Coffee, Tea & Espresso

In the United States, coffee is our national beverage. Our nation’s history is intertwined with coffee and coffee houses. From the Green Dragon (the Bostonian coffee house and meeting place of New England revolutionaries) to the Green Siren seen at Starbucks on nearly every corner, coffee and America have walked hand in hand for centuries. Why then isn’t the average cup of coffee a lot better? If you’re ready to take matters into your own hands (literally AND figuratively), then we’ve put together a list of the top quality home coffee brewers on the market. But don’t be frightened—some can be yours for as little as $5.00, but if you want to spend more, there are plenty of options. (This is America after all!)

With regard to the general, off-the-shelf offerings that can be found in most any department store, these machines generally operate at 900 watts and either don’t get hot enough to brew coffee at or above 200° F or can’t brew a full pot in the recommended interval of time (any brew time over six minutes is not brewing coffee, but torturing it!). So, if you brew less than a “full” pot, and it takes about 4-5 minutes, these machines can be ok, but brew any more than that and cup quality will suffer due to over-extraction of the grounds. For these reasons, we recommend heating water yourself in a tea kettle for many of the options detailed below.

For cost consideration we’ve broken the top ten into two price categories, those under $100.00 and those over $100.00.