I like my coffee HOT-help me find my maker.

August 8, 2007 10:35 AM

Looking for a coffee maker with one important characteristic - the coffee must be HOT. Just hot won't cut it. The coffee needs to come out HOT. Help me find my maker.

I've been through numerous coffee makers and none seem to brew/keep the coffee hot enough for our tastes. Mrs. neilkod and I love the 'so-hot-you-have-to-sip-it' coffee. Help us find the right coffee maker.

Bonus points for a pot that keeps the coffee super-hot for a little while, up to about 90 mins.

posted by neilkod to shopping (22 comments total)

I hear you. I'm in the 'so hot it almost burns my tongue' camp too. What I do is use a french press (nice, hot boiling water....mmmm) and then after the 4 minutes are up and the press has been plunged, I transfer it into a thermal carafe. It stays super scaldy for a couple of hours. It is two steps, but it works. Regular drip coffee makers will never cut it for you, because the water never gets hot enough, and if you keep the coffee pot on a heat source, the water evaporates and your brew just keeps getting stronger and more acidic, but not hotter.
posted by iconomy at 10:43 AM on August 8, 2007

I have one of these, and IMHO it does a good job keeping the coffee very hot for the first hour or so, and still very warm four hours later.

Whatever you get, a carafe is the way to go.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 10:43 AM on August 8, 2007

oh yeah, with all apologies to iconomy, no French presses please.
posted by neilkod at 10:50 AM on August 8, 2007

what about a mocha pot?
posted by nathan_teske at 11:06 AM on August 8, 2007

No problem. I just like to start with boiling water, and I *think* percolators and presses are the only two ways, unless there's another I don't know about.
posted by iconomy at 11:07 AM on August 8, 2007

What you want is a stove-top percolator. You can control the heat since it is cooked on your cooktop.

99°C coffee? Can do!
posted by unixrat at 11:09 AM on August 8, 2007

Badda-bing badda-boom
posted by Pollomacho at 11:10 AM on August 8, 2007

It can be done with a drip pot. Chemex-style pots are now being remade by Bodum. Just use very hot water. You can keep it warm very easily by putting a diffuser on your smallest stove unit set at the lowest setting.
posted by bonehead at 11:11 AM on August 8, 2007

My wife and I have one of these. It is a great machine that keeps the coffee sipping hot for the first hour or so and warm for a good 3-4 hours after. I am not sure if it meets your heat requirements, however, it is hot enough that it would burn your tongue if you drank it right after it brewed.

One point to make, however, is that you are limited to the size of cups that fit under the spout. If you have only large cups then this may not be the one for you.

This is by far the best coffee machine we have owned and we have owned several different types from Starbucks and other stores.
posted by birdlips at 11:12 AM on August 8, 2007

If you're gonna go, go all the way.
posted by jclovebrew at 11:15 AM on August 8, 2007

Also -

If you like HOT, try heating the mug first, by filling it w. hot or boiling water. Otherwise, the relative coolness of the mug will suck some of the hot out of the coffee.
posted by ManInSuit at 11:17 AM on August 8, 2007

We use a percolator and transfer directly to a thermal carafe and things are quite hot without becoming too bitter for quite a long time.
posted by stefnet at 11:18 AM on August 8, 2007

In my office we have one of the big commercial Bunn units (similar to this) it keeps the coffee unbearably hot for hours. In fact, it will cook the coffee down to a condensed syrup if left over 5 hours.

Hey, if you're serious about this stuff, go pro. They can be found some office supply stores and restaurant suppliers.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 11:33 AM on August 8, 2007

You beat me to the Technivorm, jclovebrew. I've never tried one myself, but it's rated by the SCAA to brew at 200°F, and several of their makers brew directly into thermal carafes. It is much better to insulate the coffee in a carafe rather than to continue to apply heat. Percolators brew hot, but the cost is that they boil the coffee, which many people agree has a detrimental effect on taste, but each to their own.
posted by Songdog at 12:13 PM on August 8, 2007

Some of the Capresso models (the 454 and "Team Therm") claim to be able to heat & maintain your water to 200 degrees, which is minimum for any coffee shop worth its snooty baristas.

They're pricey ($200-300) but they're two of the few consumer models that have an integrated burr grinder, which is also coffee shop standard.
posted by sonofslim at 12:35 PM on August 8, 2007

Bunn-o-matic. The big honking gas-station style one. We had one at an office I used to work at and it made great, HOT coffee in no time.
posted by dirtdirt at 1:02 PM on August 8, 2007

I guess what I meant was, seconding 1f2frfbf.
posted by dirtdirt at 1:03 PM on August 8, 2007

see also
posted by advil at 1:32 PM on August 8, 2007

I third the Technivorm (if you can afford it). It meets all your criteria, and it's pretty much the best drip brewer you can get without buying a commercial machine. Here's the CoffeeGeek review -- though it sounds like you'd want one of the thermal carafe models, rather than the glass pot model they tested.
posted by ourobouros at 1:34 PM on August 8, 2007

bodum vacuum pots work great. they boil the water a little before brewing.
posted by kneelconqueso at 1:50 PM on August 8, 2007

Vacuum pots give the greatest degree of control of the temperature of the brewed coffee of all the brewers I have tried (and I used to collect coffee makers; I still have ~70). If you want your coffee boiling hot, simply continue brewing until the upper vessel starts bubbling again after the initial bubbling has subsided (this will make more sense after you've used it for the first time).

In my opinion, the best vacuum pots are glass, and Yama makes the most serviceable of those available today. Coffeegeek.org reviewed the glass Yama vacuum pot in 2004.
posted by jamjam at 2:20 PM on August 8, 2007

I second 1f2frfbf and dirtdirt "nothing brews like a BUNN". I use a BUNN GRX home brewer with BUNN brand coffee filters. If you want to keep your brewed coffee hot, transfer it to a thermal carafe.
posted by plokent at 4:26 PM on August 8, 2007