So you decided you want a coffee maker, and chances are this is not the first time. Still, the incredible depth of options and features for drip and single serve coffee makers can send even a savvy coffee drinker on a wild chase. In this guide we will try to make things as easy as possible, because they can be!

In 1908, Melitta Bentz, a German housewife, had the bright idea to use paper to filter the coffee grounds, and drip coffee was born. According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), roughly 50% of Americans drink coffee on a daily basis, most of which is brewed using the drip method. Over the years, many new features and brewing methods have developed and in this guide we will focus on drip and single serve coffee makers.

The first choice to be made is that of a traditional drip coffee maker versus a single serve coffee maker. Generally speaking, the first fits anyone wishing to make a few cups at a time, while the other would work best for brewing single cups, especially when each cup is of a different flavor (e.g. decaf, regular, vanilla, etc).

Within each category there are many features to choose from as can be seen in the table below. These are pretty strait forward and there is no need to get into the details here. However, before you start hunting, do prioritize the features, in the table, that matter to you the most. Deciding the budget in advance helps too of course. In the coffee world, just as in life, the more one pays the more one gets, but there is no reason to get carried away.

Coffee Maker Buying Guide Table

Tip

While brewing coffee using a coffee maker is pretty straightforward the quality can be significantly improved by using freshly ground coffee (that means buying a good coffee grinder), filtered water (e.g. a Brita), and by reducing the time the coffee is kept after it is brewed.

Follow this link for our Espresso Machine Buying Guide.