Knock, knock! Anybody still here? Any Plain Jane coffee maker suggestions for a non-coffee-snob, non-foodie? DH drinks two cups of coffee at breakfast. I have one cup, cafe au lait. (Acid tummy.) Our 15-year-old Krups drip coffee maker with thermal carafe is acting up -- failing to use all the water in the reservoir, despite de-scaling with vinegar. It uses #4 Melitta cones. I use a separate small burr grinder. I warm the thermal carafe before making coffee. My main objectives are a decent brewing temperature, a thermal carafe, and a medium-low price point. Among the medium priced five drip coffee makers that Consumer Reports says reach high enough water temps, only the Capresso MT600 did not have bad user reviews on the carafe. (Complaints about drips; some people resorting to pouring *over the sink*.) Costco has a Capresso CM300 for $60. The MT600's MSP is $140. Would you encourage/discourage me from buying either one? (At least I could return the CM300 with no loss.) Would you encourage any of the 'pod' type coffee makers? (I would not be spending hundreds per year on pre-made pods, but using our own freshly ground beans.)

ESPRESSO TRUTH #1: The espresso made by a trained barista on a well-maintained, high quality (and unavoidably expensive) machine, using high-quality recently roasted beans ground with a quality burr grinder, can't really be duplicated any other way. ESPRESSO TRUTH #2: 99% of the espresso sold in this country at coffeeshops, caffes and restaurants comes no where near meeting this standard. It is (usually) not bad, but it certainly isn't the best possible...at best a B+, rather than an A+. The vast majority of it is produced (a) on a superautomatic machine, (b) using pre-ground beans from a can, (c) on a machine that hasn't been properly cleaned or maintained, and/or (d) by someone who really doesn't know what they are doing. ESPRESSO TRUTH #3: The huge majority of the people in the world don't even notice the difference. If this wasn't true, every Starbucks (and most other coffeeshops) in the country would shut down tomorrow for lack of business. I am a heretic about this. I love coffee, including espresso, but if I want a really, really great espresso I go to one of the few places around I really trust and pay an expert to make it. At home, I use a Nespresso capsule machine. Super-easy and quick to use, affordable (machines starting at around $250, pods at 55 cents a shot), no mess cleanup and no messy grinding, better quality result than any cheap "real" espresso maker I have ever used, and at least equal to the espresso served at any chain coffee place. If you live near a Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma, I encourage you to go try a sample - I suggest the "Arpeggio" pods (purple) in particular. As a bonus, you can also use the same machine with "Lungo" pods to make a very decent cup of "regular" coffee, and you can also easily make single servings of decaf when the need arises.

