Why Most Household Coffee Makers Are Terrible (And What You Can Do)

For a good bit of people in the United States who drink coffee, the standard routine is groggily walking to the coffee maker, eyeballing the water and pouring it in, putting the coffee in the basket, and turning it on. At the end of it, you have a glass carafe of coffee that you’re at least tolerating as you make your way through the morning.

If you’re interested, you can most definitely improve that.

How do Cheap Coffee Makers Fall Short?

Temperature

Firstly and at the most basic level, despite the promise of convenience, household domestic coffee makers often sacrifice flavor for speed and simplicity. A key way that Mr. Coffee, Keurig, and other manufacturers show this is their incompetence with getting water to the correct temperature.

It’s hard to overstate how important it is that your water is at the correct temperature when brewing a great cup of coffee. Generally speaking, the hotter water is when it’s introduced to the coffee, the more of those delicious flavors, oils, and caffeine get into your cup, or in other words, the more extracted your cup is. However, water that’s at or above boiling temperature might pull too much compounds into your cup, imparting bitter and unpleasant taste.

Most cheap domestic coffee makers heat up their water through a hot plate or a heating tube, which means it’s difficult to fine-control the temperature of the coffee when it hits your filter basket. This can lead to a cup that feels too boring and vapid, or cause a pungent, unpleasant, and bitter cup.

It’s hard to properly monitor and adjust temperature in most cheap models. There are some coffee makers that have temperature control, but it oftentimes comes at a price.

The Coffee Aspect

Many people that use these kinds of coffee makers are there for the caffeine and the speed at which they can get it. This philosophy often applies when purchasing coffee.

Pre-ground coffee is cheap. Wonderfully cheap. But in a way, you sacrifice quality for convenience just as much as you do for the coffee maker itself.

Coffee beans are pretty good at safeguarding their freshness and aromas for a good period of time, but when it is ground, it immediately begins to bleed its flavors and aromas. This oxidization process can cause up to 60% of aromas to be lost after 15 minutes of being out in the open air. This process can be hastened through wet and hot environments (and also your fridge). Luckily, you can slow down this process just as easily by trying to keep it airtight in a cool, dark, and dry place, just like a lot of other perishable goods.

If you have a pepper or spice grinder, it shouldn’t hurt to have a coffee grinder. Not only does it produce remarkably better coffee, the blissful aroma it produces makes it worthwhile for your morning routine.

Environmental Impact

Coffee is notoriously bad for the planet, (although you can still help with that), and many of the cheap coffee makers are only perpetuating the consumerism that drives it.

A prime example of this is K-Cups. These tiny plastic coffee canisters, while convenient, produce a biblical amount of plastic waste, as every single one of those can end up in a landfill (although there are reusable ones). They’re also quite expensive, which is only allowing large companies to profit off of needless consumption and waste.

In addition, many coffee makers simply aren’t built to last, or aren’t worth the money you are paying for. Most of the time, these machines only last two to three years at most and can be discouragingly inconvenient to fix or clean, leading to unnecessary disposal and purchasing another cheap household coffee makers.

Household domestic coffee makers offer undeniable convenience, but this comes at the cost of flavor compromise and significant environmental impact. The trade-offs between speed and flavor, convenience and coffee quality, have driven consumers to reconsider their coffee-brewing choices. Those seeking a more sustainable and flavorful coffee experience may find solace in exploring alternative brewing methods, like pourovers and coffee presses, that prioritize freshness, flavor, and environmental responsibility.