On 2005-12-07, bd > wrote:
> i was hoping to get some help on buying a coffee maker. i'm new to coffee
> but really like a decent cup of black coffee. being new to coffee, i
> haven't been to starbucks, so not sure if i like the fru fru stuff, but
> don't want to discard it either. i'd like something small as i have very
> little counter space. any recommendations? thanks for reading.

In my opinion, if you want really great coffee at home, you need to
grind it freshly right before you brew it, so step one is to get a
grinder. Burr grinders are best but bigger and more expensive than
the $20 rotating blade grinders, which do a passable job. For the
coffee maker, I would prefer a French press to an automatic drip
machine in general, though this is a little more trouble. When using
a French press, you'll want to grind the coffee very coarsely to avoid
gritty coffee. Just boil the water in the microwave, put the grounds
in the press, add water, steep for X minutes (different people will
make different recomendations for X -- experiment), then push down the
plunger and pour into your mug. You can get them in various sizes,
starting with a convenient single-serving size, and they're pretty
cheap. You can get a blade grinder plus French press for less than a
good automatic drip machine.

For what it's worth, I have given up on freshly brewed coffee at home
in favor of two surprisingly good and more convenient alternatives:
high quality instant coffee (NOT Folgers), or cold-brewed coffee
concentrate (google "Toddy coffee"). I was served cold-brewed coffee
concentrate far more often than anything else when I visited South
America, and I've tried it at home with good results (still use
freshly ground beans). You don't need to shell out for the "Toddy
Coffee System" if you just get a little creative with setting up your
own filtering system. For instant, brands claiming to be "instant
espresso powder" are likely to be of higher quality, and I'm currently
using a brand called "Mount Hagen Organic Café" that I like, which you
might find in a natural foods grocery. Both will be quite a bit more
expensive than Folgers.

Each of these methods produce coffee different from freshly brewed
coffee, but each is good in its own way. Mostly, I choose them
because they are easy, while still being good. I still occassionally
go to a good coffee house for a cappuccino.

Randall