Electric drip coffee makers were not commercially successful until the early seventies, but were invented before that, as many great ideas such as this are simply ahead of their time. Before one of the bigger brands made the drip coffee maker the huge success that it is today, other methods of making coffee included vacuum brewers, which were complicated, in that they heated water up in a lower chamber, until expansion caused the water to be pushed up into the grounds located in an upper chamber, and then forced back down again. There were also percolators which weren’t quite as complicated, in that they pushed heated water through a basket containing the grounds, and then back into the pot. The only problem with this was that the process had to be repeated a few times to get a good cup of coffee.

The benefits of having a drip coffee maker as opposed to a traditional one are many. One such benefit is that you get more flavor from your coffee, as well as more caffeine. If the hot water that your coffee maker is producing is pushed through the grounds to quickly, it doesn’t have time to absorb that full coffee flavor, and all the benefits of the coffee itself, so your really just cheating yourself out of an awesome cup of coffee. With a drip coffee maker however, this simply isn’t so, in that every drop of water is as saturated with as much coffee goodness (i.e. caffeine) as possible. While it’s possible to get a good amount of caffeine, and coffee flavor out of say a coffee press, or percolator type coffee maker, the drip coffee maker is simply the most efficient, and effective coffee maker available today.

Brewing a pot of coffee through many years was considered quite simple. This was accomplished by taking ground roasted coffee beans, adding them to a pan of hot water. Boiling the water and sometimes going by the smell to guess when it had cooked long enough. Then a cup of coffee could be enjoyed. Campground style pot of coffee is similar to this method.

Several inventors tried there hand at creating automatic coffee brewing appliances. This was in the latter part of the 20th century. The very first automatic drip brew coffeemaker for home use became popular in 1972. Since that time many changes have been made, in the design and the materials used. Glass instead of metal came into use for the carafe or bottom pot holding the brewed coffee. The need for more decorative type appliances in the home became in demand by the homemaker. The manufactures aimed to please the public. In doing so decorative home colors in materials made from plastic were used. The area where water was poured into and the brewing basket became a part of the home decor.

The electric drip coffeemaker contains a few simple mechanisms. The operation performance is guided by a flexible hose at the base of the reservior that the water is poured into. This hose goes to a metal tube, which has the job of heating the water. The tube is usually made of aluminum. The element for heating the water surrounds the metal tube. The method of moving the heated water is called “thermosiphon principal” This creates a heated pressure along with a siphoning effect. A thermostat controls the temperature of the water. The water then passes through a special insulated hose.

A spray of water goes onto the basket of ground coffee. A filter placed below the coffee grounds in the basket prevents them from entering the brewed coffee liquid. A heating element is located under the carafe. The finished product was created by a drip coffee maker.

Drip coffee makers offer many features such as a warming plate, water reservoir, filter holder, and heat-retaining, vacuum insulated, brushed, stainless steel carafe or carafe stand. You can brew coffee directly into a thermal carafe, coffee pot or into travel mugs. Other features include:

• Single cup, 2 cup, 4 cup, 6 cup, 8 cup, 10 cup, 12 cup and even 14 cup
• 24-hour programmable clock/timer
• 1-4 cup setting
• Automatic cleaning cycle
• Advanced water filtration that eliminates chlorine and bacteria
• Audible tone to signal completion of the brew cycle
• Brew-pause feature
• Built-in coffee grinder
• Aroma button
• Removable cone filter basket
• Adjust the strength of the brew
• Front access door for pouring water or adding coffee grounds
• Removable drip tray
• Removable water reservoir
• Pressure safety valve
• Built-in espresso maker / cappuccino maker

Some popular manufacturers are:

• DeLonghi
• Hamilton Beach
• Cuisinart
• Toastmaster
• Mr. Coffee
• Sunbeam
• Black & Decker
• Braun
• Keurig
• Farberware
• Capresso
• Bunn
• Zojirushi
• Melitta
• Bodum
• Chemex

You should decide what size of drip coffee maker you need. We know that 6 cup automatic drip coffee makers are popular for people who just want to make a few cups of coffee in the morning but other people like the 14 cup size if it’s being used by several people and if it’s being used more frequently.

You will want to find a drip coffee maker that’s easy to clean. Some brands (like Mr. Coffee for instance) need to be cleaned fairly often, which can be a chore. Other brands will need to be cleaned less often. To clean a coffee maker, run a light mixture of vinegar and water through a brewing cycle and then run a cycle of water before you run a regular coffee brewing cycle.

Another important feature is the programming. You want one that’s easy to program (use a timer) without a lot of complicated menus or one that will give you confusing error messages or require you to leave it alone for 5 minutes before you can try changing a setting again. Yes, this happened to my mom with a Krups coffee maker and she took it back.

Drip coffee makers are probably the most inexpensive of all coffee makers and they are the single most popular small kitchen appliance in the US. Find the best prices in our Drip Coffee Makers Store.

