Coffee makers over the years

[philr]

When I was a kid, my mother had a Westinghouse Stainless Steel immersible percolator from the 1970s and my grandparents had a Philips 12, the Norelco 12 equivalent for the Canadian market. I use mostly the Philips 12 with the non-Dial-a-Brew filter basket but I also have various versions of the Dial-a-Brew. I prefer the early ones to the later ones.

There were various changes during the production of these coffee makers, if I'm not mistaken, the early ones had a plastic cover underneath, then they switched to a metal cover (some of these had the early style carafe and "Dial-a-Brew" attachment which was all dark, then those that said "Dial-a-Brew" on the fronts and the shorter carafe and larger "Dial-a-Brew" attachment with an orange cover. These later ones also had a simplified temperature switching device which seemed less reliable. I recently got one of those later ones that would cycle on and off while there was still cold water in the container. It did take forever to make coffee as it switched to the warming mode (with the Amber "ready" light turned on and off repeatedly and there was no adjustment screw to set the temperature to a different point).

 

[mieleforever]

My first coffee machine was a kenwood(percolater), then a more advanced kenwood with settings too vary the strenght of the coffee and it had a built in timer which was nice.

After that there was the NESPRESSO LE CUBE, the coffee was wonderfull but the price of the pods not so good, and Nestle is rather proprietary with regards to getting the pods in shops and you have to work through their agents which made it cumbersome and very expensive to obtain, there are some shop nock offs but it is just not the same.

So I bought myself the Breville Barista Express, this weekend. Thus far very impressed although it is still early days.

http://www.brevilleusa.com/media/ca...78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/b/e/beswide.jpg

 

[chachp]

BONA Vita

 

<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier; color: #800080;">I have also considered buying one of these to use with a Chemex pot.  It's getting a lot of positive press with the coffee snobs.  I may pick one up if I see one for a good price.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier; color: #800080;">My daily driver is a Technivorm but I do like to switch from time to time.  I think Chemex makes a really fine cup of coffee but who has time for all that pouring?  I have an older version Chemex auto maker that works well but I'm afraid to move that into daily work for fear it will poop out on me.  I'm not about to spend $350 for the new Chemex machine especially because the reviews haven't been all that great.</span>

 

[rp2813]

Ralph, my sister has been using her Chemex Automated on a daily basis since it was new -- that's well over 30 years.  Within the past few years it has had a couple of corroded connectors fail, which I replaced, and I replaced a clamp on the tubing.  The guts are very easy to access by removing just a few screws.

 

I think your Chemex Automated will be fine if you bring it into the rotation.  If you're only using it for relatively short periods before changing it out for one of your other machines, it will probably outlast you!

 

The best price I've found on the BonaVita 1800 with glass carafe is $128 on the Sears web site, and shipping is free.  I'm very tempted, but I won't be finding replacement parts for it  -- like carafes -- in thrift stores like I can for my Cuisinart.

 

The latest BonaVita, model 1900, offers a semi-automatic bloom/pause option as found on the Chemex Automated system.  It would be a good alternative to the overpriced but beautifully designed Chemex Otto, but it only comes with a thermal carafe so there would be no hot plate to keep contents of a glass Chemex carafe at drinking temperature.  That leaves the model 1800 with glass carafe as the only viable option for use with a Chemex carafe. 

 

[chachp]

Older Chemex maker

 

<span style="font-family: courier new,courier; color: #800080;">Ralph, I should probably open it up and see what it looks like on the inside.  I've always been afraid to and thought "if it ain't broke don't fix it."</span>

 

<span style="font-family: courier new,courier; color: #800080;">For me the lack of hot plate on the Bona Vita is not an issue.  As soon as I make a pot of coffee (regardless of which method I used that day) I always move it to a preheated thermal carafe so it stays hot for hours without cooking anymore.  Even though the design of the Chemex lid is concave, and was designed to collect the liquid that evaporates and returns it to the coffee, I still think it tastes cooked to me when it sits on a burner.  My carafe keeps the coffee steaming hot for a few hours so I've gotten in the habit of storing it that way.  I am one of those people who likes to make smaller pots multiple times per day vs. one large pot that I will nurse all day.  Usually by the time the coffee temp starts to drop considerably I'm ready for a fresh pot.  I'll let you know if I buy one and how I like it.  The YouTube videos sure paint a rosy picture of this machine!!</span>

 

<span style="font-family: courier new,courier; color: #800080;">P.S.  It seems so odd to me to address any communication to anyone named Ralph because I am so seldom in the company of another Ralph.</span>

 

[rp2813]

Ditto on the Ralph thing.

