Mrs Jim is after a coffee machine, very simple, less than £100 – that makes decent coffee & is not expected to keep coffee hot for multiple cups.
She won’t go for an Aeropress, presumably because she feels they resemble something from a head shop (maaan).
Any suggestions gratefully received.
ATM: Coffee Machines: simple, drip filter type- any recommendations?
by 84 Comments
Get a cafetiere, or French Press if you like. Less than 20 sovs from Waitrose, works perfectly.
I’m with @twang . Unless you want to make fancy milk-based coffees keep it simple – AeroPress, Bialetti or cafetiere.
Seconded … I have a cast iron Le creuset warm It first leave it 4 mins and makes two fabulous cups
As Twang says above, plus you should consider the stovetop espresso makers (e.g. Bialetti or similar). You can spend any amount of money on coffee machines, but it’s hard to really get any better than these.
Nice enough coffee, but not espresso.
True, I agree.
Bialetti not espresso? Maybe not technically, but better coffee than ones where water rather than steam is involved?
Yes I also have a Bialetti.
Worth a read?
Thanks so much, FS- I had a hunch this had been a recent ish topic & loads to peruse.
As it was yours truly who started that thread @Junglejim, I’ll just add a few thoughts here.
I invested in a Bialetti with mixed results. With the right bean or ground coffee it does make an acceptable espresso, but it’s a little bitter for my taste. I’ve also had a Tassimo machine that makes coffee from capsules. The capsules are pricey and the coffee tastes pretty bland, but there may well be better ones on the market these days.
For the last few years I’ve used a DeLonghi Dedica machine. It retails for around £180, so is probably more than you want to pay, but it makes a decent espresso which can be diluted into Americano, and has a milk frother to make a basic cappuccino if you are that way inclined. It’s simple to use, reliable and doesn’t take up much space. If and when it conks out I will probably invest in another.
My Scottish friend Fiona has a talent for breaking coffee making machines.
None ever manage to last more than a year.
It’s not clumsiness or anything like that, they just stop working.
She’s the coffee machine equivalent of those people who cannot wear a wristwatch and have it tell the time.
Cheers, Boneshaker & thanks too to the Massive for the input.
A friend refers to things you buy for the kitchen maybe use a few times then leave it to gather dust in a cupboard as “cupboard wadding”. I won a machine once complete with capsules, never used it again after the capsules were used up.
Just used my Aeropress. Very happy with the taste.
Those capsule things are a PITA. There’s one in the cottage we rent each summer, with a box full of the stupid capsule things, and I’ve never even sussed out how to load the stupid thing. I just chuck the Bialetti in the back of the car and use that while we’re there. Totally performative look-at-me kitchen crap.
Lots to unpack here…but for starters, if the “capsule things are a PITA”, I suggest you’re inserting them in the wrong place.
The point is that I’m not inserting them anywhere. They look to me like a triumph of marketing and packaging expertise over common sense, and I have no inclination to pander to those particular evils.
I see my (admittedly) poor attempt at humour fell flat…
Flat on your arse.
Well I liked it.
Caffeine suppositories are a thing, Hubes – but an aluminium coat is bound to limit absorption.
I bow to your superior knowledge, though I don’t think I’ll try a search engine to look for them though.
Is that what Stevie Nicks uses?
When I was given my LOFFLEX diet I was told to stop coffee and alcohol. Giving up coffee was much harder than booze.
I was offered those but declined, and took up drinking twice as much tea instead.
Not at all, I had a snort at your remark, then tried to make my own disparaging remark encapsulating derision at first world problems.
“Encapsulating”…very good…
That made my day 😀
We’ve used a Nespresso machine at home for years.
Ecologically unsound and rather expensive to run, but definitely not a PITA to use.
We like the coffee too.
I have a Lavazza, similar set-up, similar results. Probably to be sneered at by the coffee cognoscenti, but I care not.
Same here. Used it in my office at work and brought it home when I retired.
I partly chose it because it was miles cheaper than the Nespresso equivalent (equipment and pods); but mainly because Lavazza is still my favourite ground coffee. Used when multiple guests want coffee (the Aeropress being a bit antisocial in that regard) – or for speed in the early morning.
I recall that towards the end of the capsules I just removed the top and poured the grounds into my Aeropress. I did recycle the aluminium down at the tip.
