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Author Topic: Coffee Maker - Drip... stainless steel components (recommendations)?  (Read 7750 times)

Bob Faulkner

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Did a search for "coffee"... surprisingly, a lot results!  One of the results showed Bunn as one of the better coffee makers.

Anyone recommend a good drip coffee maker that uses stainless steel components?  I'm not a coffee-snob... but plastic components make the coffee taste like plastic.  I grind my own beans and vary between light and dark roast each month.  I'm currently using an electric 6 cup peculator (stainless steel components), but it's becoming a pain in the ass switching between the roasts (impacting extraction times).

I'm looking at these for stainless steel components (but open to other suggestions).

Bunn
Breville
Hamilton Beach

I used a french press for a couple of years, but got tired of the cleaning regiment.  I'm needing to "simplify" my coffee making....





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Tim McCulloch

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Re: Coffee Maker - Drip... stainless steel components (recommendations)?
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2021, 09:50:02 PM »

The Bunn brewers for home use have a stainless reservoir tank and heat exchanger but the rest is plastic.  Also best at brewing full pots of coffee rather than partials.

I use a Cuisinart that was the top rated, < $100 in Consumer Reports a few years ago.  The stainless is on the outside, the interior is vacuum formed ABS and I detect no taste from the plastic.  Makes partial pots of coffee in a consistent manner (the problem I had with Bunn).

TechnoVorm is the brand that consistently gets high marks from testing folks like CR and buyers alike.  They're expensive.  I need to meet someone who owns one so I can try it for myself.

Finally, I've found that water has the most influence on coffee taste.  The tap water here is somewhere between "swimming pool" and "just left the Chlorox plant".  My Cuisinart has replaceable activated charcoal filters that remove *most* of that taste.  I have a Brita Container that I use to pre-filter my brew water and drinking water.  No chlorine to affect my coffee.

Wichita is fortunate to have at least 3 coffee roasters in town, one has been around for over 30 years (The Spice Merchant) but the new folks are roasting some good java, too.  Ethiopia Sidamo and Yirgacheffe are 2 of my current favorites, along with Tanzania Peaberry.
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Caleb Dueck

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Re: Coffee Maker - Drip... stainless steel components (recommendations)?
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2021, 10:50:22 PM »

Bunn
Breville
Hamilton Beach

I've used Bunn at previous commercial jobs (resorts), and they were great.  But as Tim alluded to - Bunn Commercial is nothing like Bunn consumer.   I can't give much more relevant advice, as the ones I've used would fit your needs very well, and can brew a whole lot very fast!  But the price tag is nowhere near $100.
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John Roberts {JR}

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Re: Coffee Maker - Drip... stainless steel components (recommendations)?
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2021, 01:24:51 AM »

I find that coffee beans have the most influence on coffee flavor... I use RO filtered water and the serious coffee tweaks insist on adding back in some minerals to the water (I don't miss em).

The bunn is pretty respectable except I did encounter a couple decades old one where the temperature regulation was off... My first pot of coffee in the morning tasted slightly different than the next pot mid day, a difference I attributed to water temperature.  I really like that the Bunn holds hot water so you do not have to wait for it to heat up.  8) It made good coffee for decades until it didn't.   :'(

I use a cheap electric kettle to boil my water. I'm pretty sure it is SS.

I grind my roast coffee using a burr grinder. 

I use a pour over brew technique with multiple filters, in fact one metal filter and two paper filters, one under the metal filter and second under the brew basket. A little surprising how much sediment the third filter still traps.

Water temp matters and coffee aficionados insist it should be cooler than boiling. I actually pour the boiling water first into one thermos, and then from the first thermos into a second thermos. The water in the second thermos is then cool enough to brew with, and the thermos is warmed up to help keep the coffee warm longer. Never reheat coffee with anything other than a microwave.

You need to grind the roast coffee beans immediately before brewing, and roast the coffee no more than a few days before grinding. I roast 5 days worth of green coffee at a time and I perceive a slight flavor shift from day one to day five. In fact I rest the coffee overnight after roasting, the fresh roast is still outgassing CO2 for several hours after being roasted. I like the hottop drum roaster but there are other respectable roasters. 

Of course buy good quality green coffee. A drought caused by el nino (not global warming) is threatening the columbian arabica crop right now, but there are good quality arabica coffees grown around the world.
======
I have my morning brew down to a routine.

While I wait for my burr grinder to grind one pots worth, I fill up my electric kettle with RO water. When the grinder finishes, I switch on the kettle. While the kettle is boiling the water, I empty yesterdays coffee grounds into my compost bin, paper filters go into the compost too. After rinsing the metal filter and brew basket I grab some clean paper filters and reload for today's pour over brew session.   

Life is too short to drink inferior beverages.

JR   
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Steve-White

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Re: Coffee Maker - Drip... stainless steel components (recommendations)?
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2021, 02:36:18 AM »

Non-chlorinated water of your choosing and a machine with a screen filter.  Paper filters pull oils out and destroy flavor.
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Keith Broughton

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Re: Coffee Maker - Drip... stainless steel components (recommendations)?
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2021, 06:26:48 AM »

  I'm currently using an electric 6 cup peculator (stainless steel components), but it's becoming a pain in the ass switching between the roasts (impacting extraction times).



