I drink exclusively instant coffee when I'm at home, but I'm thinking of buying a drip filter coffee maker. Thing is, I'm a poor student so I'm worried about cost. Ignoring the price ofthe machine itself, is it much more expensive to make drip filter coffee? I have never used a drip filter machine before - how much coffee do you need to use for a cup? How long can you keep coffee in the pot before it starts tasting bad?
Coffee - instant vs drip filter
- Thread starter iamaelephant
- Start date
ch33zw1z
Lifer
- Nov 4, 2004
- 39,133
- 19,835
- 146
average cup is 1 "scoop" of coffee to two cups water. you can leave it in there as long as you like. IMO, coffee should be tossed after 1/2 hour on the burner, unless you turn it off and don't mind it warm. try out some black or green teas, less caffeine but ooo so good (and good for you)...and it's cheap!
AMCRambler
Diamond Member
- Jan 23, 2001
- 7,714
- 31
- 91
Coffee is pretty cheap to make. I've never bought the instant stuff but I think I remember it costing more than regular coffee. All you need is a pack of filters, a can of coffee and the coffee maker. Our coffee club here at work only charges .15 cents a cup and that includes sugar and milk. Think about that next time you go to Starbucks and see these dorks with their Grande Brazilian Blend coffees that cost $4. Pure friggin' profit right there.
Not to defend Starbucks, but even getting their largest regular coffee is under $2. I've found regular coffee pricing generally consistant among all coffee outlets, generally about 1.60 here for a medium. The $4 ones are the iced mochas and crap like that, which you aren't gonna really replicate with a normal coffee maker.
spaceman
Lifer
- Dec 4, 2000
- 17,616
- 183
- 106
how much depends on which and how much coffee you use, i used a 1:1 ratio with folgers classic.its strong, but cheap and tastes good.
as for how long the coffee lasts, the longer you keep the heat on it the worse it will be.
if you want to conserve, get one with a thermos type carafe and remove it from the heat.
also consider a percolator, they make great coffee.
Thanks for the replies, one more quick question - even though the pot is pretty big, can you make just one cup at a time? And how long does it take to brew? Sorry for these stupid questions, I know drip filters are very common in USA but I've never known anyone who owned one over here, everyone just drinks instant.
Edit - and just for my reference, how many cups would you expect a 250g pack of ground coffee to make, roughly?
Edit - and just for my reference, how many cups would you expect a 250g pack of ground coffee to make, roughly?
Well my coffee cup is pretty big, close to 2 cups worth. I guess I'd do 3 - 4 cups at a time, probably someone else in my flat would drink it too.
I use one of these: http://www.melitta.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=64+0008 and highly recommend it. The link is for the old version, now they go by the name "Ready set joe" and fit large cups better. They sell them at grocery stores and kitchen stores.
Very easy to make 1 cup at a time, its cheap, easy to clean up, and tastes great.
You just put it on your cup, put a #2 filter on, fill it up with coffee grinds, then pour hot water in it. Its nice for me because I have a hot water dispenser here at work, but for about $10 you can get this:
http://www.amazon.com/Proctor-K2070-1-Q...F8&s=home-garden&qid=1176468499&sr=8-2
Which will heat the water up really quickly and you can just use that.
Very easy to make 1 cup at a time, its cheap, easy to clean up, and tastes great.
You just put it on your cup, put a #2 filter on, fill it up with coffee grinds, then pour hot water in it. Its nice for me because I have a hot water dispenser here at work, but for about $10 you can get this:
http://www.amazon.com/Proctor-K2070-1-Q...F8&s=home-garden&qid=1176468499&sr=8-2
Which will heat the water up really quickly and you can just use that.
Arg that's perfect Jeraden! I can't find one online anywhere in NZ but I'll head to a homeware store tomorrow and see if I can't find one. I have a kettle to boil water so that's no problem.
I suppose I should also ask the most basic question - does drip filter coffee really taste that much better than instant? I drink my coffee with a bit of skim milk but no sugar, FWIW.
I had a senseo and hated it. The pods are expensive, they don't really taste all that great, its a pain to make a big cup of coffee as the pods are made for like 8oz cups and I generally make a big mug of it. Plus its noisy.
Also, the "recommended" amount of coffee is usually 2 level tablespoons per 8oz cup. I'm not sure how much that equates to, like how many cups you get out of a pound of coffee, but it generally lasts a long time.
Just pulled this off some random website:
Also, the "recommended" amount of coffee is usually 2 level tablespoons per 8oz cup. I'm not sure how much that equates to, like how many cups you get out of a pound of coffee, but it generally lasts a long time.
Just pulled this off some random website:
I think their average 1.5 tablespoons per 6 oz. cup is a good measurement. thats close to 2tbps per 8oz cup.
eplebnista
Lifer
- Dec 3, 2001
- 24,123
- 36
- 91
If you cannot find the single cup brewer that Jeradin linked you may be able to find a Vietnamese style brewer in an Asian grocery store. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_coffee Basically the same thing, though might be a little small. Another option is to just get a French Press, which should be easy to find. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_press
To answer your other question, YES brewed coffee is MUCH better than instant.
