How Do You Make Coffee With a Coffee Maker at Home?

An American drip coffee maker brews by placing a paper filter in the basket, adding ground coffee, filling the water tank and starting the machine, which heats the water and drips it through the grounds. The weak, dull cup people complain about usually comes from stale dark-roasted beans and re-brewing the same grounds.

The appliance dates to 1965 and became a common kitchen fixture in the 1980s. For better results, use freshly roasted beans rested four to seven days after the roast date and drink them within about two months. Any bean suited to pour-over works here, including a washed Panama lot or Ethiopia Yirgacheffe.

Is making pour-over coffee too cumbersome and troublesome? Then is there a convenient way to enjoy coffee that tastes similar to pour-over? Of course there is—Front Street recommends using an American drip coffee maker.

Many people, upon hearing "American drip coffee maker," automatically associate it with bad-tasting coffee. Actually, this is a misunderstanding of the American drip coffee maker. The American drip coffee maker originated in 1965 and was one of the most popular household appliances of the 1980s. Its working principle is very simple: just place a filter paper in the basket, add coffee grounds, fill the water tank with water, and start the machine. The American drip coffee maker will automatically heat the water and inject it into the coffee grounds, dripping out the coffee liquid. Some coffee makers also have a function to keep the coffee warm or reheat it.

Because the coffee beans used in the past were roasted darker and stored for longer periods, the dripped coffee was very weak, with only a dull bitter taste. Moreover, Americans generally like to add water and continue brewing multiple times, so after several brews, only a very faint coffee flavor remained. This is also why American coffee has always been criticized.

But if used properly, an American drip coffee maker can also brew good coffee.

1. First, when it comes to choosing coffee beans, Front Street recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans, because freshly roasted coffee beans have full coffee flavors. If left for too long, the coffee flavors escape, leaving only a dull bitter coffee taste. Generally, counting from the roast date, coffee beans are better to drink after 4-7 days of resting, and the optimal flavor period is within 2 months.

Some friends may ask what coffee beans are better for an American drip coffee maker. Generally, any beans suitable for pour-over coffee can be used in an American drip coffee maker. As for which specific coffee beans to use, it depends on personal flavor preferences.

If Front Street were to recommend some, you could take a look at these:

①Panama Butterfly. This washed-process coffee bean containing 70% Geisha is undoubtedly a very cost-effective coffee bean. When used to make cold brew coffee, it expresses clean and refreshing floral, citrus, and oolong tea flavors.

②Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Project. As the most representative African coffee bean, Yirgacheffe has captured a large number of coffee lovers with its rich floral and fruity notes. The Red Cherry Project, as an exceptionally high-quality natural Ethiopian bean, is also very suitable for making cold brew coffee. When made into cold brew coffee, it expresses very sweet berry, layered, and honey flavors.

③Costa Rica Musician Series Mozart. The Musician Series coffee beans have always been known for their high flavor recognition. Mozart coffee beans use anaerobic honey processing, expressing aromatic osmanthus, grape, and fermented wine aromas. Mozart performs exceptionally well when made into iced coffee, with both flavor and mouthfeel.

2. A suitable coffee-to-water ratio. Generally, Front Street recommends a ratio of 1:15-1:17. Calculated with 25g of coffee grounds, you can add 375-425ml of water to the water tank. Coffee brewed at this ratio has a moderate concentration and balanced taste, and is unlikely to have a burnt bitter or astringent thin feel.

3. A suitable grind size. The grind size is the same as for pour-over, medium-fine grind, with an 80% pass rate through a No. 20 standard sieve.

Specific operation method

Place the carafe into the coffee maker, open the top cover of the coffee maker, pour in 25g of coffee grounds, and add 400ml of hot water to the water tank. Then close the lid and press the start button, and the American drip coffee maker will begin extracting coffee.

Water flows down from the water tank into the U-shaped heating tube, is heated to 100°C, and then through water pressure and temperature pressure, the hot water at the front is pushed into the outlet pipe, and then sprayed out through the water outlet; after the hot water drips onto the coffee grounds in the filter, it undergoes full soaking and extraction and flows into the carafe. After about 5-8 minutes, a pot of American drip coffee is ready.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.