I used a french press for a couple of years, but got tired of the cleaning regiment.  I'm needing to "simplify" my coffee making....
I'm not quite clear on the problem you are having with the perc. Could you expand?
One other small point is "good coffee" and "simplify" don't really go together. ;)
The French press (Bodum) is about as easy as it gets and does make great coffee. I use one every day.
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Mark Norgren

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Re: Coffee Maker - Drip... stainless steel components (recommendations)?
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2021, 09:22:07 AM »

I use to own a coffee roasting company.  Unless you really want a drip machine, you many want to try a super-automatic type coffee machine.  I would recommend a Jura brand, but DeLongi may be a bit more affordable.  If you really want drip, Technivorm is the way to go.  MHO is to try a Jura!
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Bob Faulkner

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Re: Coffee Maker - Drip... stainless steel components (recommendations)?
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2021, 10:08:58 AM »

All - thank you for the replies!

My last exposure to Bunn (commercial) was in the late 70's at a restaurant I worked in.  That Bunn was great.  But, way too big and required it's own water line and (if I recall) a 30amp service.  We were told not too unplug the coffee machine.

I started this thread after doing some minor research on how coffee is brewed in roasteries (the ones that have a retail front).  100% of all the roasters I visited use drip coffee makers.  Though, they all said they use professional equipment.  I did not ask if they could control the water temp and extraction time.  The brewed coffee at the roasters was exceptionally better than anything I have ever brewed on my own.  I have had some good coffee, but it has never been consistent.  Therefore, I'm leaning toward drip.



The Bunn brewers for home use have a stainless reservoir tank and heat exchanger but the rest is plastic.  Also best at brewing full pots of coffee rather than partials.

I use a Cuisinart that was the top rated, < $100 in Consumer Reports a few years ago.  The stainless is on the outside, the interior is vacuum formed ABS and I detect no taste from the plastic.  Makes partial pots of coffee in a consistent manner (the problem I had with Bunn).

TechnoVorm is the brand that consistently gets high marks from testing folks like CR and buyers alike.  They're expensive.  I need to meet someone who owns one so I can try it for myself.

Finally, I've found that water has the most influence on coffee taste.  The tap water here is somewhere between "swimming pool" and "just left the Chlorox plant".  My Cuisinart has replaceable activated charcoal filters that remove *most* of that taste.  I have a Brita Container that I use to pre-filter my brew water and drinking water.  No chlorine to affect my coffee.

Wichita is fortunate to have at least 3 coffee roasters in town, one has been around for over 30 years (The Spice Merchant) but the new folks are roasting some good java, too.  Ethiopia Sidamo and Yirgacheffe are 2 of my current favorites, along with Tanzania Peaberry.
Thanks for the TechnoVorm name!  I saw one of these not too long ago, but did not know the company name.  This looks like something I will seriously consider.  I'm ok with spending the extra money.  I'm good with cry-once buy-once on a decent coffee maker.

Great explanation of the Wichita water!  Where I used to live (years ago in the Kansas City area), it was sort of the same way; no mater where you lived around KC.  I too used a Brita to "fix" the water problem.  I now reside in the county where everyone is on well-water.  The water is great... no smells, no chemicals, tastes great.  We don't use any filters when bringing water into the house.  It has made drinking coffee a lot better than using city water.

I've used Bunn at previous commercial jobs (resorts), and they were great.  But as Tim alluded to - Bunn Commercial is nothing like Bunn consumer.   I can't give much more relevant advice, as the ones I've used would fit your needs very well, and can brew a whole lot very fast!  But the price tag is nowhere near $100.

I was hoping Bunn had something "commercial" that would work for residential use (affordable... of course).  I'm beginning to see this may not be a possibility. 

I find that coffee beans have the most influence on coffee flavor... I use RO filtered water and the serious coffee tweaks insist on adding back in some minerals to the water (I don't miss em).

The bunn is pretty respectable except I did encounter a couple decades old one where the temperature regulation was off... My first pot of coffee in the morning tasted slightly different than the next pot mid day, a difference I attributed to water temperature.  I really like that the Bunn holds hot water so you do not have to wait for it to heat up.  8) It made good coffee for decades until it didn't.   :'(

I use a cheap electric kettle to boil my water. I'm pretty sure it is SS.

I grind my roast coffee using a burr grinder. 

I use a pour over brew technique with multiple filters, in fact one metal filter and two paper filters, one under the metal filter and second under the brew basket. A little surprising how much sediment the third filter still traps.

Water temp matters and coffee aficionados insist it should be cooler than boiling. I actually pour the boiling water first into one thermos, and then from the first thermos into a second thermos. The water in the second thermos is then cool enough to brew with, and the thermos is warmed up to help keep the coffee warm longer. Never reheat coffee with anything other than a microwave.