Stovetop and a decent hand grinder works for me (and good beans of course). Although James Hoffman’s YouTube channel has meant a cupboard full other coffee related gadget. Best avoided if you want to remain solvent.
Another recommendation for a cafetière. None more simple to use, can get double insulated ones these days and a decent size one will provide 4 good size mugs . Easy to clean too.
Interesting. The one thing which is annoying is it goes cold so an insulated one sounds good. I have a little quilted wrap around jacket thing which helps.
I bought a metal, insulated one after breaking another glass one – well worth it. Keeps it hot AND you can plunge without fear of lacerating your wrist…
A coffee cosy! They are a thing, the tax dodgers have plenty. Bit early for a Christmas list but hey ho!
I’ve yet to drink a really good cup of coffee from a home machine of any sort. They all fall short of what you’ll get in a really good Italian Café.
I use a cheap Bialetti-knockoff stovetop pot, myself. £12 from Sainsbury’s homewares shelves, several years back. They don’t sell them anymore.
Normally I grind my own beans with a Cuisinart* burr machine but that has just bitten the dust and I’m temporarily using a cheap bladed grinder. Even from the stovetop pot, my coffee is far inferior to what I’d like it to be. At least it’s better than instant or that rubbish from pod machines.
*Grinds the coffee beautifully but poor design means you have to seriously dismantle it (extra-long star-point screwdrivers required) to clean it properly, or the area around the grinding plates gets clogged up.
My little grinder is a Peugeot, bought for about €10 from a roadside brocante in Saint-Benoît-des-Ondes in around 1997. Still going strong, lovely to look at, lovely to use. Seeemples.
We had a Nespresso machine in an Air B&B once. I approached it with my nose very firmly in the air, being a Bialetti Boy through and through, but I was quite impressed in spite of myself. Little jolts of strong black coffee seemed to hit the spot. Get refillable or compostable capsules though, or the Earth will hate you. Refillable means you can choose your own coffee and retain a bit of cred.
We bought a Melitta filter machine a while ago, which I think was within the OP’s budget. Makes a nice cuppa, and has an insulated jug which keeps the contents warm for ages. Has a built-in timer, so can be set the night before.
I think the Melitta is the direction we’re likely to go in, so many thanks for this.
Mrs Jim doesn’t drink much coffee, but would like one nice hassle free cup a day & that really seems to fit the bill.
When I need a real caffeine blast, I’m v happy with my Aeropress, but she’s very much agin it for some reason.
We’ve had loads of filter machines and the Melitta is the best one we’ve had. It takes a 4-cup paper filter, and I wish it was a permanent filter. Our usual brew is Sainsburys (fine) Colombian ground, rather than beans, and it hits the spot every morning. I drink their instant Colombian during the day, though it needs two teaspoons-worth per mug.
@GCU Grey Area Thank you for the tip about Sainsbury’s instant Colombian. I tend to go with Kenco smooth, which varies in price from “that’s not too bad” to “How much!” & had been looking for a decent alternative.
I bought a jar, did a taste test with my sister, and gave a few spoonfuls for my neighbour to try. I like it & at £2.15 for 100g, it’s much better value, & is in stock at my Sainsbury’s Local.
You’ve got me tempted now. I want to try the results coffee first which is tricky. A coffee machine was the pinnacle of sophistication on the student bedroom back in the day.
I was with you with Melitta but you lost me at ‘machine’!
All I use is a Melitta drip cone, a mug and a kettle. Nice clean tasting hot coffee every time and very little clearing up afterwards. Spend the rest of the budget on identifying a favourite bean. You’ll need a small grinder too … but that’s a whole different discussion!
I’m a bit of a coffee snob as I’ve really gone off instant. At work I just rely on decent coffee bags. Beans, or ground coffee, as long as it’s reasonably strong I’m as happy to get something from Aldi as a deli.
I have a second filter cone at work. Each day (when I actually go to the office!) I put a couple of carefully folded up filter papers that I’ve preloaded with coffee, in my bag and I get coffee at my desk just the same as I do at home. No need to resort to instant and no need to join the (always long) queue for a barista made cup.
I think the main advantage of beans is that you can grind them to your preferred grain size. My current favourite is Lidl Nicaraguan beans.
Oh, sure, but the machine means we get up to fresh coffee, rather than have to make it. We have a one-cup and two-cup cafetiere for smaller quantities of ‘proper’.
