Most of us cannot do without our cup of coffee in the morning. The first thing we do is grope are way into the kitchen, half asleep on our feet to get that first shot of addiction in our system before we can begin to function. Accordingly, every morning we throw a scoop of coffee into the machine, add some water, and gulp it down or sip it with relish until we feel life rush into our blood stream. We all tend to take these things for granted not stopping to wonder who made it so easy for us to get going in the morning thanks to the magic of automatic coffee machines.
It was only made possible in the last hundred years or so for us to have a cup of coffee so easily prepared without having to stand over a hot stove, waiting for it to brew. The modern coffee maker is a very simple device although it has taken the manufacturers more than 30 years to get their designs just right. In general, an automatic coffee machine has a reservoir to hold the water, a tube to take the water up to the drip area, a shower head or a perforated plastic disc for the water to fall through to the ground coffee. The heating element in the machine boils the water and keeps the coffee hot. There are also features such as fuses and sensors to keep the element from over heating and to cut off power and turn it back on when the coffee starts to cool. All these components add to the safety of the machine and to the one who’s preparing the coffee.
While there’s nothing like a perfect cup of steaming hot, freshly brewed coffee, the coffee making ritual differs between person to person according to each one preference. Some infuse the water into the coffee by dripping and some do it by steeping or steaming. The standard method however is to let the hot water drip into the filter holding the ground coffee beans and from there to the container or carafe. It is possible to make at least 7 to 8 cups of coffee this way within a period of five or 6 minutes’ but whoever gets the first two cups of coffee will have the best while the latter cups will taste weak and diluted. Whatever method is used, some coffee addicts go to a lot of trouble to ensure they get it just right while others takes the easiest way out with as little effort as possible.
Espresso on the other hand is made by letting the steam into ground coffee by way of a metal filter that lets the larger particles of coffee through. This results in the coffee being much stronger where only one or two cups can be made successfully with the rest being weaker and diluted. A super automatic coffee machine or a digital coffee maker also uses pressurized steam to brew just one cup of coffee at a time. With the press of a button the beans are ground and passed into a filter where steam is infused and in a matter of 30 seconds you can have the most heavenly rich and creamy coffee ever imaginable.
The next time you enjoy your fresh cup of coffee, take a minute to say a silent word of thanks to those who gave us automatic coffee machines so that we could enjoy it so easily.
