How to Make Coffee With a Drip Coffee Maker

The most common coffee maker used in homes across America is the drip coffee maker. A drip coffee maker is easy to use and makes very good coffee.

You can choose a basic coffee maker or one with a lot of "bells and whistles". Some of the most useful features you can look for are timers and grinders. I would recommend getting the 2-hour shut off safety feature. Another feature many people like is the one that allows you access to a cup of coffee before your coffee maker finishes making the entire pot. This feature is a little controversial. 

        by carol E baker



Drip coffee maker works as follows. Water in the reservoir is heated and drips onto coffee grounds and slowly filters its way through coffee into the carafe or pot.

Coffee makers all have the same basic parts, an on/off switch, heating element and water reservoir. The removable parts include the coffee basket, coffee filter, and water carafe. Coffee baskets open through the top or swing out on a hinge. Many coffee makers come with a reusable filter. If your coffee maker doesn't have a reusable filter you can choose to buy the gold type filter or use disposable filters. Disposable filters are white or brown. I wouldn't recommend the white filters because they may have a residue from bleaching. The natural brown filters are usually a better choice.

The most important thing to remember is that coffee is only as good as the ingredients you use. If possible, start with fresh organic ground coffee and good tasting water. If your tap water is not good tasting, use good bottled or filtered water for best results.

Let's get started. Use 1 heaping tbsp of medium ground coffee in the filter lined basket for each cup of coffee you plan to make. I would recommend making at least 4 cups at a time in a drip coffee maker.

You can use the carafe itself to measure the water. Fill to the number of cups you would like to make. You may need to take into account that if your cups are large you may need to allow for that. We use large cups so for each cup I would I want to make, I would fill the carafe to "2" for 1 cup and to "3" for making 2 cups. Next, pour the measured water into the reservoir. If you can't see numbers on your carafe, you could use about 1 measuring cup of water for each cup of coffee you are making.

Set the carafe (or pot) on the heating element. Make sure you have the lid on the coffee carafe. Turn on the coffee maker and wait patiently for some great coffee.

Things to think about

Many people want their first cup of coffee right away. They don't want to wait until the whole pot is finished. Many coffee makers have a feature that allows you to remove the pot early. Use this feature carefully because you could potentially make a big mess. The way the feature works is by using the lid as a trigger. The lid presses on the bottom of the basket which pushes the basket open allowing the coffee to drip through. When you take the pot off the element the basket's hole will close and the coffee will not drip. This allows enough time to pour a cup of coffee and replace the pot. Once the pot is back on the heating element, the lid presses on the basket again and the making the coffee continues. If you are too slow or forget to put the pot, back quickly, the water which is continuing to drip into the basket and eventually it reaches the top and overflow causing coffee and grounds to spill out. Used properly you should not have any problem.

I recommend waiting until the coffee is finished because the first coffee out is typically stronger which makes the rest of the pot weaker.

Carol,
http://www.naturalcoffeebean.com

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