Coffee Machines in general (Proline CM3W Filter Coffee Maker)

Member Name: platypus

Product:	Proline CM3W Filter Coffee Maker
Date:	23/03/04 (614 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good coffee is the stuff of life

Disadvantages: each one has its own

Coffee Machines in general
I love good coffee and am always on the lookout for a good coffee maker. I looked up Dooyoo to see what was new on the market and found a plethora of Machines, 173 to be exact, most of which had not yet been reviewed.
My late Mother used to make a great brew with nothing more sophisticated than a saucepan , hot water and a good medium roast, coarse grind coffee. She had her beans, quantities and timing down to perfection, and this more by feel and smell than an exact science.
I left home and struck out on my own without inheriting her art. Over the years on my visits home I found that her finesse was being blunted too. Partially by age I presume, but also by disappearance of known varieties and replacement by other cultivars on the market. Where once I had seen three or four types of coffee beans there were a dozen or more, and she just could not keep up with the testing, eliminating and perfecting according to the swings of the market. Scornful of new fangled gadgets, she just slowly gave up on coffee. I, on the other hand, have an innate love of gadgets and am experimenting with them to this day.
Before proceeding to gadgets, it helps if you find the type of coffee you like, a matter of personal taste of course. To my palate the South American coffees have a sour, unpleasant undertone. My favourite is Duowe Egbert pure Arabica. As to the way of making I'll try to some up the experience of the last 40 years in chronological order.
The first gadget to come my way was what is listed as "Moka Express Hob Espresso maker". This is essentially a three part gadget. A lower container for water, a coffee holding strainer which drops over it, and, screwed in over it the finished product receptacle with an internal column with a thin bore leading from the coffee container to the upper chamber. The loaded gdget is placed on a heat scource. The water boils, turns to steam, passes through the coffee, up the column,
where on expansion it cools down enough to liquefy again and give a good hot cuppa. Drawbacks - gauge the right amount of coffe. Too much is poisonous, too little is swill. With use the cast aluminium threads become too tight and seperating the parts becomes a trial of strenght.
The second gadget to come my way was an old fashioned percolator. Placed on a source of heat it wouls perk away filling the house with great aroma. The problem was the guesstimation as to when to take it off the heat.
Next in line was the caffeterie type of coffee maker. Here the coffee is measured into a pyrex beaker, covered with boiling water, and after three to five minutes the coffeee grounds are pushed down with a strainer/plunger. The resulting coffee is excellent but too cold for my taste. I had to preheat the beaker and mugs with boiling water and heat the milk, being careful not to boil it. Very soon I came to the conclusion that it was more trouble than it was worth.
It was succeeded by a Sunbeam electric perculator. It was pleasing aesthetically and not too hard to clean. It had a timer to stop the perking at just the right moment and made a great brew, providing you were there to catch it immediately on completion. Otherwise the far too hot warming plate would kick in which in a matter of a few minutes would cook the coffee to an unpalatable swill.
After this Hubby put his oar in and brought a home caffeteria. Espresso and filter machine combined. It was monstrous in size, and for lack of space in the kitchen was relegated to the top of the washing machine. Due to cramped space the swing out filter funnel soon broke. Whilst it was alive I had no end of trouble finding the right size filter papers. The espresso part of it was too difficult to descale and went to a scrap heap after a year.
Whilst in Canada we found a perfect little cheapie (twenty Canadian dollars) at Canadian tyre. It was a filter type machine, just for two mugs. It needed filter papers wh
ich were cheap and available everywhere. These made cleaning a joke, just pick up the mess, toss it out and give the rest of the machine a rinse. A cut out mechanism stopped the action as soon as the water reservoir emptied. Any standard size mug, glass etc. fitted under it. Unfortunately it was 110 current and stayed there, giving good service to this day .
So what do we do to get a good cup of Java? Enter the ready prepared, disposable filters. (Rombouts have very good coffee in them). Place over the right diameter cup, fill with boiling water, clamp on the provided lid and watch it drip. In 2-3 minutes a perfect brew every time. Not very economical or practical when you have guests (then I bring the electric perk out of the mothballs) but ideal for one or two individuals.

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