Cone or Flat?

[sudsmaster]

This is for those of us who use drip-style coffee makers.

Which type of filter system do you prefer, cone (Melitta) or flat (Mr. Coffee), and why?

 

[panthera]

Melita

The cone design is far more efficient at filtering than the flat design. Because of the enormously increased surface area it is possible to have far more efficient filtering and faster brewing.
I do have a bit of a dislike for filtered coffee, but when I have to use filters, then never the Mr. Coffee type.

 

[joeekaitis]

Cone.

Never had good luck with the Mr. Coffee-type. Clogging, collapsing, spilling grounds on the trip to the trash.

 

[foraloysius]

Melitta

Between those two the Melitta style filter is much better than the flat filter. It's better at getting the full aroma from the coffee. Coffee made with a flat filter doesn't have any taste at all IM(not so)HO.

 

[foraloysius]

And if you're looking for a coffeemaker with a Melitta style filter see if you can get a Moccamaster coffeemaker.

http://www.technivorm.com/

 

[hydralique]

Melitta . . .

I do like Melitta brand coffeemakers. Mine have been made by Salton for Melitta. They aren't the longest lasting coffeemakers on the market (my first one started leaking eventually), but they are fast, fast, fast and make very good coffee.

 

[petek]

Cone here. We've been through several different brand/type of drip coffee makers over the years. Funny none of them has ever lasted decades like all my old percolators. Anyways, the best drip coffee maker we've had so far has been the Cuisinart Grind'n Brew and why so do you ask? Because it it makes hot coffee and it keeps it hot. Has an adjustable temp hot plate and adjustable something or other for depending on how many cups of water you put it in.. LOL..It also grinds the beans automatically but that is it's worst feature. Makes for difficult cleanup so I don't use that very often.

Now that MoccaMaster.. nice website...they sure picked very good looking people for their ad. But I'll bet dollars to donuts that machine doesn't make any better coffee than my ugly Cuisinart

 

[whirlcool]

We don't use paper filters at all, I think they leave a taste behind. We use one of those Krups gold cone filters. Just dump, rinse and put in the dishwasher each night. We use it in our Cuisinart drip machine.

 

[foraloysius]

I have had several drip coffee makers, but the Moccamasters were always the best. Overhere in the Netherlands they are sold only by Douwe Egberts, the country's biggest coffee company. The Norwegian who seem to drink the most coffee per head of the population prefer the Moccamaster over other coffeemakers too. Ofcourse it helps that it's a Dutch product too... LOL

 

[fonografmaniac]

i agree with the cone fans, but unfortunately my mom have a flat type.

 

[sudsmaster]

My turn

Thanks for all the responses. For my daily drip brewing, I use a Melitta "Take Two" 4 cup coffee maker. Instead of using one or two of the provided tall thermal mugs (which are only plastic lined), I use a Zojirushi 5 cup thermal carafe. It keeps the coffee hot for at least four hours. Naturally, the Melitta has a cone shaped filter, but it's a smaller version, the #2 size.

I also have a early Cuisinart Grind and Brew machine, which takes the larger #4 size filter. It also has a gold tone washable screen filter, but I prefer the results with paper filters. I have also read that paper filters result in coffee that is associated with fewer instances of bladder cancer in lab tests. I also find the screen type filters tend to let a fine sediment into the coffee, which I dislike. The Grind and Brew works ok but I find it difficult to clean (esp if one grinds with it). Additionally the carafe lid hinge is fragile and has semi-detached, making pouring something of an art.

For larger gatherings, when I need to provide both regular and decaf, I have a simple Mr. Coffee machine with of course uses flat filters. It works just fine for those settings. Also have a big 60 cup DeLonghi SS percolator, which makes surprisingly good coffee as well. It also makes wonderful grumbling rumbling minor exploding sounds as it heats up and percs ;-).

 

[selectomatic]

I'm not much of a gourmet.

But I do like food, and I do like coffee.

When I want coffee, I want 12 cups of it in 3 minutes. Luckily, I have my trusty Bunn on its own little shelf right behind my desk.

Mmmmm. Coffee!

-kevin

 

[polkanut]

I maybe somethng of an anomaly in regard to this thread, but I actually use the Mr. Coffee type filters in my percs. They do a great job and are cheap too when you buy store brands. I've never had a problem with them. Makes cleanup easier also.

 

[petek]

Leapin lizards I see a Magic 8 ball, some Coke-abilia, what else is in there!!!!

 

[selectomatic]

Actually, that's my Infinity Ball.