You need to grind the roast coffee beans immediately before brewing, and roast the coffee no more than a few days before grinding. I roast 5 days worth of green coffee at a time and I perceive a slight flavor shift from day one to day five. In fact I rest the coffee overnight after roasting, the fresh roast is still outgassing CO2 for several hours after being roasted. I like the hottop drum roaster but there are other respectable roasters. 

Of course buy good quality green coffee. A drought caused by el nino (not global warming) is threatening the columbian arabica crop right now, but there are good quality arabica coffees grown around the world.
======
I have my morning brew down to a routine.

While I wait for my burr grinder to grind one pots worth, I fill up my electric kettle with RO water. When the grinder finishes, I switch on the kettle. While the kettle is boiling the water, I empty yesterdays coffee grounds into my compost bin, paper filters go into the compost too. After rinsing the metal filter and brew basket I grab some clean paper filters and reload for today's pour over brew session.   

Life is too short to drink inferior beverages.

JR   

Ah... I see you are a coffee "person"! 

Great info!  I'm using an electric percolator as well.  It works fine, but I think it's getting the water too hot.  I measured the temp while it was percolating (through the pour spout); it was over 200 degrees for most of the "cooking" time.  Many times, the coffee tastes over-extracted.  I've cleaned the percolator many times.  I use Baratza burr grinder.  Recently, I added a coffee filter to the basket.  It cleaned up all the sediment that was usually in the bottom of my coffee cup.  It helped with the controlling the bitterness, but looks like the filter may be introducing another variable in trying to get a good cup of coffee made. 

The coffee I get comes from local roasters; it's decent product.

"Life is too short to drink inferior beverages." - completely agree.


Non-chlorinated water of your choosing and a machine with a screen filter.  Paper filters pull oils out and destroy flavor.

I'm on well-water (non-filtered)... it's actually very good water.  I recently started adding paper filters to control the sediment that was ending up in the coffee cup.  I hated to add the filters, but the sediment was too much with causing bitterness.  I grind my coffee with a coarse setting, but no matter how coarse it is, sediment always ended up in the cup.  So, I now add a filter, and can grind less coarse coffee, which results in using less coffee. 

Just like "subtractive EQ", removing the bitterness (via a filter) has yield a much better cup of coffee!


I'm not quite clear on the problem you are having with the perc. Could you expand?
One other small point is "good coffee" and "simplify" don't really go together. ;)
The French press (Bodum) is about as easy as it gets and does make great coffee. I use one every day.


I think the main problem with the perc is water temp.  It's all electric, so I'm under it's control for how hot it gets and how long it will perc for.  The perc basket is ok, but sediment (more than what I would call "some") was continuously getting into the cup.  Been adding paper filters to catch the sediment. 

Cleaning the perc is ok, but soap and water does not remove the residue.  I used to use something called "Dip-It", but appears that is no longer available.  I got something else to use (the name of the company/product slips my mind), but it could not be used on aluminum.  My perc is all stainless steel, except for the nut -aluminum- at the bottom of the perc (where the perc tube sits).  So, I was not able to use this other product.  What I am doing is using baking-soda to scrub the whole thing; this is not a fun task, especially when trying to clean the walls inside the perc.

Getting consistent results with the perc has been an ongoing problem;  maybe it's because I switch between light, med, dark roast coffees every month or so (which does require a change in grind size, water temps, extraction times).

You're right - "..."good coffee" and "simplify" don't really go together."  I'm trying to find the middle of this!


« Last Edit: July 25, 2021, 10:13:37 AM by Bob Faulkner »
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Bob Faulkner

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Re: Coffee Maker - Drip... stainless steel components (recommendations)?
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2021, 10:09:56 AM »

I use to own a coffee roasting company.  Unless you really want a drip machine, you many want to try a super-automatic type coffee machine.  I would recommend a Jura brand, but DeLongi may be a bit more affordable.  If you really want drip, Technivorm is the way to go.  MHO is to try a Jura!

Thank you for the names Mark! 

So you gave up coffee for the great world of audio?
« Last Edit: July 25, 2021, 10:14:40 AM by Bob Faulkner »
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Tim Weaver

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Re: Coffee Maker - Drip... stainless steel components (recommendations)?
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2021, 11:13:40 AM »

We have one of these:
https://www.groundworkcoffee.com/products/bonavita-8-cup-carafe-coffee-brewer?gclid=Cj0KCQjwl_SHBhCQARIsAFIFRVUeIptRvtMVXdW7KfEJTHJO24xSduEw1g6PNH-jlnHwj5lFpzGH6pQaArv8EALw_wcB

And I can't say enough good about it. It heats the water to the proper temp, and keeps that heat throughtout the brewing. The carafe is insulated and has no heater under the carafe so the coffee doesn't burn just sitting there. Best of all there's no whiz-bangery. Just an on-off switch and thats it.

Also we've used this coffee maker 2-3 pots a day for I don't know maybe 4 or 5 years now? It's been the longest lasting of any pots we've had.
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Re: Coffee Maker - Drip... stainless steel components (recommendations)?
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2021, 11:13:40 AM »


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