Guide to Built in Coffee Maker
Many homeowners do not appreciate losing counter space for an appliance and are increasingly turning to a built in coffee maker. These appliances can still be available for use at all times while keeping the surface of the counter free of clutter.
The prices of a built in coffee maker can run several thousands of dollars, but offer the convenience of not having to add water each time, as they are plumbed directly into the house. Adding water is as simple as determining how much coffee you are going to make and pushing the right button.
Adding grounds is accomplished by pulling out the basket, adding the filter and the grounds and some of the more expensive built in coffee makers are equipped with a coffee grinder as well, so your Coffee is brewed using fresh ground beans, which also can be stored in the unit.
Some Less Expensive Models Not Plumbed
For those who cannot afford, or who don’t wish to spend thousands of dollars on a coffee maker, there are less expensive models that fit into the wall or attach to the underside of a kitchen cabinet. Although Brew Express does offer a built in coffee maker which is plumbed into the wall and hard wired which costs about $450.00
A couple of units are simply a box cut into the wall into which a coffee maker placed. Its wire comes out the front to be plugged in and the entire unit is removed to add water and grounds. It is then placed back into the wall for brewing. Still, other built in coffee makers are designed to be hung from a bracket attached to the top of a conventional coffee maker to keep it raised above the surface.
There are a few advantages to the more expensive models of a built in coffee maker as they usually are self-filling, adding just the right amount of water after each brewing. All the user need do is add fresh grounds and turn it on. It not only frees an outlet in your kitchen, since it is wired directly into the house, many models also have plugs built into them, giving you more outlets than were originally available.
By visiting www.bizrate.com you will be able to see the vast array of built in coffee makers available, the price range of the numerous varieties and choose the right one for your use.
Masni Rizal Mansor
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/guide-to-built-in-coffee-maker-98509.html
Attention Espresso Aficionados…?
My fiancee loves espresso and he and I had discussed getting an espresso machine before. He has since moved to VA (Navy) and no longer has the luxury of stopping at the Dunkin Donuts drive thru for his morning caffeine fix. So for Christmas this year I wanted to buy him:
- An espresso maker (with possibly a coffee maker built in)
- A coffee/espresso bean grinder
- two espresso cups, saucers
- a simple recipe book on how to make different coffee/espresso drinks
- some good espresso beans or maybe a sampler of beans
However, I am so unbelievable confused by all the variables involved with espresso. Pump versus steam? Ground beans versus pods? I have no idea what "tamping" is! Is there someone out there who is an espresso/coffee connoisseur that can help guide me?? I really need help as I want to give him quality items that also won’t totally break my budget. I don’t want to get the cheapy espresso makers from Walmart that will break in the first week. Let me know and perhaps we can talk via email in depth about all things espresso.
Thank you!
Thank you so far. He actually prefers to either drink the espresso straight or to add espresso shots to regular coffee. I don’t think he would like the coffee maker idea. I don’t have a problem spending more money on something that is good, I’m just not going to drop $2000 on an Italian machine. Any recommended brands for pump espresso makers or burr grinders?
Wow, that’s a lot of answers to pack into this little box! 8^)
Pump is better than steam. Only the cheapest machines are steam. Ground is definitely better than pods.
Tamping is pressing the ground coffee down in the ‘portafilter’–too little and the water goes through too fast and you get weak coffee, too much and you don’t get any coffee at all. There’s a tool for this, like a little potato masher, and you practice on a bathroom scale to get just 30 lbs exactly.
You need a really good grinder for espresso, a burr grinder. You have to have a very fine grind but also very consistent. In the e-mail group I used to belong to there were people who spent >$1000 both grinder and espresso maker. So it’s really a matter of how good you can get for what you want to spend. You ought to be able to get pretty good stuff for $150-200 for both grinder and espresso maker.
A recipe book usually comes with every espresso maker, and there’s lots of stuff on the Internet. He probably likes cappuccinos or lattes or whatever, and he’d learn to make those pretty quickly, they’re not complicated.
References :
An espresso machine that makes real espresso, like a coffee shop, start around $300. That’s the pump vs. steam aspect. Cheap machines just use steam pressure, which is unreliable, inaccurate and inconsistent. The pumps maintain a constant pressure (approx. 4 atmospheres) on the grounds and will produce a good cup of espresso every time. The problem with the cheap machines isn’t that they’ll break right away, they could easily last several years . . . but they won’t brew one cup of really good espresso.
Unless you’re planning on brewing the entire contents of the beans your buying the same day you buy them, always buy your beans whole and grind them right before you’re ready to brew. A regular coffee grinder is OK but they don’t do a very good job of grinding the beans uniformly. Uniformity is important for espresso as it’s a very fast brewing technique. A "burr" grinder does a much better job but they’re more expensive, around $70.
Tamping just means to press the beans down into the cup that holds the grounds before you brew. It makes a better "crema" (the foam on top of a good cup of espresso) if it’s tamped.
For real espresso, there aren’t any pods.
After all of that’s been said, it sounds expensive right? Well, it is. I think there’s an easy alternative though. Consider a senseo machine that uses the pods you were talking about. It’s not espresso, but it is a really good cup of coffee that you can make in about a minute and a half. It sure beats going through the trouble of making espresso in the morning. The machines are about $60 and the coffee pods are about $4 for a pack of 16 pods. It’d make a great gift for any coffee-head.
References :
This is a fairly inexpensive espresso maker one that has a lot of really good reviews:
http://www.consumersearch.com/espresso-machines/delonghi-ec155?ap=36
It is pump, not steam, and you can get it for >$100. It makes better coffee with beans of course, but it also takes the pods, so if your fiance is in a hurry or just not in the mood to grind beans, he can just pop in a pod. It does take about 15 minutes to heat up before you can draw a shot though.
And here is a burr grinder priced at around $100 with good reviews too (though it is a little noisy):
http://www.consumersearch.com/coffee-grinders/capresso-56001-infinity?ap=8
References :
I own a coffeehouse and every year, customers get machines for Christmas or make New Year’s resolutions to make their own coffee and they’re back in a few months. So before you drop all that cash, make sure it’s actually going to fit into his morning routine and get used. Espresso has a lot more variables than brewed coffee and can be difficult to get right, which can lead to frustration at the hassle.
Expect to spend as much on the grinder as the machine. A $50 grinder that says it will grind for espresso won’t grind fine enough for a pump machine and won’t allow the fine-tuning of the grind necessary to pull a good shot.
My favorite book for espresso technique is David Schomer’s Espresso Coffee: Professional Techniques.
Also, check out http://www.home-barista.com/ and http://www.coffeegeek.com/ for resources, reviews and help.
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