Best Single Serve Coffee maker

I agree with Ryan. Pour over or french press produce a better coffee than your automatic drip, but the convenience of automatic drip make it my current choice. Buy a decent grinder and a kettle and you are under your budget. I will caution you, pour over connoisseurs are very particular in the technique required to produce the "best" coffee. So don't get too hung up on the technique if you happen to google how to do it.
 
I will caution you, pour over connoisseurs are very particular in the technique required to produce the "best" coffee. So don't get too hung up on the technique if you happen to google how to do it.
:rofl:

Yeah there's a bizarre rabbit hole of endless perfection there.

We actually found the french press to be "more convenient" than drip because of counter space.... so yeah it's definitely situational. If i had more counter space I'd be seriously tempted by one of the "automatically makes coffee at X:00" rigs just to appease the caffeine monster.
 
:rofl:

Yeah there's a bizarre rabbit hole of endless perfection there.

We actually found the french press to be "more convenient" than drip because of counter space.... so yeah it's definitely situational. If i had more counter space I'd be seriously tempted by one of the "automatically makes coffee at X:00" rigs just to appease the caffeine monster.
Sometimes Past me is good about making the coffee for future me, but not all the time, lol.
 
There's a truth (according to much reading that I did years ago when searching for a coffee maker) that while the bean and it's grind is important, the single most important criteria is the water temperature. Apparently, the best coffee is made when the water is just shy of boiling. Too hot and the coffee is bitter, too cool and the flavour is missing.

I sometimes make a single cup, and I usually do as mentioned in the post above ..... boil the water, shut off the boiling and before the water gets cold, pour it over the correct amount of coffee in a cone to produce the flavour you want. It works, but it's not as good as brewing more coffee in any machine.
In a pinch I have put the ground coffee in a cup, poured the HOT water in and let it stand before straining it thru' a filter to drink. In this way (as long as the water is HOT) the flavour is determined by the coffee, the grind and the amount of time it takes for the water to soak thru' the grind. This always tastes better than a single cup drip, but it takes a bit more work.

All above works, but the price difference between one cup made special, and three mugs dripped thru' my MoccaMaster is so little (pennies) that I usually make it in the machine.
 
Many years ago I was a Dunkin Donuts coffee addict. I bought DD coffee and I had "them" grind it like they ground it. I tried different coffee makers and I tried the Melina pour over. I never did get the coffee to taste like DD coffee. I still don't know the answer.

I think I will get the OXO grinder and try some of the French press and pour over and and try some different beans and temperatures and grinds.

I really like the input and thoughts on the coffee.

I like lt cream or 1/2 & 1/2 - no sweetner

I also want to experiment with cinnimon (sp) and chocolate and maybe mint.
Not a lot - but a bit from time to time.

Ryan is right - what is a great cup of JO is entirely up to the individual.
 
We actually found the french press to be "more convenient" than drip because of counter space.... so yeah it's definitely situational. If i had more counter space I'd be seriously tempted by one of the "automatically makes coffee at X:00" rigs just to appease the caffeine monster.
My only complaint with the french press is the cleaning of it with all the loose grounds. Being lazy, I like just being able throw the whole mess away with the filter cone. That is why I also use paper filters and not the reusable mesh filters. That and I don't think the mesh filters are that good.
 
I don't think the mesh filters are that good.

We use mesh, and yeah there are legitimate complaints with it... Our grinder is in the "quite good" range but it's also more of an espresso grinder so produces a smidge of fines which can sneak through. Cleaning it isn't to bad although I'm wet cleaning it into a compost dump and I agree if you were trying to have a dry trash ready waste it would be far from ideal.

Apparently, the best coffee is made when the water is just shy of boiling. Too

The most commonly quoted temperature for pour over and drip and french press is 200F. I tend to go a wee bit higher because of the thermal mass of the grounds and pot pulls the temperature down a smidge.. but it's close.
pour it over the correct amount of coffee in a cone to produce the flavour you want. It works, but it's not as good as brewing more coffee in any machine.

Note that doing one pour over a cone isn't going to extract super well. You have to kind of gently wet the grounds (enough water they're fully hydrated but almost none makes it all the way through), let them set for a couple minutes.. and then slowly and evenly pour over the top. There's a whole art to pour overs which I'm mostly to impatient to do (but if we ever meet for beer someday I do have a great story about getting a pour over at a way-to-fancy-for-their-shirts place that isn't entirely suited for this forum).
 
I agree with the grind fresh beans and french press. X2 on the stainless steal. I personally think the pour over is way overeater. The only thing I drink at Starbucks is an Americano. Have fun and enjoy the ride. Cinnamon is a great thing.
 
I personally think the pour over is way overeater

IMHO it can be really good, BUT and it's a huge caveat.. it's really hard to do well and if you don't do it well, it's probably not going to be very good. I practiced doing it for a few months and got to "decent", the stuff I had an actual pro make was hands down better.. but they made many many cups a day so they really had the technique and timing down.
 
The best pour over I have had was made by my nephew who is a pro and it wasn't as good as my french press. And a whole lot more effort. I have had it in a fancy coffee place I went to with my kids, they like a lot of stuff in their coffee I can't have All the sugar and only take cream occasionally. That wasn't worth the time or effort. I keep trying...
 
I must not be a coffee connoisseur... I just put a few scoops of coffee from the can in my filter in the coffee brewer, set the timer to turn on and and drip through by 8:30 every morning, add a little creamer and enjoy. When I first get up I'm barely conscious and the simpler the coffee process is is the better.
 
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