4 Cup Coffee Makers

There are plenty of 4 cup coffee makers on the market, and in order to select the best one for you, you should be aware of the factors that will make a particular model the best one for you. My present coffee maker is a Mr. Coffee that my wife picked to match our red kitchen. While I like the color, I realized that the features a coffee maker has makes a big difference, as 4 cup coffee makers are something we use every single day.

While my wife does all the cooking, I am the designated coffee man. I load up our 4 cup coffee maker every night before we go to bed. Our coffee maker has a timer which will start the brew cycle in the morning right before we wake up. I love this feature, and never had it before in our previous 4 cup coffee makers. I strongly recommend buying a coffee maker with a timer such as this, even if you don't use it right away. One day you'll have a particularly early rushed morning -- for example maybe you have to catch an early flight in the dark. Anyway, the timer hardly costs anything extra and it's a great feature.

Important in a 4 cup coffee maker is how easy it is to clean. Ideally you want the carafe to be dishwasher safe. And another feature is that you want to be able to grab a cup of coffee before the entire brew cycle is finished in case you don't want or don't have time to wait. Most 4 cup coffee makers have this feature, but always be sure to check before you buy as that would be a major inconvenience if you weren't able to do this.

There are other factors to consider as well, such as pour-ability -- some carafes are just flat out designed badly, and they dribble when you pour. This type of thing can drive you nuts, and you can find out if a carafe is a dribbler by checking out the 4 cup coffee makers at Amazon. Read the reviews there to find out about flaws such as these.

Another factor to consider is the pluses and minuses of a glass carafe. Glass is the most popular material for a carafe, and the ability to tell how much coffee is left is one of the obvious reasons. Glass is also easy to clean and easy to measure with. Some stainless steel 4 cup coffee makers may be fairly popular and look nice, but personally I want to know how much coffee is left and I want to be able to use the carafe to measure the amount of water. Thermal carafe defenders would argue that a thermal carafe doesn't continue to cook your coffee and will keep it tasting fresh, but it all depends on how long you leave your coffee sitting in the morning before you drink it up. If you're only buying a 4 cup coffee maker, chances are you're going to drink it fairly quickly.

Lastly, I would make sure that the burner stays on for up to two hours. Ours is set at two hours, and personally I consider that perfect. Of course it is vital that the coffee maker has an automatic shut off, but on the other hand you don't want it to turn off too soon and have the coffee get cold on you too fast.