Mr. Coffee Versus Bunn-o-Matic - The Coffee Maker Battle Heats Up

!9# Mr. Coffee Versus Bunn-o-Matic - The Coffee Maker Battle Heats Up

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For coffee lovers, there are few things more appealing than being met in the early a.m. hours by a perfectly brewed pot of coffee. That first cup sets the mood for your entire day, doesn't it? If it's brewed up right, you'll feel that extra zing in your step from morning till night. However, if that first cup is too strong or too weak, too hot or not hot enough, you quickly find yourself spiraling into a first-class coffee crisis.

So, how do you avoid a coffee catastrophe? It's simple, buy the best coffee maker on the market made especially for your coffee-drinking needs! Sounds simple enough, right? But, who makes the best coffee maker today? In other words, who is the All-Time Champion of Coffee Makers?

Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to welcome you to our title bout of the day where two mighty coffee making titans - Mr. Coffee and Bunn-o-Matic - will meet in the kitchen to crown the undisputed coffee making champion of the world.

Introducing The Coffee Maker Contenders

In the green corner, we have Mr. Coffee - long-recognized as the undisputed champion of home coffee makers. Affordable with many models to choose from, Mr. Coffee currently has over a dozen models on the market retailing from between .99 to .99. With makers serving up between one and twelve cups, he'll be hard to beat. In fact, Mr. Coffee is in great shape with an amazing array of features and settings, including single serve, speed brew, switch, programmable, and thermal models.

In the red corner, we have the Bunn-o-Matic - king of the commercial coffee making market. Found in restaurants and chosen by baristas around the world, Bunn-o-Matic is known for his professional-grade machines. With a limited variety (e.g., currently seven models, with one single serve and 6-10 cup models), judges will need to pay close attention to the details to see what kind of punch the Bunn-o-Matic packs. One thing is for sure: with a starting price of .95, Bunn-o-Matic definitely tips the scales as a higher-priced option for home consumers.

For those of you who are new to the clash of the coffee makers, here's what the judges will be looking for during the brew-off:

Cup size

How many cups can your coffee maker cook up (say that five times fast)? Most brands today have single-serve and multiple cup models, with 10-12 cups being the upper limit for most home coffee makers.

Timer

If having your coffee pre-made for you when you wake up is important, then a timer is going to be key! Timers allow you to set the time when your coffee maker will start doing its thing and brewing you up your beloved coffee.

Space

If you have unlimited counter space, then this criterion might not matter much to you. But, for those of you for whom counter space is at a premium, deciding upon a model that fits your space as well as your décor might be an important consideration.

But, to truly separate the two competitors, our judges will also be looking closely at the following four areas:

Ease of Use

This is self-explanatory - at 6 a.m., you want a machine that is easy to use

Durability

As you know, coffee makers aren't the most pampered of home appliances. They can get pretty banged up with daily use. Choosing a hardy model is essential.

Ease of Cleaning

Starting with a well-maintained and cleaned pot is one of the best ways to assure yourself of a great cup of coffee day after day.

Style

Yes, in the end, many of us like our coffee makers to look cool. Sure, while it's true that they are simply functional machines, we want these machines to represent our love for coffee.

The fight is on between the top coffee makers in the world. So, who wins the home coffee maker battle? Bunn-o-Matic definitely has significantly higher priced models and less of a home-based selection, but is known for superior performance and durability. Mr. Coffee has a wider range of home models to choose from and most of their machines are significantly less expensive than even the lowest priced Bunn-o-Matic.

In the end, it's a personal choice for you to decide. Remember, a great cup of coffee ends up being more than your coffee maker. Quality water, beans, and the proper grind for your machine all make a big difference in whether your coffee maker and first cup of coffee are winners. Good luck!