To answer your other question, YES brewed coffee is MUCH better than instant.
BoomerD
No Lifer
- Feb 26, 2006
- 65,719
- 14,135
- 146
Personally, I can't stand instant coffee...it just doesn't TASTE like coffee to me. So...I'd have a coffee pot regardless of the cost factor one way or the other. We have a Bunn coffeemaker, and it always keeps water hot, and ready to go. I can have a full pot of coffee 3 minutes after I pour in the water. Yes, it costs a bit extra to keep the water hot, but since I'm a serious coffee addict, it's worth it to me not to have to wait for a pot to brew. These will make anywhere from 2 cups to a full pot, so if for some silly reason I only wanted one mug of coffee, I'd just pour in about 12 oz of water, and get just over 1 mug of coffee...or I THINK it works like that...Bunn CLAIMS it does...I've never made less than 1/2 pot with it ever though...
I gotta agree. Coffee isn't very appealing to me anymore after purchasing a bunch of Earl Gray black tea. It tastes amazing with a bit of creamer/milk in it. It's dirt cheap (mine came out to about 6 cents a cup) too, and it's perfect for making one cup compared to coffee. Less caffeine per cup also means I can drink more in the morning without getting wired, and then switch over to decaf Earl Gray and green tea for the rest of the day. I like the switch I've made..coffee was a nuisance to make one cup in the evening or afternoon, but with tea I just boil a cup of water in the microwave and brew a bag.
edit: I also have some English breakfast tea, along with some golden honey darjeeling tea to mix it up some in the mornings.
Quickest, cheapest way:
1) Electric water heater- boils in 2 minutes.
2) regular uncolored(brown) filter folded over mug covering 1/3 top of mug.
3) add your ground coffee.
4) pour your hot water, let it drain, pour more till water starts spilling over top.
5) lift filter carefully- very HOT- and let the leftover water drip through. Wrap filter into ball and squeeze out excess.
6) Half-half and half spoon sugar.
1) Electric water heater- boils in 2 minutes.
2) regular uncolored(brown) filter folded over mug covering 1/3 top of mug.
3) add your ground coffee.
4) pour your hot water, let it drain, pour more till water starts spilling over top.
5) lift filter carefully- very HOT- and let the leftover water drip through. Wrap filter into ball and squeeze out excess.
6) Half-half and half spoon sugar.
virtuamike
Diamond Member
- Oct 13, 2000
- 7,845
- 13
- 81
Agreed, it's a great way of making drip. Here's another source -
http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.brewers.shtml
I recommend getting porcelain instead of plastic in order to retain heat. I also recommend boiling water instead of using a hot water dispenser because you need the water hot (right under 200F). To get the most flavor out of it, stir the grounds while you pour. It'll take about 2 minutes for a 12 oz cup of drip, but it comes out badass.
virtuamike
Diamond Member
- Oct 13, 2000
- 7,845
- 13
- 81
*bleagh Starbucks, coffee flavored water*
We use 40g of coffee per 12oz cup of drip. A pound of beans for us will make about 11 drinks. In an espresso (or latte, cappuccino, macchiato, etc) we grind about 25g to squeeze 20g into a double ristretto.
Dirigible
Diamond Member
- Apr 26, 2006
- 5,961
- 32
- 91
I second this. I use something similar, but slightly larger, which takes a #4 filter. Very simple, cheap, makes one cup at a time and much better than instant coffee. The best coffee shop near me (http://www.colecoffee.com/, which has a cult following, uses the same type of device to make their normal coffee.
To me is sounds like you (the OP) wants to be able to make small servings, 1-2 cups? Technically you could just boil some water and pour it over your coffee filter (with coffee of course) in a funnel and into a cup. This actually works quite well because the coffee keeps saturated with water and is evenly saturated with water (this is key and most drip brewers don't do this). And don't pour the water directly off the boil, you want it to be around 203F, not 212 (burns the coffee)
A Chemex brewer is a more elegant way of doing this rather than the above, same principle though.
The whole idea of getting the coffee grounds evenly saturated is important. Many drip brewers just squirt water down the middle and the outside grounds stay somewhat dry, this causes over extraction (in the middle) and under extraction (on the outer edges).
A thermal carafe is preferable to a hot plate (which cooks and burns your coffee). Bunn makes a nice one, technivorm is another nice drip brewer albeit expensive.
A Chemex brewer is a more elegant way of doing this rather than the above, same principle though.
The whole idea of getting the coffee grounds evenly saturated is important. Many drip brewers just squirt water down the middle and the outside grounds stay somewhat dry, this causes over extraction (in the middle) and under extraction (on the outer edges).
A thermal carafe is preferable to a hot plate (which cooks and burns your coffee). Bunn makes a nice one, technivorm is another nice drip brewer albeit expensive.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 24K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 20K
-
-
-
Facebook
Twitter