>>>"We are not big coffee drinkers - will have 3 cups all together,..."<<< You want to match coffeemaker capacity to the amount you drink? Should be simple, right? Nah. No such luck. Not to confuse you too much, but how much coffee are your "three cups altogether?" A "measuring cup" is 8 oz., so "three cups" could be 24 oz. of coffee. But maybe you are using the kind of "coffee cups" that come in dinnerware sets with saucers? Europeans assume those to be 4 oz. capacity "coffee cups" where American designed brands often assume 5 oz. Or, maybe, like me and many others here, you call a mug a "coffee cup?" My coffee mugs hold over 10 oz. of coffee. For me, my "three cups altogether" would be 30 oz. of coffee. Three measuring cups worth of coffee would be 24 oz. Three "cup and saucer" cups would be 15 oz. or 12 oz. depending on the size of those coffee cups. We are not done with the curve balls yet. When manufacturers state the "cup" capacity of their coffee makers, they usually are referring to "cup and saucer" cups, so you need to know whether they are talking about the European "4 oz. standard" or the North American "5 oz. standard." Just to add to the potential confusion for shoppers, the custom in adverts is to list the capacity for the amount of water (input side) rather than the amount of coffee produced in the pot (output side). The "ouput" side will be less because somewhere around 15% of the input water gets absorbed into the coffee grounds and does not make it into the pot. So, let's try to put this together by looking at a coffeemaker such as the Technivorm or Bonavita that were recommended by others. FWIW, I've got a Technivorm. (I like it a lot, so do not take what I'm saying as bashing the brand.) My KBG 741 model is one of the "10 cup" capacity models. (There are larger and small capacity models, too.) That 10-cup capacity assumes 4 oz. cups and the "fine print" for the TV tells you that it actually is a 40 oz. water reservoir. When I make a full pot, the amount of coffee liquid that actually reaches the pot is roughly 34 to 35 oz. With my morning "coffee cup" being a mug, "three cups altogether" is most of a full pot. Now, if my three cups of morning coffee were only "cup and saucer" cups, I would be making only half a pot of coffee instead of a full pot. If I were mostly drinking "cup and saucer" cups and wanted a lesser capacity Technivorm model, I might want to choose the Technivorm KBTS (sometimes listed as the KBTS741) . Although listed as having an "8 cup" capacity, that's actually 32 oz. in the water reservoir and about 27 to 28 oz. for a full pot of coffee. (That's three and a half "measuring cups"). If you want three "cup and saucer" cups, you make half a pot. For that, you move a manual slider switch on the side of the filter holder. The half pot setting slows down the speed with which water drips through the lesser quantity of coffee into the pot. The idea, apparently, is that the water flow for a half pot might flow through too quickly through the smaller amount of coffee to get the fullest flavor when using the flow rates for a full pot. On the half-pot setting, the water spends a little more time in contact with the lesser amount of grounds --- basically takes about the same 5 minutes that a full pot would take. For a competing model at less than half the cost, you could look at the Bonavita BV1500TZ which is listed as a "5 Cup Coffee Maker with Stainless Steel Carafe." (This is actually manufactured for the Melitta Corporation but is branded as "Bonavita" in North America because several decades ago Melitta sold Hamilton Beach the right to use the Melitta brand name in North America.) Anyway, the Bonavita's "5 cups" are 5 oz. "cup and saucer" cups, so the water reservoir capacity is 25 oz. The coffee pot yield apparently is around 20 to 22 oz. The BV1500 seems to sell for around $120. Seattlecoffeegear.com has a video review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNIXzy6plW8 Online reviews seem a little mixed. Mostly positive but some reviewers apparently got early production units that did not get the water as hot as quickly as intended. List price on Technivorm KBTS is $299 which is the same as some of the 10-cup models. Sometimes there will be discounts for holiday weekend sales. Open-box units are sometimes available for about 1/3 to 1/2 off. (Want to guess how I got my TV?) I'll suggest checking out SeattleCoffeGear.Com as a resource. A good return policy, too, if you buy from them. They will provide helpful info over the phone or by e-mails, as well. >>>" looks like Technivorm is one of the favorites on this forum. One question - is it difficult to clean? "<<< Cleaning: Technivorms are pretty easy to clean. If you get one of the insulated steel carafe, you probably want to have a bottle brush to swish through the interiors as the top opening is a little narrow. (No such need if you opt for one of the glass carafe models, instead.) The company recommends against cleaning in dishwashers. As best I can tell, their concern about dishwashers is the detergent which, over time, eventually degrades the plastic parts like the carafe lids, the filter holder and the handle on the carafe. I suppose you can use a DW's rinse or quick cycle without detergent. (I've done the rinse cycle with mine for years and not seen had any adverse effects yet.) The company recommends that, every three to four months, you run a brew cycle with plain water to which you've added a dose of a product like Dezcal or a spoonful of critric acid, and follow that with a couple more cycles with plain water. Seem to be the same recommendations for the Bonavitas. >>>"Also, does it require a special grind? Similar to French press? . . . What grinder do u like ? <<< Neither the TV nor the BV models seem to require any special or unique grinds. Generally, you want a grind about halfway between the really coarse grind for French press and the standard fine grind often prescribed for drip coffee makers. For me, it helps to think in terms of very coarse corn meal (French press), medium grind cornmeal (BV and TV), and finely ground cornmeal (supermarket standard for "drip coffee makers.) Tell a speciality coffee roaster/store what coffeemaker you have (just about every "in the business" has heard of BV and Technivorms) and they can probably get you a good recommendation. Once you know what it looks like, you can dial that in on your area's supermarket grinders. I have a Krups burr grinder that I bought at Costco (currently about $27 or $30, I think). What works for me is a setting of about 1/3 back from fully coarse (fully coarse being the recommendation for French press coffees). I got it as a good place to start with an upgrade from a blade-grinder and never moved on. However, If I were contemplating making espresso, I'd look further upmarket. Again, seattlecoffeegear.com can give you a pretty good idea of what's available.

I don't like coffee in styrofoam cups ... ... for concern about possible/probable? transfer of possibly undesirable chemicals .. ... as well as less than usually attractive taste. For conservationist and pollutant factors, as well: as I've said here several times ... I live within a couple of miles of Canada's largest city's garbage dump (that's one of those four-letter words, you know). Call it a "landfill" if you prefer - which looks to me much like a double four-letter word. ole joyful