Help me find the right coffee maker. I can spend up to $500 - but would like to spend much less

I gave it up 7 1/2 weeks ago. Not that I'm keeping track or anything, hah. I have had two small iced coffees during that time, though, and paid the price. At some point I would like to bring coffee back into my life as a weekend morning treat, but being totally dependent on it is no fun at all. I'm a workaholic and I love what I do, so sleeping always seems like a waste of time to me. I could manage on three hours of sleep when I was younger, but I'm no spring chicken anymore and I have an autoimmune disease, so I need my rest.

My husband switched to decaf at the same time I quit. Decaf has always seemed too middle-ground to me…too ehhh. Like navy blue instead of black. (I have issues.)

I hear you. I am an all or nothing gal as well. Moderation is not a part of my vocabulary. Congrats on your efforts. Breaking a habit is not easy.
 
b.g. if you are near a starbucks try ordering a grande berry refresher with no water and no ice (still comes out cold) just once. same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee but way less sugar than people add, no fat, no ulcers or upset stomachs or (not acidic like coffee), and a natural fat burner (green bean coffee extract). triple the caffeine as it made regularly but with no extra cost. if you only wanna double the caffeine content you just take away the water and leave the ice still at the same cost if its later in the day.
 
b.g. if you are near a starbucks try ordering a grande berry refresher with no water and no ice (still comes out cold) just once. same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee but way less sugar than people add, no fat, no ulcers or upset stomachs or (not acidic like coffee), and a natural fat burner (green bean coffee extract). triple the caffeine as it made regularly but with no extra cost. if you only wanna double the caffeine content you just take away the water and leave the ice still at the same cost if its later in the day.

I know not everyone cares about this stuff, but since you're recommending those Starbucks Refreshers as a "healthy" alternative to coffee, I thought you might like to see the ingredients list (scroll down to #4):
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/07/18/food-babe-investigates-sabotaged-at-starbucks/

They don't actually contain green coffee bean extract (just flavoring), and they're LOADED with sugar. On their website, Starbucks lists the grande size as containing 16g of sugar as prepared normally. At three times the strength (like you suggested), that's 48g of sugar!! That's roughly the equivalent of 12 sugar packets or a 16oz Coke. I don't know anyone who puts that much sugar in their coffee!

I'd personally rather have a cup of regular coffee with a little cashew milk. :) If you want an acid-free cup of coffee, go with a cold-brew method at home. Cheap, easy, delicious—no special equipment OR sugar necessary.
 
i work at a starbucks. didnt know about just the flavoring but thats a small aside to me. as for the sugar its a relative issue i guess as many of the lattes and frapps etc contain way way more sugar and the sugar content people use, that the majority of people say they need to help drink there coffee which they dont add when ordering a refresher, is enormous. very very few order a black coffee and drink it that way and not many order a lot of lattes they way they come advertised (can i get caramel inside the cup and on top is a very common request). id still say to just try it once. never gone back to coffee since and i can drink it down in two seconds if i need to with little consequence unlike if i tried to do that with coffee. i hate iced coffee but if i was gonna order a coffee i just order the lightest roast they make as it has more caffeine and i have to put less in it to make it drinkable. weird about green coffee flavoring as the drink almost doesnt have much taste to it all. just a slight sugary berry taste. berry flavoring in fruit juice is much much stronger and contains a lot of sugar. what does green coffee bean extract taste like cause the stuff i drink just tastes like light berry flavoring?
 
i work at a starbucks. didnt know about just the flavoring but thats a small aside to me. as for the sugar its a relative issue i guess as many of the lattes and frapps etc contain way way more sugar and the sugar content people use, that the majority of people say they need to help drink there coffee which they dont add when ordering a refresher, is enormous. very very few order a black coffee and drink it that way and not many order a lot of lattes they way they come advertised (can i get caramel inside the cup and on top is a very common request).

