As the thread title is "Best Coffee Maker" I am willing to wager that the horrendously gorgeous, almost obscenely beautiful, and insanely desirable La Marzocco described elsewhere by our mutual friend, Mr Kurwenal, might actually match the tread title……...
Ah, yes. The wondrous, alluring, magnificent, siren-like GS/3. And, at $7,000 a pop, insanely expensive.
"Best" coffee maker. How to define "best." I think my best coffee maker is a grinder. Set that aside. I will assume "maker" excludes the grinder, which is the most important piece of equipment in any coffee kit.
I should also set aside the fact that the cultivar matters a lot and some are better for some types of makers than others.
Beyond that, off the top of my head, I would define "best" on four considerations:
1. Taste.
2. Use-ability.
3. Cost.
4. The Ritual.
When someone says "X is best" and someone else says "no, Y is best," they probably are just disagreeing about the preference order of these considerations. To some, use-ability is more important than taste (viz, the current thread focused on K-cups and the prevalence of Starbucks stores on every corner). To others, taste is paramount, even over cost. For me, taste and The Ritual matter far more than the other factors; cost is very nearly irrelevant and use-ability is something I think about but it would never be the basis for a purchase decision. The GS/3, my Rocket, the grinders, my $1000 roaster. It adds up, but if I think I can improve the taste and experience even just a tiny amount, the cost is secondary, or even irrelevant.
For most, though, and for me if you exclude espresso from the question, I would pick the French Press as the overall "best" coffee maker. And, in particular,
this one. Outstanding taste, not expensive, easy to use, producing a superior cup in only about 5 or 7 minutes (including grind time), and enough Ritual to feel like you aren't just pushing a button.
For pure taste, and again excluding espresso, I would pick the vac brewer, specifically the
Cona D. The taste is very different from the French Press, but I think overall a superior cup, especially for the African coffees I prefer for drip. But, obviously, it falls down on use-ability, compared to the French Press or something like the AeroPress or Chemex.
For my nightly 7 pm cup of drip, I usually use the FP or AP, occasionally the Chemex, and even less frequently the Cona D. Whenever I use the Cona D, the taste convinces me to promise myself that I will use it more, but then tomorrow comes and I think "oh, that's a hassle, I'll just use the French Press."
That's my $0.02. For non-espresso, buy a French Press and a decent grinder, and then find a source of fresh beans. That will get someone 90% of the way to a perfect cup. And that missing 10% is available only with large investments in and of time, learning, cash and care.
Espresso? Well, that's a whole different story.
PS: I neglected to mention,
Scepticalscribe, your beloved Bialetti, which I really like but, for whatever reason, it has never made it into my regular rotation of coffee makers. Probably because in those instances in which I would use the Bialetti, I end up just using the Rocket to make up a ristretto.
