Coffee Maker Buying Advice
Coffee is considered by many people the quintessential caffeine delivery system in the world. Those luscious little beans have been cultivated almost everywhere except Antarctica. However, many people don't like coffee due to some of the bitter compounds in this magical liquid.
A lot of coffee drinkers would like to start a day at their breakfast table with coffee maker making them the most desirable beverage to them. Every morning coffee drinkers scoop in the coffee, add the water and turn it on, but has anybody ever wondered what is happening inside? How does the water get from the little compartment where you pour it in to the top of the coffee maker, and what is that gurgling sound? When you first set the coffee maker up, you add cold water to the water reservoir and turn the
power switch on. It will take about 15 minutes to heat the water initially. This water will stay hot and ready until you go to brew a pot of coffee. To begin brewing, you simply add cold water to the reservoir, which then displaces the hot water already in the system. This hot water is sent to the filter basket instantly where it diffuses through your freshly ground coffee. Afterwards, the cold water you just poured in will be heated for your next round of coffee brewing.
A modern drip coffee maker is a surprisingly simple device. There is a little bucket that holds the water when you pour it into the pot at the start of the coffee-making cycle. There is a hole in the bottom of the bucket, and its role will become obvious in a moment. There is a black tube that carries the hot water to the drip area with a electric pump. There is the drip area. Water arrives here from the black hot-water tube and simply falls through the holes into the coffee grounds.
When you pour in cold water, it is pumped from the bucket through the hole in the bottom of the bucket and into the tube. The water then flows through the one-way valve into the aluminum tube in the heating element, and then partially up through the tube. When you turn on the switch, the heating element starts heating the aluminum tube, and eventually the water in the tube boils. When the water boils, the bubbles rise up in the black tube. What happens next is exactly what happens in a typical aquarium filter:
The tube is small enough and the bubbles are big enough that a column of water can ride upward on top of the bubble. The water flows out the end of the black tube to drip into the coffee. This boiling-water pump, by the way, is the same mechanism that drives a percolator-type coffee machine.
Buying Tips:
The most important tips when buying a coffee maker is how often will make a coffee for family and friends. If you are not a heavy coffee drinker, buy your coffee at a café and save your time and avoid the mess of making coffee. If you drink a lot of it, pick the right type for you. The first decision you must make in choosing a coffee maker is what type of filter you would prefer. You can choose a basket type filter or a cone shaped filter, the difference in the two being different contact times between the
coffee grounds and the water. A basket type filter seems to provide a longer contact time between the water and the coffee grounds, so if a basket filter is your preference, make sure you use coffee grounds that are fairly large. Cone type filters are generally less prone to spillage. If you are considering a gold tone filter, it will give your coffee a richer taste, but the maintenance may not be worth the small difference. Coffee makers with a pot that has a long neck will be harder to clean. Your coffee
will taste stale over time due to the build up of residue that cannot be cleaned easily.
|
|
|