I don't even think of that stuff as being "coffee"—it's liquid dessert. I don't drink my coffee black (my preference is cashew milk, which is easy/cheap to make at home, but if I'm out I'll put a little soy milk in since that's usually the only vegan option at coffee shops), but I don't put sugar in it, either. I don't mean this in a derogatory way at all, but I don't think of Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts (etc.) as being places people who love coffee go to get their hit. They're successful because they offer a product that makes the coffee aspect of drinking coffee unimportant—it's all about the gimmicks, flavors, chemicals, and sugar. I just want good COFFEE. A great cup doesn't need a lot of decoration and artifice.

i hate iced coffee but if i was gonna order a coffee i just order the lightest roast they make as it has more caffeine and i have to put less in it to make it drinkable.

You should try making cold brew at home. It's really easy, and it produces a very smooth, very low-acid, non-bitter coffee. It's basically turns out as a coffee concentrate that you add water to. If you don't like iced coffee, just heat it up on the stove. You can make a big jug of cold brew concentrate in advance and just keep it in the fridge all week—very easy! You won't need to add sugar, either.

You can do it with just a jar and a fine strainer or some cheesecloth:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/08/cold-brewed-iced-coffee/

If you like it, a Toddy system is inexpensive and makes life easier:
https://toddycafe.com/toddy-cold-brew-system

weird about green coffee flavoring as the drink almost doesnt have much taste to it all. just a slight sugary berry taste. berry flavoring in fruit juice is much much stronger and contains a lot of sugar. what does green coffee bean extract taste like cause the stuff i drink just tastes like light berry flavoring?

I have no idea. I don't drink stuff with added flavorings or anything with added sugar (or artificial sweeteners). I greatly prefer simple, whole foods.
 
Just noticed this thread now. I use a Keurig. Blasphemy, I know!
 
very few people i know here actually enjoy coffee for taste. they say they do but then find out lighter roasts have more caffeine try them and then switch to it. starbucks is for sure not the place people go to buy just well roasted coffee as we sell very very little of it. coffee for taste is a weird thing to defend for me as i sell almost no decafe to anyone at any point of the day. i imagine if people liked coffee for taste theyd want it at random times some of them later in the day but no one ever orders it despite it being like the darkest thing you can order.
 
While there are people who claim to like black coffee, like my Aunt, who finds the mere idea of coffee with cream repugnant, she ONLY has it in the morning...so clearly there is a start me up / pick me up element that even she would not deny. Even a "dash" of soy is lightening up the Mofo. And in defense of Starbucks it DOES NOT SUCK. Their house blend is mediocre. Try this: don't make coffee at home for a week. Get McDonald's coffee, get WaWa's, get Dunkin Do, get that shit (sorry cp) they sell in NYC in those blue & white cups. Then, go to a f-ing Starbucks - it is going to best ALL of these places. Once I started to think of Starbucks as what it is, a mega-chain store...it was the death of all romance, and a realization that this is just 1 cut above mediocre, a 6/10, which is exactly as they want it to be just "good enough" so you will keep coming back, not go to the aforementioned stores (if Starbucks does not have a monopoly in your town), and stop by on your way to work to fork out $2.00 for a tall drip because that work coffee sure as shit sucks. Starbucks should never be compared to highest quality coffee. Little did I know that my Brazil Press for $30 was cranking out better joe, than when I was stuck on an island where Starbucks was, taste wise, freshness wise, the least of all evils (i.e. the best, meaning just good enough).
 
And in defense of Starbucks it DOES NOT SUCK. Their house blend is mediocre. Try this: don't make coffee at home for a week. Get McDonald's coffee, get WaWa's, get Dunkin Do, get that shit (sorry cp) they sell in NYC in those blue & white cups. Then, go to a f-ing Starbucks - it is going to best ALL of these places. Once I started to think of Starbucks as what it is, a mega-chain store...it was the death of all romance, and a realization that this is just 1 cut above mediocre, a 6/10, which is exactly as they want it to be just "good enough" so you will keep coming back, not go to the aforementioned stores (if Starbucks does not have a monopoly in your town), and stop by on your way to work to fork out $2.00 for a tall drip because that work coffee sure as shit sucks.

I definitely do not doubt that Starbucks has better coffee than McDonald's, etc., though I really can't compare because none of those other places have dairy-free milk options so I would never bother buying a cup there in the first place. I was talking more about all of that other stuff—the flavored lattes with whipped cream and so on. In NYC, Starbucks seems to primarily thrive on tourist and student dollars, coupled with the fact that they essentially provide the only network of public bathrooms in the city.

