Makes perfectly brewed coffee Works well with gold drip filter Inexpensive
Negative Product Points
Carafe not thermal, essentially unnecessary if you have a true thermal carafe.
Detailed Commentary
I purchased a Melitta 6-cup porcelain manual drip coffeemaker as I was in need of a smaller-size drip coffeemaker, and was unhappy with the low water temperatures and questionable reliability of most consumer electric drip makers.
There's not much to the Melitta system. One porcelain filter holder and a porcelain carafe with a removable top to enable the carafe to be used as a serving piece. My carafe indicated China manufacture. There were no cracks or other observable defects.
I have not been disappointed in my purchase. With a simple kettle to boil water, the Melitta porcelain is ideal for brewing 2-4 8 oz. mugs of coffee, which is what I required. The porcelain is sturdy, made of vitrified china, and retains heat while the hot coffee drips into the carafe. The Melitta 6-cup porcelain filter holder has a single drip hole with embossed ridges on the lower portion of its sloping inner sides. The Melitta will accept a #4 or #6 paper filter, or my filter of choice, a #4 SwissGold screen filter, which allows more body and oils into the coffee. Cleanup is extremely fast.
Grind is not ultra-sensitive in this simple drip coffeemaker, though I find best results with a fine auto drip grind at the standard 11g per 6 oz. of water. I use a conical burr grinder and roast my own coffee. The heated water must be poured quite slowly into the holder for best results, and I found that pre-moistening the grounds was necessary only for very freshly roasted coffee (meaning coffee roasted less than 48h before use). I agitate the grounds a bit with a spoon as I pour, out of habit or boredom I suppose, but it's not really required.
For making limited amounts (32 - 36 oz.) of drip coffee, the Melitta porcelain drip maker is unequaled in the price vs. quality equation. The only negative I can think of with this product is that the porcelain carafe, while very nice looking, is unnecessary unless you are using it as a serving piece, especially if you already have a thermal carafe. Porcelain does retain heat, but the Melitta carafe is not designed to seal tightly, and a genuine TC retains much more heat. This is true even if you preheat the porcelain pot with hot water before brewing.
Buying Experience
Bought online from Melitta, coffeemaker arrived promptly, no problems to report.
