much the cafe au lait is, though. I won't be doing any frothing and probably not nearly 1/3 cup of milk.
Yeh, I had a Farberware percolator for years and years. I bet it was as fast as any modern coffee maker. I couldn't tell you when I switched to a drip maker...or why...or what make.
I fired up the Bunn this morning after running several pots of water through to clean it. Using a Thermapen I determined that the brewing water temp is 187-188 degrees. The coffee tastes great and seems plenty hot to me, so I guess I'm a loser on the Coffee Snob scale. I plan to run a pot of water through the machine every couple of days whether I make coffee or not. That should keep plenty of water in the tank and avoid any evaporation issues. Now I'm on to something else to obsess about.