When I buy coffee out (I'm using present tense here even though I've been abstaining for two months!), I'm lucky to have a TON of options. Starbucks never even enters into the equation when you have family-run, independent coffee shops on every other block! I'd much rather support those guys. I know not everyone lives in a place where they have a bazillion great coffee shops to choose from, but since I do, that's where I put my dollars when I'm not brewing my own.
 
Agree with everything except that most people have crappy coffee makers from Walmart (in America anyway) in their homes and the coffee at Starbucks is way better than what these things spit out.

While there are people who claim to like black coffee, like my Aunt, who finds the mere idea of coffee with cream repugnant, she ONLY has it in the morning...so clearly there is a start me up / pick me up element that even she would not deny. Even a "dash" of soy is lightening up the Mofo. And in defense of Starbucks it DOES NOT SUCK. Their house blend is mediocre. Try this: don't make coffee at home for a week. Get McDonald's coffee, get WaWa's, get Dunkin Do, get that shit (sorry cp) they sell in NYC in those blue & white cups. Then, go to a f-ing Starbucks - it is going to best ALL of these places. Once I started to think of Starbucks as what it is, a mega-chain store...it was the death of all romance, and a realization that this is just 1 cut above mediocre, a 6/10, which is exactly as they want it to be just "good enough" so you will keep coming back, not go to the aforementioned stores (if Starbucks does not have a monopoly in your town), and stop by on your way to work to fork out $2.00 for a tall drip because that work coffee sure as shit sucks. Starbucks should never be compared to highest quality coffee. Little did I know that my Brazil Press for $30 was cranking out better joe, than when I was stuck on an island where Starbucks was, taste wise, freshness wise, the least of all evils (i.e. the best, meaning just good enough).
 
George Clooney has this sussed, Nespresso...

I'm really a "regular old cup of coffee" type of gal, but I was able to get a Nespresso machine for free a couple of years ago, so I have one of those, too. My husband likes it because he's into drinking shots of espresso, but we're both too lazy to deal with a real espresso machine. I am definitely impressed by the quality of the coffee it produces! Every now and then I'll brew a long shot and add hot water if I need a little hit. I'd probably use it more if Clooney was in my kitchen.
 
I'm really a "regular old cup of coffee" type of gal, but I was able to get a Nespresso machine for free a couple of years ago, so I have one of those, too. My husband likes it because he's into drinking shots of espresso, but we're both too lazy to deal with a real espresso machine. I am definitely impressed by the quality of the coffee it produces! Every now and then I'll brew a long shot and add hot water if I need a little hit. I'd probably use it more if Clooney was in my kitchen.

I use Ristretto capsules (the black one) an espresso pour, as lungo makes it bitter, then top with hot water. No other way to do it easily in your own kitchen, only expensive espresso machines produce the 16 lb s of water pressure to do a proper job. Nespresso the only way.
 
it is starbucks goal to hit the middle really. the balance of quality vs cost vs speed is what brings people into the store. theres a coffe shop right across the street from the starbucks i work at and they make a way better tasting cup of coffee than starbucks but theyre gonna go out of business because they cant get the cup to the hand quick enough and keep the quality to make enough money per hour to afford there costs. starbucks doesnt even measure the success of the day in gross earnings, it does it by customer count per half hour. on a good day i can see 60 plus transactions per half hour at peak and the other store cant even come close. i also serve mostly lawyers and other professionals, theres a law school across the street as well i.e older people looking for a good tasting cup of coffee vs kids wanting frapps (sorry frappe's), so quality is a concern but so is there time and quality of service. they come to us and form a line out the door every day and dont go the ten feet across the street to the fancier shop or go haflway down the block to the dunkin either. they come to us.

that said i dont like coffee or drink it unless i have to which is why i like starbucks cause i have many other non coffee tasting ways to caffeinate thats still contain the same level of caffeine as coffee. i do own a bunch of coffee making stuff at home though (coffee maker, french press, espresso machine) cause i do like the fussyness of making it and serving it to guests. its fun
 
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