What Kind of Coffee Maker is Best?

Yvonne and I have used it with these:



They are not instant coffees...they are chicory based and are meant to be brewed. The instructions give 3 ways to brew: drip maker, cone filter and French press, so they are the same as brewing coffee. These are the ones I line the strainer with a paper filter for, because the grounds can be so powdery that some can get through the tiny holes. Yvonne is fine with them settling to the bottom of the cup. I am fussier.

I am very happy with mine.

 

Maybe you just watched too many of those Maxwell House “Good to the last drop” commercials , @John Brunner ?
I have no problem dumping the last half inch of my coffee if there are grounds at the bottom. Since I drink from the top of the cup, it is not even noticeable until a person gets down to that “good to the last drop” part of the cup.
I am sitting here and chuckling about this ! !
(Practicing Tolerance, of course)

 

I don't know why those bits bother me. Probably some childhood trauma. It's possible there were annoying tea leaves in the bottom of the cup when I was a kid. I guess there had to be in order for one's future to be told.

And I, too, practice tolerance. And I'll keep on practicing until I get it right.

 

First, I think we need to congratulate the marketing geniuses who got you to buy cappuccino knowing full well it wasn't cappuccino, yet you opened your wallet anyway. Either that, or we've all just been conditioned.

Second, you might want to try that sampler pak and see what else you like. I've not priced it out compared to regular coffee...I enjoy a good cuppa, but in the final analysis, I'm a cheapskate and don't really want to know what I paid per-pound. This stuff is an occasional treat for me...although I've never been a big fan of vanilla. I also enjoy the instant chicory Yvonne recommended elsewhere:



The only other thing I'd add is that although I take my coffee black with sugar, for the boutique stuff I keep a pint of Half & Half on hand. It lasts for a couple of months and it does add a depth of flavor...makes for a nice after-dinner treat.

 

I like RevereWare. I found a RevereWare tea kettle at Goodwill so I bought it and donated my old one.

 

Now that I have some data, I thought I'd circle back on the issue of cup warmer temps.
-My drip coffee maker keeps the coffee at 177°F.
-The max setting on my 3 Temp Warmer is 167°F. It's sufficient.
-I have not tried the 145°F setting at all.
-I accidentally had the thing on the 131°F setting once (must have bumped the button), and the coffee barely felt lukewarm. A baby bottle should be body temp, so it's not for that, despite what the product descriptions might say.

Some warmers only heat up to 120°F, while I found a couple that heat up to 180°F in 10°F increments (although I have no need to upgrade.) It's tough wading through these, because there are so many of them and the search results page does not cite temps...you gotta look at each individual product page.

 

Here is what I have determined with mine. It does 130-150-170. When I first pour a cup of either coffee or tea, the 150 works great to keep it at temp, providing that I put the mug lid on the mug.
If I have the mug refilled from my steel thermal cup (that I make the coffee or tea into in the first place) then it needs to be at 170 on the warmer (with the lid) to get the drink back up to a hot drinkable temperature.
My pretty new flower mug does not fit the regular mug lid, so I use a saucer over the top of it to keep it holding in the heat. The top is also too wide for the tea diffuser, which is why I make the tea into the stainless steel mug and then fill the flower mug from that.

 

I can see where 150°F would keep a much hotter drink "hot enough/long enough" if that drink had a lid. I've used that tea filter/mug/lid assembly, and the drink obviously stays a lot hotter with the lid on it, with or without the warmer. For day-to-day coffee, I have a larger mug I use, and that large open mug loses large heat. I wonder if 180°F would really make any difference with an open mug. A regular coffee maker keeps the temp up because the pot has a lid. It make you wonder why there is no coffee mug made with a hinged lid, like a beer stein.