Well, I personally won't be using the drip coffee machine much myself, but my fiancee is not a fan of espresso so I need to get something decent for drip coffee. I have noticed that a lot of machines I have had in the past do not get hot enough to brew decent coffee. I would really appreciate everyone's help.

Do you think she'd go for an Aeropress? I absolutely love mine. How about something like the Abid Clever coffee dripper? She'd have to boil water separately in a kettle for both of these methods though.

How about making her an Americano instead?

Well, Technivorm, but that's pricey. The usual suspect for one-person drip is the Melitta BCM-4, you can usually find one on ebay or craigslist. For a larger machine, one of the Bunns.

If she doesn't mind boiling water separately, I agree with Aeropress or a dripper, both are really easy.

I really think that a manual coffee maker is the way to go if you value quality over convenience. YMMV.

I select based on size:

• Aeropress for single cups, liquid for ice cream, camping and traveling. Paper or Coava Coffee Disk
• Clever Dripper for 200 to 400 ml net coffee using up to 450 ml water. Paper or Coava Coffee Kone
• Chemex for up to 1+ liter, Coava Coffee Kone helps keep the pour time down for large batches
• Vac Pot with glass rod for serving 2 to 4 people a great cup of coffee on the weekend with some show

I go back and forth using paper and metal filters. Some people don't like the suspended particles that give you the body of a metal filtered cup, and of course the sediment. If I'm brewing more the 400 ml, I use the Chemex, otherwise mostly the Clever Dripper.

Pair this with an electric water kettle and you're set.

A tea kettle and a filter holder.

UFGators wrote:Well, I personally won't be using the drip coffee machine much myself, but my fiancee is not a fan of espresso

...is she really the one? jokes.

kettle + Chemex/FP.

French press or a simple pour over filter cone. If you want something fancy try a vac pot. You may find that you need another grinder as espresso minded grinders tend to not make a very good up of 'regular' coffee. I ended up with a BUNN commercial bulk grinder and now get a very nice cup.

brewers in the range of 100$ will give decent results, nothing I would particularly enjoy, but for somebody who just want some coffee it's fine.

If not, go for a technivorm. pricey but the only drip coffee machine that is decent.

Why not the Bunn HT Phase Brew? I have one in my office and it does a great job.

http://www.amazon.com/HT-Phase-Thermal-Carafe-Brewer/dp/B00472MMS0