Number1Monkey Senior Member Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 1 Location: CA Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Sat Jan 26, 2008, 9:21am Subject: My NEW coffee maker tastes BAD!
First post... My coffee tastes horrible. I have a $38 CoffeeMate and it has tasted HORRIBLE (and I'm no professional here) since the first brew! I got another one about the same price, and it is the same! My water is good, I even tried distilled water. A friend of mine came over with a French Press for camping which he tried out in my kitchen, and it tased fine. I cannot figure out what the taste could be. Is it just a cheapo coffee maker seeping adhesive or plastics into the coffee? My father had a cheap Target maker for years and NEVER washed the inside and it always tasted better than this! Help me out folks...
jefft Senior Member Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 129 Location: Central Ohio Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Baratza Virtuoso Vac Pot: Stove top - Bodum Drip: Melitta manual pour-over,... Roaster: Behmor; Air Popper - Poppery...
Posted Sat Jan 26, 2008, 11:42am Subject: Re: My NEW coffee maker tastes BAD!
If the coffee you are using has not changed, nor the grind, I would guess that the temperature it is brewing at is low, maybe 170 to 180 degrees? For proper extraction, you should be around 200 degrees.
This may be helpful: http://sweetmarias.com/grind.brew.html Skip the part about grinding if you are not doing so yourself. If you lurk around this site long enough, you will notice that fresh roasted beans and a good grind are actually more important than the brewing itself (just as long as you can get to 200 degrees). I don't want to give you more than you ask for, so only go as far as you need to get a cup of coffee that is good for your tastes.
Posted Mon Jan 28, 2008, 11:35am Subject: Re: My NEW coffee maker tastes BAD!
If you're committed to staying with a consumer grade countertop coffee maker you're going to face poorer and poorer coffee taste inevitably, even if you can correct your woes about the new unit you mention above.
I've been through 12-15 such units over the past 20 years and they ALL become so-so if not objectionable over time. This is simply because all makes I know of use plastic and, like it or not, coffee and plastic are a bad combination. Most people also leave spent grounds in the basket until evening when they are finishing up dishes and the kitchen.
But even if you diligently wash the basket with detergent immediately after brewing, it will take on a pungent odor that comes from the polimers in the plastic and impregnated coffee acids to give you a chemical tincture to any coffee you will make in them.
The only quick coffee technique I've ever found that is consistently good and easy to make is the Melita pour-over method with one of their ceramic or porcelain filter cones on a single cup. These remain odor free for life. You can get a larger cone to make a pot which is the next best method to the single cup experience.
In my experience, coffee makers can't hold a candle to this method. The only time they come even remotely close is first use out of the box, and then it's downhill from there.
Problem is, you won't be able to find the smaller one-cup ceramics in stores. They're scarce as hen's teeth because anyone who actually has one keeps it. When you do find them on ebay they usually end up going for $25-30, but they are worth the one time expense to bring you within reach of good, quick coffee.
If you can't find the smaller ones, the larger cone is still sold, and though it's a little heftier, it does work for a single cup. You may have to retard the larger seeping hole at the bottom to allow a longer pass-through.
Bear in mind that even the filter cone method can't touch the finer espresso machines that are the main topic around here. But in the end, there is a life beyond coffee, and folks have to consider cost and ease of use.
bodum_fanatic Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 345 Location: Missouri Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Won't become one of those... Grinder: Braun KMM30, Krups Fast... Vac Pot: Never had much luck there. Drip: Melitta Deluxe 132 made in... Roaster: West Bend Poppery II
Posted Mon Jan 28, 2008, 4:18pm Subject: Re: My NEW coffee maker tastes BAD!
First of all, distilled water usually makes flat tasting coffee, so there won't be an improvement there. If you have a typical countertop brewer of the likes of most of the store brands, then it is not going to produce very good coffee. Some coffees are blended so that they don't taste horrible at lower brew temps, but a lot of these coffee makers brew at lower temps than most people realize. The average Mr. Coffee, Toastmaster, Chef Mate, or Black & Decker coffee maker starts off the brew cycle at a mean temperature of around 140 degrees, gradually increasing to around 180 degrees at the end of the cycle. However, for about 1/3 of the pot, it brews at less than 180.
If you want to try a pour over method, I would suggest a Chemex, or as another post suggested, a ceramic pourover cone. The Chemex is great, even though the filters are twice the price of the best quality standard filters. I like it because I get coffee as heavy as press pot style, but with a cleaner body.
Cafetiere Senior Member Joined: 12 Jan 2008 Posts: 129 Location: Milky Way
Posted Mon Jan 28, 2008, 8:05pm Subject: Re: My NEW coffee maker tastes BAD!
One of the basic problems with coffee makers, noted in here repeatedly, is that the heater for the water and the warming plate under the carafe are run off the same thermostat. (That's the way I understand it anyway.)
The problem here is that the brewing water either is not hot enough because of the temp of the warming plate -- or the warming plate is too hot for brewed coffee.
The way to drip brew coffee is to get a filter cone, heat the water to boiling in a separate pan, slow pour the water through the grinds.
Water -- I use filtered water, NOT distilled. No iron, no calcium, no lime, no chlorine. Local tap water is full of iron and chlorine.
When the brewing is finished, pour the coffee into heated cups. Hot water in the sink heats cups fine. Put the remaining coffee in a pre-heated thermos. Hot tap water in the thermos works fine, just like pre-heating the cups.
If I add cream, etc, I warm that in a water bath in the sink. Pre-heating your cups, thermos, creamers, etc. keeps the coffee hot.
I searched for a coffee maker. What I found was a lot of plastic water tanks, plastic funnels, etc. I don't think plastic and hot water are a good mix.
I'm searching for a stainless steel drip filter cone. -- So far, no luck.
Melitta makes an 8 cup drip pot with a drip filter cone. It comes with paper filter cones for less than $15. The cone is plastic, but the water is not being heated in the plastic cone. A no. 4 gold mesh permanent filter cone runs another $15, more or less. Gold mesh perm. filter is the way to go.
And you really don't need a digital clock w/ auto-start to make your coffee for you. Your friend with the French press pot has the right idea -- clean and simple. No plastic!
Good coffee is not rocket science. It's WAY more complicated than that!
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