A simple press is all ya need
Is this the ironing thread?
It’s the irony board.
We keep our irony board in the futility room.
My late mum sometimes called the cupboard under the stairs the ‘glory hole’. When I was old enough to be able to go ‘hurrr-hurrr’ at this, my parents had moved to a house lacking one.
If the ask is for a cup or two of filtered coffee per day, I would go for a dripper rather than a filter machine. Melitta ones are less than a £10 and Hario ones a pound or so more. Hario do a nice dripper that comes with a decanter (Hario VDD-02B Drip Decanter) for around £25 which is pleasing on the eye. I found filter machines to be more of a faff to keep clean, descale and stuff like that. And they need leaving out on the worktop and they can be awkward to fill up with water.
Presses are good but messy and the coffee can get a bit sludgy. Which some people like but I’m not that keen.
In our house the last mug is known as “the gritty” if you go all the way to the bottom. It doesn’t bother me but Mrs. T isn’t a fan.
I have a Melitta too which is very pretty but I rarely use it other than to make cappuccino with an aerolatte hand whisk which is nice but a faff.
Faff is good. The world needs a lot more faff.
I’m looking forward to faff when I retire. Time to faff should be a human right.
You are right, doing WTF you want and nothing else is lovely. Not worrying about time is wonderful.
I’m still working part-time. Don’t tell anyone, but I have also adopted a policy of not worrying about time. In fact, I’m perfecting a professional approach to not giving a fuck.
You are now both, officially, my role models. Apart from ‘ver Tull Twang.
Once retired you have to challenge your paradigm Lee.
“Quiet quitting” is one of the better recent American millennial inventions VV.
I had a Siemens machine, bought for a big discount, for many years but when it finally bit the dust I’ve moved to a small metal effort on the stove (for espresso) and a double insulated Cafetière for the morning Joe. Both perfectly acceptable IMHO.
We use a Cuisinart drip machine that we brought over with us, since they are incredibly rare over here.
We use an espresso machine at the weekends for the ‘nicer’ stuff, but I drink about 2 pints of the drip first thing in the morning, and Sharon about half that, so the French Press/espresso machine doesn’t really work for us.
It’s a good machine, with the ability to set a brew time so that when we come downstairs the coffee is waiting for us. Would recommend.
Tea is much easier and tastes nicer.
I have a 6 cup Bialetti for the induction hob which makes 2 x mugs with about a third warm milk. Late night, I have an espresso from the smallest Nespresso machine with a little warm milk, approximating what some of the coffee bars call a Cortado. Tesco number 8 capsules are fine by me.
Having guests to stay I used the cafetiere today. Top tip don’t leave the spoon in after stirring as it makes the pressing down harder.
Saw this just now.
What type are you?
Wot? No Aeropress?
Only for the cognoscenti.
Screen shotted!.
I’m not a New Yorker subscriber but I do flick through it fairly regularly…. mainly the cartoons though and very rarely the longer articles!… I’m more a Smithsonian man myself!
That vacuum thingy (»Believes vinyl…«) is just miraculous. Best coffee I ever had outside Italy, and no filter or cleaning hassle. What could be better?
What IS that, Fatima? How does it work?
Thanks! That looks interesting.
So the coffee grounds stay in the upper chamber when the brewed coffee is “sucked” back down?
Exactly. And the lower part is the actual »coffee pot« ready to serve.
And you just clean both parts with running water – that’s all.
Doesn’t the oil that’s present in the coffee build up on the glass, like it does with your coffee mug?
I must say I’m tempted to get one of those things. Just to watch it do it’s thing, if nothing else.
Well, I’m regularly doing the dishes… 🙂
Like I said, a bit of running water after each use is enough. (And the two parts are made of glass, not porcelain, so nothing sticks.)
I don’t need one of these, but now I want one.
I feel like that about the filter machine.
“Encore un café?” my Swiss boss used to ask without fail after breakfast everyday, gleefully reaching again for the constantly running Gaggia. He sent us out into the orchard every morning humming with caffeine, and he drank a lot more of the stuff than we did.
Just over 50, he was dead from a massive heart attack less than ten years later. Just saying.
So, in effect, very much like making love to a beautiful woman?
Less energetic but with a similar effect on your heart rate.
Knowing the Swiss, he probably smoked too