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We started noticing a strong mold smell in the water well and eventually, even our coffee started to carry the smell. If you don't want to mess with the possibility of a few grounds in your coffee, or if you want to be able to program your coffee to start in the morning, this may not be the coffee maker for you. Our coffee is hot.we're talking "let it cool down first" hot. And here's the best part: the basket doesn't hold as much coffee as our drip filter did so the first day I made coffee, I could only use 6 scoops of coffee, instead of my regular 8. It made the best coffee I had ever tasted, but for some reason, I had totally forgotten about it. So, now I can use less coffee and still have it as strong as we like it.
Argh. I was about to give up when out of the blue, I remembered house-sitting for some people years ago who had a Presto Percolator like this one. When we started looking for a new one, we made a short but critical list: 1)coffee needs to be hot (not requiring any microwaving), 2)it needs to be smooth, not bitter, 3) and it needs to be strong. Our Krups lasted a good 6 years and made decent coffee but the last several weeks before it died, we started noticing that the coffee wasn't hot.actually, not even drinkable. And it's so smooth.not at all bitter. I was concerned that it would be watery-what's-the-point coffee but it wasn't.
I have two suggestions: use a filter (we use the regular 4-cup basket filters and push a little hole through the center) and use a little strainer as you pour your coffee into your cup. Also, even though we used filtered water and cleaned it regularly, drip coffee makers are just prone to mold after awhile. I bought a 50 cent strainer that looks like a big spoon and place it over the mouth of my cup as I pour; there are usually a few grounds that escape the filter and the strainer catches those. The only issue someone might have with this is the issue with grounds in your coffee. But if you want really hot, very smooth yet still able to be strong coffee, you will not be sorry you bought this. So, I started searching on Amazon and found this one, and after reading all the reviews decided this was exactly what we needed.
We had to microwave just to get it hot enough to drink. In order to avoid the bitter, we thought about going with another thermal one to avoid that burned taste that comes with sitting on a warming plate. We've had it a week, and I am thrilled. We love it. Also, because it's just a stainless steel carafe and all of the parts are washable, there are not mold issues either. Ok, I normally don't do reviews but when our Krups thermal drip coffee maker died a couple of weeks ago, followed by a time-consuming and not-just-a-little-bit annoying process of trying to find a new one, the reviews we read during that process were extremely helpful in figuring out what we were going to do, so I decided to do my part also.
But going with a thermal means coffee won't be very hot at all. It was fabulous.as strong as we normally drink it.
The Presto cost much less and works great. But it's just as fast, the coffee stays very hot, and I like the non-drip spout. Had a great Farberware percolator for years but when it died, I saw the price had gone up a lot. The construction is not as substantial as the Farberware, so I don't know if it will last as long.
I bought filters as well after reading many reviews, and it is true that you need filters in order to not get grinds in your coffee. It seems the reviews are correct and percolators are the best tasting coffee. I bought this item for a Christmas present to me after having a friend's percolator coffee and have been very happy. It is really easy to use and I went from not making very good coffee (via coffee presses and drip coffee pots) to making coffee people actually like to drink.
I t only takes about 10 minutes to percolate and it is very easy to clean. He complained that our regular coffee maker made very weak coffee. I bought this coffeemaker for my husband. He absolutely loves it. This percolator makes very rich dark coffee.
My mom had an electric percolator years ago and I guess I was hoping it would be like hers. I think the coffeemaker is a bit over priced. I was a bit disappointed that it did not have a glass knob on top so you could see the coffer perking. Also, the lid is hard to remove. All in all I'm pretty happy that I purchased it.
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