<p>I admit to being a bit of a coffee snob and a daily drinker of the stuff. I went home and counted last night - 7 different coffee makers in the house, 2 out in the RV. We order 10 pounds at a time from a local roaster, Caffe Umbria (they do mail-order).</p>
<p>The coffee is probably 20 times more important than which method/machine is used. Industrial coffee producers take all of the beans off of the coffee plant at the same time, mixing ripe beans with green ones, resulting in a bitter blend. Look for something that says “hand-picked beans” and you will be fine.</p>
<p>People make two mistakes: making it too weak, or letting it sit on the burner too long. It is OK to make it too strong and add water (Americano), but there is nothing you can do with weak coffee. If you have a coffee maker with a glass pot and a burner, turn it off about 10 minutes after brewing. It is better to microwave it to warm it up than to let it sit there and cook, or, better yet, make smaller batches more often. If you will be spending hours hanging around drinking coffee, you are much better off with a thermal carafe coffee maker.</p>