Great, seriously great coffee for under $25.00 in additional equipment.

JeffD

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Jan 27, 2022
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So I have been using a Cuisinart DCC-3000 Coffee-on-Demand 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker for many years. I am on my third one. I like it because it is a cafeteria type single cup service, no carafe.

But: just about any drip machine will do. They can all make fantastic coffee. I have figured this out! By fantastic I mean coffee with a real taste, not just warm brown caffeinated tastelessness.

In addition to your reasonably priced, or even economy priced drip machine, buy a digital kitchen scale. Seriously, under $25.00. That is all you really really need. (You can spend as much as you want on paraphernalia of course, but in terms of vastly improving your coffee without much expense, a scale is all you need.)

Now, always ignore the cup indications on the carafe or water reservoir. They are inconsistent and meaningless.

Get good coffee. Play with your scale a bit, and figure out how to change units, zero it out, etc. Not hard at all.

Use 30 fl oz of water, against 50 g of ground coffee. Then prepare as usual.

This works. Always.

If you are looking for a coffee better than even this, you will have to spend a little money on a good burr grinder and buy whole bean coffee. But now you are into the coffee hobby. If all you want is great coffee, you don't need more than a digital kitchen scale.

Enjoy.
 

shadow745

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Aug 15, 2005
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Yes a quality scale is a great investment, just don't get caught up in the cheap garbage constantly seen on Amazon, etc. I've had several decent scales ($30-70) and over time they would tend to drift a bit, be off a few tenths of a gram, etc. I've seen other people have display issues as well. Recently decided to invest in a lab grade balance/scale and no doubt it will likely be the last one I'll ever need. I weigh dry dose (espresso) and green/roasted weight to determine exact moisture loss and have no interest in using one on a drip tray as so many coffee nerds think is just mandatory these days...

Made by the Ohaus brand, called the Scout STX... the feature set and build quality is light yrs ahead of anything I've ever used and although a bit costly it's not much more than the combined amount I've spent on the others that are no longer in service.
 

shadow745

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Aug 15, 2005
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Actually have the Escali Versi and found it to be pretty good, but did have a bit of drift/fluctuation. Thought it might be due to the silicone wrap around, but even took it off and didn't improve. Wasn't terrible, but off a few tenths on average. Nice display and battery life though.
 

Musicphan

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May 11, 2014
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Actually have the Escali Versi and found it to be pretty good, but did have a bit of drift/fluctuation. Thought it might be due to the silicone wrap around, but even took it off and didn't improve. Wasn't terrible, but off a few tenths on average. Nice display and battery life though.
My experience as well... but the $55 is so much more affordable for the beginner over the Acaia.
 

shadow745

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Aug 15, 2005
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True, but guess I'm one that's far from impressed with the Acaia. My Ohaus cost more than the latest Acaia and definitely glad I didn't stick with the typical 'coffee' scale. I think they're just trying to pack too much into a scale and have read of quite a few issues with the battery pack taking a dump (swelling, etc)...
 

JeffD

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Jan 27, 2022
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Upstate New York
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I have a decent OXO kitchen scale. I have found that the differences in quality are not in accuracy, but in how much battery they use, and how easy they are to use, how quickly they settle in on a measurement.
 
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