A coffeemaker, coffee maker or coffee machine is a cooking appliance used to brew

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

. While there are many different types of coffeemakers, the two most common brewing principles use gravity or pressure to move hot water through coffee grounds. In the most common devices, coffee grounds are placed into a paper or metal filter inside a funnel, which is set over a glass or ceramic coffee pot, a

cooking pot Cookware and bakeware is food preparation equipment, such as cooking pots, pans, baking sheets etc. used in kitchens. Cookware is used on a Kitchen stove, stove or range cooktop, while bakeware is used in an oven. Some utensils are considere ...

in the

kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a device specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle''. There are two main types: the ''stovetop kettle'', which uses heat from a cooktop, hob, and the ...

family. Cold water is poured into a separate chamber, which is then boiled and directed into the funnel and allowed to drip through the grounds under gravity. This is also called '' automatic drip-brew''. Coffee makers that use pressure to force water through the coffee grounds are called espresso makers, and they produce espresso coffee.

Types

Drip coffeemaker

The first non-electric

drip coffee Drip coffee is made by pouring hot water onto ground coffee beans, allowing it to brew while seeping through. There are several methods for doing this, including using a filter. Terms used for the resulting coffee often reflect the method ...

maker, using notebook paper as the precursor to the paper coffee filter, was developed by German entrepreneur

Melitta Bentz Amalie Auguste Melitta Bentz (née Liebscher, January 31, 1873 – June 29, 1950) was a German inventor and entrepreneur known for revolutionizing the process of coffee brewing with her invention of the coffee filter. Her company, Melitta, ha ...

in 1908. The same year, she founded the

Melitta Melitta () is a German company selling coffee, paper coffee filters, and coffee makers, part of the Melitta Group, which has branches in other countries. The company is headquartered in Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is named after ...

brand, specializing in coffee and coffee-making products.

Vacuum brewers

On 27 August 1930, Inez H. Peirce of Chicago, Illinois, filed her patent for the first

vacuum coffee maker A vacuum coffee maker brews coffee using two chambers where vapor pressure and gravity produce coffee. This type of coffee maker is also known as ''vac pot'', ''siphon'' or ''syphon coffee maker,'' and was invented by Loeff of Berlin in the 1830 ...

that truly automated the vacuum brewing process, while eliminating the need for a stovetop burner or liquid fuels.

Cafetiere

cafetiere A French press, also known as a cafetière, ''cafetière à piston'', ''caffettiera a stantuffo'', press pot, coffee press, or coffee plunger, is a coffee brewing device, although it can also be used for other tasks. The earliest known devi ...

(coffee plunger, French press in US English) requires coffee of a coarser grind than does a drip brew

coffee filter Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially av ...

, as finer grounds will seep through the press filter and into the drink. Because the coffee grounds remain in direct contact with the brewing water and the grounds are filtered from the water via a mesh instead of a paper filter, coffee brewed with the cafetiere captures more of the coffee's flavour and

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the ...

s, which would become trapped in a traditional drip brew machine's paper filters. As with drip-brewed coffee, cafetiere coffee can be brewed to any strength by adjusting the amount of ground coffee which is brewed. If the used grounds remain in the drink after brewing, French pressed coffee left to stand can become "bitter", though this is an effect that many users of cafetiere consider beneficial. For a cafetiere, the contents are considered spoiled, by some reports, after around 20 minutes.

Single-serve coffeemaker

The single-serve or single-cup coffeemaker had gained popularity by the 2000s.

Types

Drip coffeemaker

Vacuum brewers

Cafetiere

Single-serve coffeemaker

See also