A wake-up call for choosing coffee makers
Ellen Walker's morning coffee ritual involves tasting samples from at least 12 varieties.
As the research and development implementation manager for Dunkin' Donuts, she blocks off at least two hours each morning for ''cupping," the process of tasting the components that will make up the Canton company's signature blend.
Walker, who estimates she drinks three to six cups of coffee a day outside of her testing duties, knows that a good coffee maker is key to a good cup. On weekends, she brews her own coffee at home, and will go out for drinks like lattes or iced coffee.
She uses a drip brewing model by Bunn that she remembers buying 10 years ago for $100. The machine is billed as a 10-cup coffee maker, but that's based on small cups, Walker notes. She estimates she gets five to six full cups out of hers.
How much coffee you make will likely dictate what kind of machine you use. Walker likes using her drip brewer if she's making coffee for more than one person, and she'll stow it away when she's not using it. If she's just making coffee for herself, she tends to use a French press.
French presses, made by companies like Bodum, can cost less than $20, and let coffee connoisseurs control factors like water temperature and the amount of time the grounds are in contact with the water. Walker aims for water just below boiling, at 200 degrees, and will let the coffee, which is typically more coarsely ground, steep for about three minutes.
''The beauty of the French press is that you can control all the variables," Walker says. ''The whole science around brewing is really time and temperature."
Some coffee makers allow you to monitor the water temperature, which can be useful, Walker says, because many do not get water hot enough. You can experiment with things like the amount of coffee and water you use and the coffee's grind if you find it doesn't taste right.
According to the NPD Group, a market research company in Port Washington, N.Y., Americans spent $928 million on coffee makers this past year, up from $857 million the previous year.
Drip coffee makers made up the bulk of those sales, while espresso and cappuccino makers accounted for about $94 million.
Pod coffee makers, which use coffee that has been prepackaged into single-serving packets, accounted for 3.5 percent of drip coffee maker sales. Walker has started testing one of these models, and while she sees its potential, she is less enamored of the method now, largely because she finds most of the packets don't have enough coffee in them.
Some coffee makers come equipped with timers, and will automatically start brewing coffee just before you wake up. Walker steers away from these because they force you to leave your coffee grounds out overnight, which can mean a cup that's less fresh.
''As soon as you expose that to air, it's going to start staling," she says.
Emily Shartin can be reached at eshartin@globe.com. 