Mr. Coffee Versus Bunn-o-Matic - The Coffee Maker Battle Heats Up

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How Safe Is Your Cookware Set - Health And Safety Features

!9# How Safe Is Your Cookware Set - Health And Safety Features

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With the wide range of pots and pans to choose from, buying one is no simple task. Comparing aesthetics, durability, maintenance as well as value-for-money and your budget, is not enough nowadays. With everyone being very health conscious and more knowledgeable about health matters, modern cooks would like to know what type of materials their cookware is made of and whether it will affect their health. How safe are stainless steel cookware, cast-iron or the non-stick cookware, or even the hard-anodized non-stick cookware? Will the materials leach into the food while cooking and affect our health?

Aluminum is lightweight, a good conductor of heat and is not expensive. However the disadvantage is that, heat as well as acid. will react with the metal and you might find traces of aluminum leached into your food, especially during slow simmering of food. If you possess aluminum pots, then just make sure not to use them to cook highly acidic or salty food, such as tomatoes or sauerkraut, for long periods at a time. Storing cooked food in aluminum pots, especially worn or pitted ones, is also not encouraged as aluminum can still leach into the food. However, according to the United States Department of Health And Human Service, very little aluminum is actually absorbed into your body from aluminum cooking utensils.

Aluminum cookware which has been treated, resulting in a layer of aluminum oxide on its surface, is popularly known as hard-anodized cookware. This type of cookware is durable, non-stick, resistance to scratches, and will not react with food during cooking. It conducts heat well and is even more durable than stainless steel cookware, but it can be expensive.

Copper is a good conductor of heat and can easily adapt to temperature changes. Meals that need precise temperature control, cook best in copper cookware. Copper cookware comes with a thin layer of tin or stainless steel coating on its surface, to prevent copper leaching into the food. Nickel is sometimes used as a coating material and can cause allergic reactions in people sensitive to this metal. Copper taken in large amounts can be dangerous to our health.

The stainless steel lining can last the lifetime of the cookware but the tin lining will need to be renewed regularly, as it can be worn away through prolonged usage and high heat. Acidic food stored for long periods of time in copper cookware, may result in traces of the lining metal leaching into the food. This may cause nausea and diarrhea. Besides being difficult to use due to its heavy weight, they are also costly and need to be polished regularly, not only to maintain its glowing surface, but also to remove toxic verdigris deposits on its surface. Scouring will cause scratches.

Cast iron cookware is best used for slow cooking of food as it cooks slowly and evenly. Maintenance is not easy as it is heavy and rust easily, if not properly and thoroughly dried after using. Iron leaches into food during cooking, causing an unpleasant taste, and is not recommended at all for those suffering from hemochromatosis (someone who has a tendency to accumulate iron in the blood.) To create a non-stick surface for your iron cookware, season it with vegetable oil, and place in oven for a few minutes.

Enamel-coated, glass and ceramic ware might appeal to those who are concerned about metal contamination from their cookware. Enamel is actually a substance made of glass, is inert and does not react with food. Most of the health concerns are related to its minor components used in their manufacture or design, among which is lead.

Glass ceramic ware, although a poor heat conductor, can retain heat very well. It is safe for use in the microwave and has no problem withstanding extreme changes in temperature. Glazed ceramic cookware, with its smooth finish, is easy to clean and if manufactured following strict and effective production controls, can prevent leaking of lead onto food. It can be heated to a fairly high temperature. If storing food in ceramic ware results in chalky gray residue on the glaze, then this shows inferior quality and it is better not to use it for further cooking purposes, to avoid taking in lead together with the food.

Stainless steel cookware are highly popular due to their durability and low maintenance. Leaching of nickel and chromium from stainless cookware is not at an alarming unhealthy level. At the most, nickel might cause some allergic reactions to those with such an allergy.

Non-stick and Teflon-coated cookware are easy to clean and needs little oil for cooking, appealing to the health-conscious. The disadvantage is that it scratches and damages easily, especially if used with metal tools with sharp edges. The coatings may peel off after heavy use, ending up in the food and then your stomach. If an empty non-stick pan is heated to a high temperature of 350 degrees C or 650 degrees F, poisonous fumes might be released from the coating.