 

I would perhaps go for a thermal carafe if I came across one that dispensed the brew like a glass carafe.  There are complaints on Amazon about the BonaVita thermal carafe design, and I really disliked the thermal carafe when I tried out a Cuisinart that had one.  I've also heard that BonaVita has switched from a glass-lined thermos to stainless steel.  That's kind of a deal-breaker for me.

 

I agree that the brew deteriorates if it sits on a hot plate too long.  I usually consume my couple of mugs full in the morning within 30 to 45 minutes and then shut things down, so the length of time it sits on the warmer isn't too terribly long.  Also, if I've brewed up a batch for more than just myself, it's nice to be able to see how much is left when you're topping off with the last of it.

 

In the end, it's kind of a trade-off.

 

If your Chemex is working OK, there's no need to open it up, but if you only want to give it a visual check, you're not likely to create any problems by just looking.  As I recall, there are a couple of screws inside the top of the reservoir, and a couple on the bottom of the machine.  The bottom and rear cover will pull away as a single unit.

 

 

 

[chachp]

Coffeemaker Thermal Carafes

 

[COLOR=#800080; font-family: courier new,courier]I don't know that I've seen one that didn't have issues.  They seem to either drip all over the place, or are hard to clean or worse yet you can't get all the coffee out.  The one I particularly dislike is one made by BUNN.  It's wide mouth makes it easy to clean but drips and if you want to get all the coffee out you practically have to turn it upside down and you still have a mess.[/COLOR]

 

[COLOR=#800080; font-family: courier new,courier]The one I have is glass lined and is not a coffeemaker model.  It's just a thermal carafe for hot or cold.  It's very easy to clean, is glass lined and has a great spout that almost eliminates drips.  I agree though that sometimes it can be hard to judge how much coffee is left.  You have to flip the top all the way back to see what's in there and each time you do that you reduce how long the coffee stays hot.[/COLOR]

 

[turquoisedude]

Great thread!  I'm a big coffee maker collector, so I'm enjoying this one a lot.

 

My folks were 'new off the boat' arrivals to Canada in the 50s so coffee was not a part of their ingrained daily habits.  My mother was a Brit and my father lived in the UK from 1947 until 1954 when they emigrated so tea was their beverage of choice.  However, thanks to the miracle of trading stamps, my folks acquired a West Bend 9-cup aluminum automatic perk which got used when we had company.  However, I developed a taste for coffee at a young age and I used it whenever they went out for more than a few hours... LOL   That perk got retired in about 1976, when I bought the oddest-looking drip coffeemaker I've ever seen.  It was a Moulinex with a plastic tower for a water reservoir, a swinging spout that directed heated water over a filter and carafe assembly on a heated plate.  It was kinda ugly, but I now regret getting rid of it when I put in a GE Spacemaker undercounter coffeemaker in 1984.   I moved out of the family home in 1986, but the GE remained until the house was sold in 2003.  I went back and retrieved and I actually still have it!

 

When out on my own, my first coffeemaker was a simple Braun drip model.  But in 1989, when I bought my first house, I decided to 'go vintage' in the kitchen and bought myself a Sunbeam AP8 automatic perk.  This led to more purchases and the development of my 'musical appliances' habit...  I swap vintage coffee makers in and out of service so often it's hard to keep track... LOL 

 

At the moment, the daily driver in St-Lib is an oval GE perk (1960-ish) and in Ogden a '56 Universal CoffeeMatic.  Next week?  Who knows... LOL