Coffee and Caffeine FAQ

I am trying to give the best first-hand experience, non bias comment around..

First, I drink my coffee black. I am not a fan of drip or percolators. I totally agree that with the comments that people that own drip machines are generally dissatisfied and I was one of them but I much prefer a drip over a percolator. However, I now have a Bunn that I use every day and I love it. It brews the coffee very strong and with lots of body. That's because it shoots the water out in 5 streams to mix up all the grinds rather than a slow drip. And apparently people keep their Bunns for 15 years! I realize I sound like I work for Bunn, but you could easily spend $100 on a Krups drip machine that is no better than the $25 Mr. Coffee. It's Bunn or french press for me.

Now my first-hand experience. I always roast my own coffee and this Christmas I gave some to my uncle who has a percolator. After consuming the coffee I gave my uncle brewed in his new automatic perc, I was sad to realize that the taste I love from my home roasted coffee was gone and it tasted just like it was the same Folgers coffee that my uncle and my grandparents use. Further more, both my uncle and grandparents drink their coffee with heavy cream so I am assuming they can't taste the difference anyway.

In conclusion, I would say that coffee brewed in a percolator has a certain taste, which I do not like. But if you are going to argue that dripers are better, you do not have much ground (pun intended) to stand on if the machine you are using is a proctor silex.

If you want great flavor extraction and spend $30, use a french press. But again, that is how I feel and other people may not like really good, strong coffee. There is always manual pour, but I have never tried that.