(upbeat music) - If you love drip coffee,
you know how disappointing many automatic drip coffee
makers turn out to be, all promise and no delivery. You get coffee that's weak,
sour, acrid, or bitter, or not hot enough. Now the process of making automatic drip coffee is pretty simple. Water from the tank is heated
by a metal heating element which makes it boil up and
travel through the machine to be distributed over the
grounds in the brewing basket. From there, it drips through
the coffee by gravity. We were astonished by how
different coffee makers could take the same two ingredients, identical coffee and water, and make them either taste
wonderful or terrible. So buying a quality machine matters. We started with a list
of home coffee makers certified as good performers by the Specialty Coffee
Association or SCA. We rounded out our lineup
with interesting models that were not on their list
and that gave us a total of 16 machines at a wide range of prices from less than $20 to about $375. We measured the capacity of each machine's brewing basket and water tank. We wanted to confirm
they could actually hold enough coffee and water to brew a full pot at the proper ratio of water to coffee. In a blind, randomized
tasting, we had tasters rate the coffee brewed in each machine. We measured the brew water temperature and timed the brew cycles, so we could see how much time these coffee makers spent in that ideal temperature range of 194 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit. We sent samples of the brewed coffee to an independent laboratory
to measure quality metrics. After way too much coffee,
here's what we learned and what you should look for. First and foremost, great flavor. Coffee makers may have
a really similar look and seem like a fairly
basic piece of equipment, but subtle differences can change whether or not they hit the benchmarks
for heating, timing, and water to coffee contact in
order to produce good coffee. You want simple, intuitive controls. Anyone should be able to operate the coffee maker with little effort. And don't laugh, a
couple of these machines were ridiculously complex
with a steep learning curve. We preferred paired down designs with intuitive switches,
markings, and displays. You need a correct size brewing basket. Brewing baskets have to be big enough to hold plenty of ground coffee for the right coffee to water ratio. Not all the machines
could hold the 55 grams of water you need to meet
the industry standard for one liter of water. We had several 64 ounce
or 1.8 liter water tanks paired with petite little brewing baskets which sometimes overflowed
when we actually made a full pot of coffee using the SCA ratio. Huge water tanks with
promises of a giant carafe of coffee should be matched
by roomy brew baskets. Your machine should brew at the right speed and temperature. Good automatic drip coffee
comes from water heated to between 194 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit, that spends between four and eight minutes in contact with the grounds
during the brewing cycle. If they're too slow or too
hot, the coffee comes out over-extracted and bitter. If the water's too cool
or the cycle is too fast, the coffee is sour and under-extracted. It's simple science that
too many manufacturers just don't build into their machines. Our top models hit these
industry standard benchmarks for extracting great flavor. And by the way, skip the scoop. Most of these coffee makers came with ridiculously little plastic scoops and here's the problem with that. Ground coffees have
radically different weights and volumes, depending
on how they're roasted and how finely or coarsely they're ground. If you want good coffee, buy a
scale and weigh your grounds. And don't bother with
settings like strong or bold. Sure, you want full
flavor, but when machines offer this option, don't choose it. It just makes the brewing
cycle last longer, which, as we know, results
in over-extracted grounds and bitter coffee. Use the right filters. It actually does matter
what filter you use. Some machines call for
their own brand of filters that are designed to control
the drip of the coffee in conjunction with the machine
for the best extraction. Others, including our
winners, can use any filters which we actually preferred to buying expensive, proprietary filters. You can also use your filter choice to tweak coffee to your preference. Paper filters are going to
hold back more fine grounds and oils than metal mesh
baskets so that they can really change the
coffee's body and flavor. You wanna look for a thermal carafe. Keeping fresh coffee hot
without scorching it is easiest when the machine brews into
an insulated thermal carafe. Most coffee makers with glass carafes use the same heating
element to boil the water and heat the hot plate,
and that's a recipe for scorched, bitter coffee. Bottom line, if you typically don't drink all your coffee right away,
choose a thermal carafe. And finally, your coffee
maker should be easy to clean and maintain. Removing filters with spent coffee grounds should be simple and neat. Some of these were a mess. We also liked carafes
that were easy to scrub with well-designed lids
that didn't trap water that dribbled out later, yuk. Now beyond daily cleaning,
you're gonna need to descale. All the machines we tested
included instructions for descaling and we think it's important to do this periodically. Don't use vinegar and water. Vinegar can be corrosive and it might not remove all the scale. Instead, use dedicated descaling powder like Dezcal by Urnex. Now several models we tested
have cleaning indicator lights that come on when you
machine needs the descaling. But if yours doesn't,
a good rule of thumb is to do it roughly once every 100 pots, especially if you're
brewing coffee every day. If your coffee maker
seems to be struggling or brewing more slowly than
usual, it's time to descale. After all our testing, we had
some winners to recommend. Our overall favorite is the
Technivorm Moccamaster KBT. Its powerful copper boiler
quickly heats and holds water at a precise temperature for coffee that tasters described as
very strong but smooth. Besides its single on-off
control and clean design, we also really loved
its five-year warranty and its easily replaceable exterior parts, which ensure a long, useful life. It costs just over $300, but it's gonna hold up and serve you well. We also recommend the OXO
Brew 8-Cup Coffee Maker at about $175, intuitive controls and the most ergonomically pleasing carafe we've seen in years of testing. Our best buy, a Zojirushi
Zutto Coffee Maker. It's about $75. We're not fans of its class carafe, but it brewed a small
pot of very good coffee and we loved its removable
water tank and easy cleanup. With any of our top-rated machines, your morning coffee is
gonna get a lot better. For more information and
detail about our testing and all of these guys back here, go to AmericasTestKitchen.com
for the full review.
