Coffeemaker is a cooking appliance for brewing coffee. It does not require use of a separate container for boiling water. There are several varieties of coffee makers with different ways of brewing techniques. The common feature of all the coffee makers is that roasted coffee beans are filled in a metal filter within a funnel. This is laid over a glass or ceramic coffee pot which contains a chamber into which cold water is poured. It is heated up and boiled. The steaming water flows into the funnel. This is known as automatic dip brew.
The practice of brewing coffee has been prevalent for over a century without much change in the process. The various processes of coffee brewing were known as vacuum brewing, percolation, electric dip coffee making, etc These developments made coffee makers important.
Later design changes in coffee makers took place for getting better smell and flavor and for obtaining a clear brew. In the vacuum brewer water is heated in a vessel kept below and when it expands and forces the contents to flow through a narrow tube and enters the vessel kept on top in which ground coffee beans are kept. When the bottom vessel is empty and adequate brewing time is allowed, the heat disappears. The resulting vacuum sucks the brewed coffee through a strainer into the lower cell.From this cell it is decanted.
Coffee brewing in a percolator involves, heating water in a boiling pot with a detachable lid. The hot water through pressure enters a metal tube and a brewing container filled with ground coffee beans. The liquid undergoing extraction drips from the brew container and later into the pot .This process goes on throughout the brewing cycle. It stops when the liquid passing repeatedly through the coffee grounds is adequately sunk. A transparent knob on the lid facilitates visualizing whether coffee has attained the required color and strength. The operation is made easier by home electrification by providing for an independent, electrical heating element.
Fresh coffee powder is measured in small quantities and deposited into the metal percolator container. This process facilitates small quantities of coffee powder to escape into fresh coffee container. A vital factor in ensuring the success of the electric coffee maker is the introduction of safety through secured fuses and heating coils. The percolator method for making coffee has remained almost the same since its introduction. Later in the 1970s the Max Pax coffee filter rings came into use in percolators, Each ring contained a predetermined quantity of coffee powder sealed in a self-contained paper filter.
The Max Pax coffee filter rings offered two advantages. It predetermined the quantity of coffee powder to be used .It eliminated the need to measure each scoop before depositing it in the metal percolator container. In addition the filter paper has adequate strength to hold the coffee grounds within it. The coffee filter ring after use could be removed easily from the container and thrown away. These results in saving of effort involved in cleaning and removing the wet coffee powder residue from the percolator container. However with the entry of the electric drip coffee maker the primacy of percolators nose dived, and the market disappeared resulting in the discontinuance of the manufacture of Max Pax coffee filter rings. Now advanced versions of coffee makers are in the market making the coffee maker important.