Coffee: Many Ways to Prepare a Simple Drink

The world has a love affair with coffee! As a commodity, its trading is second only to petroleum! Coffee is an integral part of the culture worldwide - in some regions, a coffee shop is a gathering place where people sip strong brews and converse. In cultures, coffee is enjoyed more at home but is an essential part of the morning routine. There are many ways to prepare coffee, ranging from the convenience of instant to the sublime flavor of espresso. Coffee is most often enjoyed as a drink with milk and sugar, but can also be flavored or added to other drinks.

Most Americans make coffee in a drip coffee maker. This is, perhaps, the easiest way to get your morning caffeine fix. Simply spoon a measured amount of coffee into the filter basket, add cold water, and hit the "on" button. Five minutes later, brewed coffee is awaiting! However, the filter does its job and then some - in addition to keeping the grounds in place, they also filter out the coffee oils and some of the flavor. Additionally, most of these coffee pots utilize a burner underneath a glass pot - after a short while, the continuous exposure to heat changes the taste of the coffee. A few (more expensive) coffee makers use either a thermos or alternative heat source, which lengthens the amount of time before the coffee begins to taste bad. The drip coffee maker is hands down the most popular way to enjoy coffee in the United States. Drip coffee makers can be found for sale anywhere housewares are sold. Prices range from $10 for a utilitarian coffee pot, to hundreds of dollars for programmable pots which include a grinder for whole beans.