The latest addition to the non-stick cookware family is the eco-friendly, green non-stick cookware. This type of cookware comes with a non-stick surface that is free from toxic chemicals and uses more recycled materials, such as the stay-cool riveted stainless-steel handles made from 70-percent recycled stainless steel of the Cuisinart greenware set.

How Safe Is Your Cookware Set - Health And Safety Features

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What Is the Best Thermal Coffee Maker?

!9# What Is the Best Thermal Coffee Maker?

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When we strive to find out who makes the best coffee maker, we need to take into consideration the type of coffee machine, whether it be a drip, French press or single cup... and then compare how good the coffee tastes an hour after you have brewed it. Let's explore only the drip machines for now.

Many automatic drip coffee makers perform very well, but if you are like me, and want to return to grab another cup of coffee an hour or so after the first... it's important to have a thermal coffee maker.

Why does it matter if choose to use a thermal carafe?

The basic drip brewing system that most of us have in our homes utilizes a technique that heats up your water to the optimal temperature for extracting the best flavor from your coffee, and then slowly drips the heated water over your ground beans and releases the newly brewed coffee into a carafe.

The typical carafes are constructed of glass, and generally sit on a heat plate to keep the coffee hot.

What happens when your coffee sits on a burner for more than 10 minutes is devastating to the outcome of the brewed coffee. If you haven't tried tasting coffee from a thermal carafe, you are in for a real treat.

Why choose a thermal coffee maker?

When you realize that the best tasting drip coffee is brewed into a thermal carafe, the choices you have when selecting a coffee maker are substantially narrowed down to the top few manufacturers. Cuisinart, Black and Decker and Zojirushi coffee makers, just to name a few of the better buys.

I bet you have noticed that all the best coffee houses, such as Starbucks, use thermal containers to store the recently brewed coffee. There is just cause for this!

How do you select the best thermal coffee maker?

To find out which is the best coffee maker thermal style is as easy to find as browsing these few considerations: 

Decide if you need a coffee machine to drip 12 cups, 10 cups or maybe just a cup or two at a time. You can find thermal pots in a variety of sizes. If you have a shortage of counter space, you should consider the smaller machine. 

It's best to read all the reviews you can to see what others are talking about. Some machines are more complicated to use, and it feels like you need a whole day just to go over the manual. Others perform very simply, like the Zojirushi fresh brew, and you can usually get your first cup nearly as quick as you can unpack your new coffee maker.

Additionally, many manufacturers offer a water filter... and some manufacturers include a water filter (included with your purchase). After all, it's the quality of the water that will determine the final taste of your coffee. You will save money if the coffee maker has a water filter included with your purchase, and you will know that it's the right size for that machine.

Notice where the controls are located, and if they are lit at nighttime. It's not fun to fumble around with a coffee maker full of water. A backlit clock is nice, and it's easy to see when it's dark or early in the morning when most of us use our machines.

Filter baskets... What is the best choice?

Basically there are 2 shapes to coffee filter baskets, flat bottomed and cone shaped. The difference between the two is nominal, but you should know that a cone shaped filter basket would generally use less ground coffee than the flat-bottomed shape.

This is because the filter basket is wider at the top, filtering the hot water through the grounds to the pointed end at the bottom, assuring that all the grounds are uniformly wet. A flat-bottomed filter basket needs to have a good "sprinkler" type of drip machine to equal this, and since the basket is wider, it will use a bit more coffee.

Other options to consider

Typically, thermal coffee makers drip the brewed coffee into a thermal carafe. But, you will find some coffee-on-demand type of coffee machines that use an insulated reservoir to hold your coffee and keep it hot.

The problem with many of the coffee on demand types are that the reservoirs are constructed of plastic, and they use a heating element in the reservoir to keep your coffee up to acceptable temperature. This sometimes leads to plastic tasting coffee.

The idea is good, but I have yet to find one that uses a thermal carafe to hold the coffee and keep it hot for hours like the best thermal coffee maker can.

What Is the Best Thermal Coffee Maker?

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Espresso Coffee Makers - What's the Difference Between Them All?

