Coffee Magic

I may need a new coffee maker.

A few weeks ago, maybe six, our Cuisinart grind and brew coffee maker gave up. I was a little sad to see it go. It had served us well for over seven years. We got it with Visa points so I'd never really known how expensive it was in dollars and cents. It worked well. Like magic. You put in the beans and the water and in minutes there was your pot of lovely coffee. Even if you started with ground coffee instead of beans, the coffee turned out lovely. It had a thermal carafe, too, which meant the coffee didn't keep cooking on an element. It just stayed warm until you were ready for your second cup.

Coffee Magic

When the Cuisinart gave up, my husband and I decided to be thrifty and even eco-friendly and use the coffee maker you see in the photo. Pretty retro, eh? If you were at our garage sale this summer (and not many people were), you would have seen it there for a bargain basement price of $2 and a sticker on it that said "it works". It came to us from my mother-in-law's house after she passed away. It was on her kitchen counter for as long as I'd known her and, since she was mostly a tea drinker, it never got much use.

The Proctor Silex Coffee Magic works a little differently than the Cuisinart did. There is no built-in grinder, but the operation is still dead easy. Coffee filter, ground coffee, water and press the button. (It is the only button on the machine and it lights up when the machine is turned on.) There is a "brew selector" - basically a slider on the filter basket - that gives you the option of a mild, medium or strong brew. I've tried them all. There is no difference in the coffee regardless of what brew you select. Once you start the Coffee Magic, it gurgles and sputters and makes a noise I can only describe as a ghostly whine. It also seems to be getting slower and slower. This morning as I stood listening to it struggle through its performance, I timed it. It took fifteen minutes to make six cups of coffee. That seems a little long. Stranger still, I had put in enough water for eight cups. Where did it go? Who knows. The machine is entirely encased in plastic with no place to check water levels once the water is in there. And how's the coffee taste, you ask? Meh.



I may need a new coffee maker.

For many years, we used a French press to make coffee. Whether we ground the beans or not, the coffee was always good. The odd time there was spillage and/or grounds in your cup when the plunger was mishandled, but the overall experience was positive. If the old Bodum is still in decent shape, it may be an option. I think it's on one of the top shelves somewhere. We also have an old vacuum style coffee maker inherited from my husband's folks. I googled how to use it, but haven't had the courage to test it out.

I may need a new coffee maker.

There are so many coffee maker options out there. My daughters have the type that makes single servings. One has a Keurig; the other a Tassimo. They both love them. I've had coffee from both of them and they were really good. I've also seen another brand of individual serving coffee machine advertised on tv. In it, the woman extols the virtues of having cafe quality coffee at home where "clothing is optional". Personally, I don't think drinking coffee without your clothes on is the brightest idea. Anyway, the individual serving would be a pretty good option at our house where most of the time it's just my husband and I having coffee (with our clothes on, of course). But it seems expensive to buy all those little cups, although the Keurig has an optional reusable cup that you can fill with your own coffee, which takes care of that argument.

If you have a single-serve coffee maker (or brew system as some manufacturers have aptly named them), do you still need a coffee maker that brews a good-sized pot when you have guests? If you do, what kind is best? How many cups should it make? Glass or thermal carafe or the travel mug option? Programmable? Stainless, black, bright red?

Well, I'm off to check my Visa points and do some coffee maker research. If you have any suggestions about coffee makers, please let me know. I need a new coffee maker.

Update: January 2, 2013: The Coffee Magic has been retired. Through the magic of Christmas and generous gifting, the kitchen has not one, but two new coffee making machines: the newest version of the Cuisinart grind and brew and a Tassimo individual brew system. Thanks to the Santas involved. Now come on over for a brew!