How to choose a coffee maker

In order for the purchase of a coffee maker to meet all expectations and be as useful as possible, you need to decide what your views are on the main selection criteria:

• The time you are willing to spend on cooking.
• Price is an important factor when choosing a coffee maker.
• The number of people who will use the device.
• Is ease of use important to you?
• The amount you prefer to drink per day.
• Features – Do you need most of the extra options that manufacturers offer, or are they a waste?
• The preferred type of coffee also influences the decision - certain drinks are better or worse prepared in different machines.

French Press and Turka

Making coffee in a Turk, or cezve, is the oldest method of preparation. And today it is in no way inferior to more modern methods, since it preserves all the valuable substances of the coffee bean and imparts excellent taste and aroma characteristics. At the same time, understanding how to brew a drink in a Turk is not difficult.

Another equally simple method of making coffee is the French press.

How the French Press works:

1. Ground coffee is poured into the press and filled with heated water.
2. After infusion, the lid is closed and the piston is lowered.
3. The piston rises, the drink is infused again, then lowered, acting as a filter when pouring coffee into cups.

Pros and cons of the French press

Pros:

1. Suitable for any coffee fraction.
2. Does not require electricity costs.
3. Clear use.
4. You can make coffee, tea and herbal infusions.

Minuses:

1. The complex and long manufacturing process is completely manual.
2. It is not possible to prepare espresso and cappuccino.
3. The taste is noticeably inferior to other methods of brewing coffee.

Geyser coffee maker

Geyser coffee makers have become widespread not only due to their affordability, but primarily because of their main advantage - the ability to prepare a wide range of drinks, not only coffee, but also tea and herbal. This is an excellent solution for a large company or family, since, given the choice, the volume of the drink prepared at a time is quite large.

Operating principle of the device:

1. Water is poured into the lower compartment, which, when heated, turns into steam.
2. Coffee is poured into the middle compartment, through which steam passes. In different models, the number of passages can vary from one to many times. The more times the steam passes through the layer of ground grain, the more pronounced the taste and brighter aroma the drink will acquire.
3. In the upper compartment, the finished coffee (or any other drink being prepared) condenses, passing through the layer in the middle compartment.

Reference! The best results are obtained if you use coarsely ground coffee in this type of coffee maker.

Advantages and disadvantages

Pros:

1. The ability to prepare not only coffee, but also tea drinks and herbal infusions.
2. The expressive taste of the drink is due to a special preparation technology.
3. Possibility to prepare a large amount of drink at a time.
4. Low price, which makes devices of this type affordable.

Minuses:

1. Labor-intensive maintenance of the device, associated with a large number of parts in the machine that require cleaning.
2. Less aromatic coffee than brewed in other coffee machines.
3. It is not possible to brew less than the maximum amount of coffee at one time.
4. The cooking procedure takes almost 5 minutes.

What you should pay attention to

• Depending on the volume of the coffee maker, its amount of required watts changes in direct proportion.
• Some models support the additional option of heating a previously prepared drink.
• More or less strong coffee can be obtained by adjusting this indicator with a special function.
• Manual coffee makers do not require an electrical connection, but they are installed on the stove.

Drip coffee maker

Preparation principle: water is poured into the container of the coffee maker, ground coffee beans are poured into the mesh compartment. Heated water passes into the compartment with the beans, which is then mixed with coffee and dropped dropwise into a special container in the form of a prepared drink. Through the filter, the coffee enters the kettle, from which it can be poured into cups.

Important! The prepared drink should be poured into a glass container.

Advantages and disadvantages

Pros:

1. Cooking large quantities at one time.
2. You can use beans of any grind.
3. Ease of use: easy to clean.
4. Long service life without affecting the taste and smell of drinks.
5. Low cost.

Minuses:

1. Slow cooking.
2. The need to regularly change filters.
3. Inability to prepare fewer drinks than required to fully load the machine.
4. Not very strong brewed coffee.
5. The aroma is not strong enough.

What you should pay attention to

• The power of the coffee maker is directly proportional to the preparation time - the longer the latter, the stronger the coffee will be.
• Manual saturation adjustment allows you to get a drink of the desired strength.
• Devices with a “drip-stop” function will stop the flow of coffee if it is removed from the device, and will also protect against overflowing when the container is already full.
• A coffee to water ratio indicator can be helpful.
• Filters for the device can be disposable, made of paper, or reusable, made of nylon or gold.

Espresso coffee maker

This type of coffee maker is also called a carob coffee maker; it allows you to prepare many different types of coffee. There are steam and pump-type ones, the latter have higher pressure when supplying steam.

Cooking principle:

1. Powdered coffee is poured into the machine.
2. Water boiled in a special tank supplies steam through the coffee under high pressure.
3. After this, the prepared coffee flows into the container.

Advantages and disadvantages

Pros:

1. Quick cooking - about half a minute.
2. Lots of drink options.
3. Excellent quality drinks.
4. Fewer coffee beans are used than other types of coffee makers.
5. There are models that include pods, which eliminates the need for cleaning coffee grounds.

Minuses:

1. You can only use fine grains.
2. In steam models, water is boiled at the recommended temperature for coffee of 90 degrees Celsius.

Availability of additional options

• An automatic mill grinds whole beans in the machine to the fraction necessary for brewing espresso.
• With higher power, the pressure becomes stronger - this speeds up the preparation of espresso from 2 minutes to half a minute.
• The cappuccino maker will pleasantly please those who prefer this drink.

Capsule coffee makers

Principle of operation:

1. You need to load the selected coffee capsule into the coffee maker and press the start button.
2. The device pierces it with a needle, and water of the required temperature is poured through the needle.
3. After this, the drink is ready - it is served in a container, the remaining used casing is sent to the recycling compartment.

Advantages and disadvantages

Pros:

1. The machine is quick and easy to use to get results.
2. Possibility of preparing a coffee drink directly in the machine by selecting the appropriate capsule.
3. Low contamination, as well as the presence of a self-cleaning mode in some models.

Minuses:

1. The cost of capsules exceeds the prices of beans and ground coffee.
2. Possible lack of a favorite type of coffee or type of coffee drink.

Coffee machine

Principle of operation:

1. Coffee is poured into a special compartment of the machine, and the required amount of water is filled into the tank.
2. If the drink requires other ingredients, they are also placed in the machine.
3. Whole beans are ground with a built-in coffee grinder.
4. Pressurized water is forced through the coffee powder. Add milk and cream if necessary.

Advantages and disadvantages

Pros:

1. Possibility to cook from whole grains and ground grains in any fraction.
2. Filters can last for several years.
3. Automatically turns off, protecting the device from overheating.
4. Indicators of the level of coffee, water and other necessary ingredients, auto-dosing.

Minuses:

1. The filter needs to be replaced to avoid an unpleasant aftertaste.
2. Expensive.

Subtypes of coffee machines

• Automatic ones allow you to prepare any drinks from any ground and whole grains, and the proportions, temperature and other criteria for preparing a particular drink do not require adjustment - they are set in the machine program.
• Semi-automatic ones have the same characteristics as automatic ones, but allow you to manually adjust some parameters.
• Built-in ones save space and do not interfere with the overall layout of the kitchen.
• Portable ones give mobility.

Conclusion

Having assessed all the types of coffee makers available today, we can conclude that the choice of a carob machine will be the most universal. The relatively low price, ease of use, speed of preparation, as well as the wide selection of types of coffee drinks that it allows you to prepare are unconditional evidence of its relevance.