If you like coffee, consider switching to the pour-over method. All you need is a coffee cup, a kettle for boiling water, a pour-over funnel, and possibly disposable paper filters (depending on the model you choose).
Pros: - Inexpensive. The funnel I bought is made of sturdy glass and plastic, for under $20 a few years ago. - The equipment takes up no space on your kitchen counter. - Easy to clean. Every electric pot I ever owned eventually grew pink mildew inside the tubes despite regular cleaning with vinegar. The mildew made the coffee taste bad so I bought a new coffee maker every few years. But the glass/plastic funnel is very easy to clean. - If the power goes out, you can still make coffee (assuming you have a propane/gas/wood stove or other way to boil water).
Cons: - This method only makes one cup at a time, so maybe it is not ideal for a large family. - It takes practice to make a good cup of coffee this way. I learned how to do it from videos online. It also took some experimentation to figure out which brands of coffee work better for this method (related to how finely/coursely the coffee is ground). - The paper filters designed by the manufacturer of the funnel can be expensive. Generic filters bought at a discount store work, but not as well as the brand name ones. Probably by design. Some funnels are designed to work without paper filters. - It takes a couple minutes of light work to make a cup of coffee, rather than pressing a button and walking away.
There was a learning curve...I made some terrible cups of coffee while learning the new method. But I'll never go back to electric coffee makers.
Pour-over coffee
If you like coffee, consider switching to the pour-over method. All you need is a coffee cup, a kettle for boiling water, a pour-over funnel, and possibly disposable paper filters (depending on the model you choose).
Pros:
- Inexpensive. The funnel I bought is made of sturdy glass and plastic, for under $20 a few years ago.
- The equipment takes up no space on your kitchen counter.
- Easy to clean. Every electric pot I ever owned eventually grew pink mildew inside the tubes despite regular cleaning with vinegar. The mildew made the coffee taste bad so I bought a new coffee maker every few years. But the glass/plastic funnel is very easy to clean.
- If the power goes out, you can still make coffee (assuming you have a propane/gas/wood stove or other way to boil water).
Cons:
- This method only makes one cup at a time, so maybe it is not ideal for a large family.
- It takes practice to make a good cup of coffee this way. I learned how to do it from videos online. It also took some experimentation to figure out which brands of coffee work better for this method (related to how finely/coursely the coffee is ground).
- The paper filters designed by the manufacturer of the funnel can be expensive. Generic filters bought at a discount store work, but not as well as the brand name ones. Probably by design. Some funnels are designed to work without paper filters.
- It takes a couple minutes of light work to make a cup of coffee, rather than pressing a button and walking away.
There was a learning curve...I made some terrible cups of coffee while learning the new method. But I'll never go back to electric coffee makers.