It's a non-magic 8 ball I found lying in the gutter out behind an amusements company. After watching an episode of the animated "The Tick" series, I rotated it 90 degrees, and it became an Infinity Ball. It rests in a wheel bearing from my 1971 Thunderbird. My Magic 8-Ball is at work, next to my bench. It helps me in times of deepest darkness.

Highlights from top to bottom, left to right include: Miller High Life tap handle, "Radio: It's Red Hot" mug, Girl in the Moon tray (ca. 1940s??), novelty shot glasses, IMax countdown leader, Nikon FM shutter, engraved Zippo lighter, skeleton model, California Raisin figure, Infinity Ball, another Miller High Life tap handle, Seeburg Stereo Consolette, H.R. Pufnstuf figure, Bunn VPR coffeemaker, roommate's Mickey Mug, my Nikon mug.

On the left pillar: Coke thermometer, lots of pins and keychains including "What do you do for an encore?" "Nikon F100," "Junior State Trooper," "I Do It (fasten my safety belt)," "Give DEATH a Holiday (Fasten your Seatbelt)."

On the right pillar: my Arbitron dollar (for filling out a survey of my radio-listening habits), a "Film Crew" badge, a $2 bill, a padlock hanging from an "I Play Safe" pin, a Miller High Life keychain/bottle opener, a Zor Shriner medallion, a fake $1 Million bill.

On the bar: a chrome Brain Teaser puzzle, two lounge lizards, a GTE Sculptura telephone, a "Coffee" sign stolen from a Holiday Inn (the "Purple Holiday Inn" in Chicagoland).

We both like coffee. Black, unsweetened, nothing fancy. It gives us the energy to collect and display all sorts of interesting and useless things in the bar.

-kevin

 

[pturo]

I have a cone thing in the city using the Mellita filter and a basket thing at the lake and the cone thing gives much tastier stronger coffe for the amount you put in it. The water is better in the city, but not by much. I think a lot is wasted in the basket design.

 

[rp2813]

I have never owned a coffee maker that used a flat bottom filter. Not because I wanted to avoid that type, but because the makers I've been interested in (mostly Braun over the years) use the cone type. My mom has had the flat bottom filter basket for many years. Every time I make coffee at her house it comes out too strong for most people but I like my coffee stout and black so it's OK by me. There seems to be a difference in the results based on the design of the filter basket. I've never done a taste test side-by-side of coffee made with both types of filter designs.

I'm with Rich, unless it's Turkish coffee, I don't want any grounds in my cup. Gold filters don't do a good enough job. Even though my current machine came with its own customized gold filter, I prefer to use paper cones. Peets used to suggest rinsing/wetting the paper cone filter first to get rid of any paper taste. I don't think they offer that suggestion in any of their coffee literature anymore.

So now here's a question. Have the Melitta #1 size cone filters been pulled off the market? These are even smaller than #2's and my Black & Decker "Cup-at-a-Time" that I use at work requires the #1 size. Peets used to carry them but now they only carry their own Peets brand of filters and their version of #1 is still too large, more like #2's. My local independent roaster where I buy my beans also doesn't carry them. I haven't bothered to check on line for true Melitta brand #1's yet, but I think that's where I'm headed. Meanwhile, I fold the Peets #1's down to size so they'll fit in the B&D's filter basket.

 

[pturo]

I have a good comparison with the same cofee. I have a drip in the city with a cone, and a drip at the lake with a basket type filter. The one in the city makes way better coffee, even when we bring filtered water to the lake. It seems the cone intesifies the taste and takes out the bad stuff in a better way. By the way, Aldi has some great tasting coffee in thier Beaumont brand at half the cost of what Starbucks beans cost.

 

[sudsmaster]

In a pinch I've used paper towels, folded in quarters, to function as cone type filters. And in the chem lab, it's common practice to use a big circular piece of filter paper to create a filter for a funnel on the fly, with similar folding.

So... in order to fit a filter holder for #1 Melitta filters, I would think that one could simply take a suitably sized circle of filter paper, fold it in quarters, open up one quarter, and voila!.

 

[rp2813]

Folding to fit

Rich, I have used the folded towel trick many times. Right now I'm folding my supposed #1 filters on one side and at the bottom to make them truly #1 sized. When I ran out recently, I used a paper towel from the break room. The coffee tasted horrible and I figured it had to be the paper towel. I checked another towel and it had a weird smell to it, much like the flavor of my coffee. That's the first time that ever happened, but it made me stop at Peet's on my way home from work so I'd have real cone filters again for coffee at my desk the next morning. I've come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a true #1 sized filter made by Melitta anymore.