How to Make Drip Coffee with OXO Brew's 9-Cup Coffee Maker

Electric coffee makers produce well-rounded, easy-drinking drip coffee. It’s the meet-me-in-the-middle of methods, where you still taste some of the snappy fruit flavors, but will likely find that the chocolate, nuts, spice, or earthiness offer more balance and structure to the end result.

Just like all coffee brewing methods, we suggest grinding your beans at homefor the most delicious cup. Read on for all the how-to tips for a drip brewer, from getting started to best brewing practices to cleaning up when you’re done for the day.

What You’ll Need

When you’re brewing coffee the electric coffee maker way, the list of required tools is short. But every tool has an important job.

• Drip brewer: The size of brewer you need depends on how many cups you’ll be making. For larger parties or when you have houseguests, you may want to bring out the big guns. A 12-cup brewer will make sure there’s enough to go around. For average households and average days, a 8- or 9-cup brewer works well; tailor the amount of coffee you brew depending on who’s drinking (and how much). OXO brewers can be programmed ahead of time so you have hot coffee ready the moment you need it (two seconds after your alarm sounds, for example?). And OXO’s double-walled carafes keep coffee hot should you need another cup mid-morning.
• Beans: Coffee beans come in different roasts, which influence the strength of the flavor. Light and medium roasts have a mellower taste. Dark roasts come out bold and strong.
• Grinder: Wirecutter likes OXO’s Conical Burr Coffee Grinder for its affordability, ease of use, even grind, and wide range of settings.
• Scoop: OXO’s POP Coffee Scoop makes measuring out grinds a snap. Each scoop is 2 tablespoons, just right for one 5-ounce cup of coffee.
  
  

How Do Drip Coffee Brewers Work?

The (ahem) perks of electric coffee brewers is that they’re the best at evenly distributing heated water to the grounds, resulting in a flavorful cup of coffee without a lot of babysitting. You pour water into the tank or reservoir and add grinds into a filter that usually sits atop the carafe. The machine heats the water, then releases it into the grounds. As the water filters through the grounds, coffee drips down into the carafe.

OXO’s 9-Cup Coffee Maker has a rainmaker shower head which evenly disperses water over the grounds for better flavor extraction.

How to Brew Drip Coffee

1. Grind beans into a medium-coarse grind. (6-10 setting on the OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder). Too fine of a grind and the water will rush right through without picking up much of the coffee flavor. (Fine grinds are generally used for espresso machines, which send water through at a high pressure.)
2. Weigh or measure grinds based on the number of cups of coffee you’re looking to make. You can either use a tablespoon or coffee scoop measure. For extra precision, try a food scale. A good general rule of thumb for one cup of coffee: 1 to 2 tablespoons (8 to 16 g) of grounds per 5 to 6 ounces of water, depending on your preferred coffee strength.
3. Fill the water tank according to the number of cups you’re making. Filtered water is ideal as it will provide a purer coffee flavor and keep minerals from building up inside your coffee maker. (Mineral residue can cause your coffee maker to work less efficiently over time.)
4. Place a cone-shaped filter in brew basket. Paper filters are the most common and are numbered depending on their size. For single-size or 2- to 4-cup brewers, #1 and #2 filters are best. Use a #4 filter for 8- to 12-cup brewers. There are also reusable filters, which can be washed after each use.
5. Add ground coffee, then close lid. OXO’s 9-cup brewer offers a cup-setting menu. Turn dial to choose either the 2-4 or 5-9 cups setting and press the OXO button to start brewing.
6. Once brewing is complete, enjoy fresh coffee. Brewed a little more than you ended up using? No worries; here’s what to do with your leftover coffee. Or try one of these coffee-influenced cocktails come happy hour.
   
   

How to Clean Your Drip Brewer

Once you’re fully caffeinated, you’ll want to make sure to get your coffee maker ready to report for duty tomorrow morning. Rinse out and wash carafe and filter with warm, soapy water. Every so often, give your coffee brewer a deep clean. Soak smaller parts in a hot water bath mixed with OXO’s food-safe descaling solution.

You can also run a hot water-and-descaling solution mixture through a brewing cycle on the machine. Just be sure to run a second cycle with plain water before brewing coffee.

Prefer your coffee a different way? Learn how to make French press coffee and pour over coffee. Plus, learn how to make cold brew at home.

Additional reporting by Holly Hays.