Small Electric Coffee Makers

In these health conscious days more and more people are giving up caffeinated beverages. At one point in history though, the coffee maker was a fixture in every home. “Mr Coffee” and Joe DiMaggio revolutionized a “cup of joe” on waking. Health and heart aside, there is always a family member who is not willing to give up coffee as a get-me-out-and-up call. It is also the siren call for house guests and everyone waking up for another day at the grind.

In the beginning, home coffee makers always allowed for selection in water amount vs. grinds to achieve less than a 9 cup pot of maximum flavor coffee. Original small electric coffee makers were for amounts of 2-3 cups but did not get the water hot enough or the brewing time to bring out the flavor of the beans. Now available are makers just for the individual cup. Much more common now than the “volume makers” are the individual per-cup style of brewers. They might be more than good; they may reign supreme. Innovations in recent years include a higher processing water temperature and coffee blend/grinds available for just this sort of fast brewing.

One cup at a time varieties in the beginning tended to be just “hot-shot” makers to put quickly heated hot water on coffee crystals or grinds. Black & Decker seem to be the pioneers on this. The hardest problem you may have is finding #1 filter for any coffee maker you may purchase. Even Mellita seems to feel that you must need at least 2 cups per brew. The Cadillac of makers is Keurig. They offer a shot of grinds in a cup that will only fit one of their makers. (Tip: Not so: the Keurig cups will fit in the Black & Decker coffee well – if they don’t, just dump the coffee in, it’s good).

Bottom line? Buy a Keurig, buy their coffee, no mistakes here. Don’t want to pay that price? Buy a Black & Decker and adjust to taste. Black & Decker also offers the option of a re-usable filter (remember the hard time to find #1 filters?). Look for hot temps. Adjustable filters and versatility. Any coffee maker can be made to produce acceptable coffee with the right temperature and blend. If you don’t have the patience to brew combinations over the next few weeks, go with the leaders and save the time of working out temp/grind concentration.

Drink well. Caffeine is king.