I don''t know much about a good drip maker, but I have to take this opportunity to plug the pod coffee makers -- they''re possibly the greatest beverage-related invention EVER.

Seriously, I got one about a month ago - the kind that use pods to make one cup at a time - and I''ve used it at least once a day ever since. It makes frickin'' perfect coffee every time. I''ve even stopped going to Starbucks.

Target was having a deal a while ago where if you buy a six-pack of coffee pods ($30 for six boxes of 18 pods) you get the $50 coffee maker free. It''s worth every penny.

is it one pod = one cup of coffee? if so that can get pretty pricey. I think I will stick to tea

I''ve used and worn out or broken a bunch of drip makers. Never been happy with any of them for one reason or another. I think they all are pretty much the same, though. We use very high quality coffee (right now, Ethiopian Fancy from Peet''s), and then it just takes a few pots to learn how much grounds to put in to make the coffee the strength we like.

Maxwell house is on sale this week....

Well, not to be dimm or anything, but ""tastes like the mud in which dead men lie"" doesn''t leave a lot of room for arugement.

Regardless, back on topics and avoiding incindiary remarks, the Zoji coffee maker is on Newegg.com for 59.99 plus 5.99 for shipping. I placed my order tonight.

I have a pod machine for the office in which I''m working; I''m an addict (yes, a major vice) but my boss is practically allergic to the smell of coffee (might trigger his migraines). So, the pod- and I''d recommend the Melitta as being a well-constructed and relatively inexpensive machine- was the answer. Makes good (not great, but good) hot coffee in about 1 minute. No fumes, no burnt coffee to throw out. And, if you get the pods on sale (and Maxwell House is now offering an across-the-spectrum-of-pod-machines pod), you''re still only paying abot $.25-.30/cup (USD).

For the home, we burned through our last 12-cup fancy Braun about 3 months ago; just stopped working. We reverted to a 10-cupper (no frills- not even a clock) and waited for Consumer Reports to come out with their notes. Turns out the slightly newer version of the 10-cup Braun is one of their ""Best Buys"" and you can get it for about $20 USD.

We owned one of the fancy ""set-it-up-the-night-before-and-you-have-fresh-coffee-when-you-get-up"" ones, but after a year the tubes had so corroded from having water in them a lot that we had to trash it. Too much money for only a little more ""convenience"".....

I''ve got 2 Brauns from Starbucks, another Braun with the dual travel mugs (nice!) and someone just gave me this Cuisinart Automatic Grind and Brew

http://www.cuisinart.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi/en/item.cgi?item_id=DGB-300BK

Needless to say, I likes the coffee. I''m real brand agnostic on the actual coffee though: so long as its a dark roast, and reasonably priced, it''s good enough for me.

I try to buy all the ""specials"" form Starbucks, particulalry any from Latin America. My vote of one for ""do more of this"". The Salvadoran coffees they''ve put out have been excellent.

French press and a good conical burr grinder (I wore out my Zassenhaus box mill), all you need.

Wow - y''all are serious about your coffee! We just use a cheapie Black & Decker Smart Brew, which does an excellent job for the price.

My MIL got me a grinder for Christmas, and I have to admit that fresh-grinded beans really do make a big difference. Pain in the butt to clean, though.

I''m on French Press side. Get a good grinder, a French Press with a reasonably fine screen, some kind of mineral water you like, and good coffee beans.

I''ve found that you can get 100% Kona and brew it with Hawaiian spring water, which for some bizarre reason is easy to find in the DC area, and it tastes like it does in Hawaii. Obviously the water chemistry is important in the flavor.

You can also buy plastic French Presses for camping and such. Makes life easy.

Well, you don''t really need to clean it...unless you''re an absolute purist, or you drink *shudder* flavored coffees.

However, for those times when you do have to clean it, here''s a trick...take a slice of sandwich bread and tear it into small bits, about 1"" square. Toss a handful of them into the grinder. Grind for about 5 seconds, tap everything out into the garbage.

Voila, clean grinder.

(This works with whole wheat bread...but I''m pretty sure white bread would work if that''s what you''ve got. Never tried it though, so YMMV.)

I am a Krups loyalist.

Same here. I need to make at least 10 cups a day, and don''t have time to sit there with the french press for that long.

I also quit grinding my own beans because keeping a burr grinder clean while using really good beans is a big pain. If the oil content of the beans is as high as it should be, the thing will clog after grinding about two pots worth. Peet''s roasts & grinds the coffee when it is time to fill the order, then seals the bags & ships it immediately, so the difference in taste is pretty minor for a drip maker. We get two pounds twice a month, so I toss one in the freezer until needed.

White bread? Interesting...I use 1/2 cup of plain white uncooked rice, about once a year. Sharpens the burrs and cleans them.

I''ve been off flavored coffees since 1981 when a coffee roaster I knew explained the heresy.

The slambies are Krups loyalists as well. One automatic drip and one espresso machine can be found in our house. We buy Millstone or some such coffee brand like that and grind the beans at the store.

I can pretty much drink anything that has a taste in the heavy-duty industrial sludge range.