When the coffee you’re brewing doesn’t taste right or if it’s coming out slowly (taking forever to brew a pot of coffee), then it may be time not to just clean your coffee pot but clean your drip coffee maker. A drip coffee maker should be cleaned once a month. Cleaning your drip coffee maker removes hard water mineral deposits, oils from previously brewed pots and other impurities.

Don’t ever use any type of soap to clean the inside of your coffee maker. Soap will create suds when going through the cycle, causing a big mess. Ssoaps and detergents will also leave a residue behind that can damage your automatic drip coffee maker and really make your coffee taste terrible. Yuck.

Below, well explain how to clean a drip coffee maker with vinegar and also give you some other alternatives to vingar as well. We’ll even explain how to clean your coffee pot, so that your coffee can be the best it can be.

How to Clean a Coffee Maker with Vinegar

Remove your used coffee filter. Create a mixture of 1 part vinegar to 2 parts water – filling the whole pot. So for a 12 cup pot, you’d fill the pot with vinegar to the 4 cup line and then fill the rest of the pot with water. Here’s a hand reference guide, so that you don’t have to think about it:

Pour the vinegar and water solution it in your water reservoir and turn the coffee maker on. Let this mixture run through a brew cycle then let your drip coffee maker cool for about 20 minutes. If your coffee maker hasn’t been cleaned in a while, then do this again by creating a new mixture of vinegar and water and run it through again.

Fill the water reservoir with a pot of clean water and run that through a brewing cycle. Once that has run through, run another pot of clean water through one more time – just to make sure all of the vinegar has been run through completely. Let the drip coffee maker cool for 20 minutes.

How to Clean a Coffee Maker Without Vinegar

To clean it without vinegar, you have a few options:

• Use lemon juice instead of vinegar.
• Drop two denture cleaning tablets in a pot of water. Make sure the tablets fully dissolve.
• Mix 1 oz oc citric acid into 4 cups of hot water, then add 4 cups cold water.
• Mix 1 part baking soda to 4 parts warm water. Mix it well.
• Use coffee maker cleaning solution that you find at the store.

Be sure to not mix baking soda and vinegar.

In addition to cleaning the inside of your coffee maker, now is a good time to wipe down the outside of it and also wash any parts that easily come off in hot, soapy water.

How to Clean a Coffee Pot

Often, a coffee pot will get coffee stains on it from baked on coffee. Here are a few ways to clean your coffee pot.

• Put about a half a cup of bleach into the coffee pot and mix it around. Be sure to rinse it well and never mix bleach and vinegar as it makes a poisonous gas.
• Mix luke warm water, some ice and table salt into the pot. Swirl it around in the pot so that the mixture moves rapidly along the inside edges of the pot. The salt will create the abrasive edge to help remove coffee stains. Some people even toss in a small green scrub pad.
• Run the carafe or pot through a wash in the dishwasher or just try some hot, soapy water and elbow grease!

Then be sure to rinse your coffee pot several times and let it dry (especially if you use bleach).

Now it’s time to brew a fresh pot of coffee and enjoy it!

Despite all of the features that you may see, automatic-drip coffee makers are relatively simple devices, all of which function in a similar manner and brew coffee. Water is first added to a reservoir, where it is heated and then dispersed over a pre-filled basket / filter of grounds. As the heated water travels through the grounds, it extracts flavor before it drips into your mug, coffee pot or carafe.

A somewhat new option with automatic drip coffee makers is the “coffee-on-demand” style machines. They brew coffee directly into an internal holding tank where the coffee is kept hot and ready for dispensing one cup at a time.

More than any other style, automatic-drip coffee makers offer many features:

• water reservoir
• filter holder
• screen filters
• built-in warming plate
• carafe
• carafe stand
• dripless carafes
• indicator lights
• cord storage
• automatic shutoff
• swing-out or lift-out filter baskets
• brew-pause feature
• digital control panels
• clocks with timers
• automatic shut-off
• water filtration systems
• flavor systems
• built-in grinding

The most popular feature on automatic-drip coffee makers is a digital clock/timer to allow you to preset a brew time – like in the morning. You can add water and ground coffee the night before and wake up to a freshly brewed pot of coffee. What a nice way to wake up!

Full-size automatic drip coffee makers can brew up to 14 cups but other, smaller machines make from a single up to four cups at a time. They work best when set to brew a full pot of coffee. A full pot is 8-14 cups of coffee and takes from 5-12 minutes for a complete brewing cycle.

Some popular brands of automatic drip coffee makers are:

• DeLonghi Drip Coffee Makers
• Saeco Coffee Makers
• Mr. Coffee Coffee Makers
• Hamilton Beach Coffee Makers
• Krups Drip Coffee Makers
• Bunn Coffee Makers
• Sunbeam Drip Coffee Makers

Online stores as well as local department stores are good places to look for the best automatic drip coffee maker.