!9# Espresso Coffee Makers - What's the Difference Between Them All?

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Espresso coffee makers come in different types, styles and price points. So how do you tell one from the other and what is the best coffee maker for your needs? Just look at any kitchen shop or department store and there's a huge range of coffee making devices and machines.

But which will make you the great cup of coffee you deserve - even need! For most people budget is the biggest factor when selecting their next coffee maker. That doesn't mean you have to compromise on quality or flavor but you do need to know a bit about each type of coffee maker so let's see what's what in the coffee making world.

Coffee at a slow drip

Perhaps the most well known of the coffee makers, the drip coffee maker is in most kitchens in the US, as well as in most hotel rooms. There's a whole variety that will allow you to make 1 cup, 6 or 12 cup pots, to semi programmable machines that can produce coffee to a schedule. Becoming more popular is the style that produces vacuum coffee pots that don't need the heating element to keep the coffee warm.

The basis of the drip coffee maker is very simple. Coffee is placed in a filter basket and hot water is slowly passed through the grounds to produce the coffee. The filter basket is usually lined with a filter paper, but there are some that use a fine mesh instead. Whilst these are more eco-friendly (and you'll never run out of filter papers) they may occasionally let some of the ground through.

These machines can produce a good cup of coffee reasonably quickly and cheaply but you'd never mistake it for espresso. If your set on getting an espresso on a budget then the next category may be for you.

Back to the Future With Stove Top Percolators

If you travel through Europe; Italy especially, then these are coffee makers you'll find in most homes. The stove top percolator is a multi part pot that goes onto the stove to produce an excellent cup of coffee in the espresso style. You may even get the crema effect using one of these makers and all it takes is 5 - 10 minutes which is the same as a drip machine. There are more modern versions that use electricity but part of the charm of these coffee makers is their simplicity and the fact that there's almost nothing to go wrong with it.

Just fill the bottom part of the percolator with cold water, the filter basket with coffee (generally with an espresso grind) and place on the stove. The hot water percolates up through the coffee grounds and collects it the top. When the makes starts to gurgle, take it off the heat and serve an excellent cup of coffee.

These coffee makers are cheap, easy to use and last a long time if taken care of. The down side is that they produce small amounts of coffee (a 6 cup machine will typically produce the equivalent of 3 -4 shots of espresso) and care needs to be taken when cleaning them.

Solo Coffee Drinking

A growing trend in coffee drinking is producing individual cups of coffee. To fill this new demand, there are more and more one cup coffee makers appearing. The majority of these coffee makers use a single serving pod of coffee to make the cup. This is ideal for a home that only has one coffee drinker, or where different flavors of coffee are required.

Of course having specially packaged individual pods of different flavors and styles does come at a premium so using this type of coffee maker can work out to be more expensive that the other coffee makers.

Is a Genuine Espresso Possible?

At the very pinnacle of coffee makers is the espresso coffee maker. These machines are the most expensive and can be the most hi tech. They range in price from a couple of hundred dollars to several thousand for a top of the line machine. So is paying the extra worth it? To be honest that really depends on your coffee drinking habits.

If all you drink is the occasional espresso then a lower end pure espresso maker will fit the bill. If you're a more regular drinker and want a mix of styles then a combination coffee and espresso maker will probably suit you better.

Many of these coffee makers are fairly complex machines, some with many options and abilities. The down side of this is that there is a lot more to go wrong and they do wear out. A proper espresso maker will push hot water through the coffee at fairly high pressure so they don't last forever, so take care if you're looking at the low end of the budget scale.

It may make more sense to pay a little more for an espresso coffee maker that is well made and will last longer than the cheaper models.

Espresso Coffee Makers - What's the Difference Between Them All?

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Baratza - 910 Esatto Coffee Scale for Maestro Plus Virtuoso Preciso Grind

!9#Baratza - 910 Esatto Coffee Scale for Maestro Plus Virtuoso Preciso Grind

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Baratza Esatto Coffee Scale for Maestro Plus Virtuoso Preciso Grind - Baratza 910.

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