Plastic free coffee maker?

by laura
(san jose, ca.)

Presto 02811 12-Cup Stainless Steel Coffee Maker

QUESTION:

Does a 12 cup drip coffee maker exist that's not all plastic?(on the inside) I'm concerned lately about the heated water making contact with plastic. Making my cup of joe not so good for me.

ANSWER:

As far as I know, there are no 12-cup coffee makers which are free of plastic parts. This is a pity, but plastic seems to be present in most appliances these days.

There are coffee makers which are plastic-free, and some which include plastics, but of a non-toxic kind.

One popular alternative among our readers is an electric percolator, the Presto 02811 12-Cup Stainless Steel Coffee Maker. It's all stainless steel, with no plastic. (Pictured above.)

Comments for Plastic free coffee maker?

Click here to add your own comments

Toxicity in coffee makers
by: Anonymous

Many have suggested a stainless steel percolated. BEWARE...
Many are coated with Aluminum on the inside. You sure don't want that!

Aluminum in the Presto perculator
by: Anonymous

After speaking with Presto customer service, all parts are stainless including the basket and interior and heating element with the exception of a small (approximately 2" x 1") well in the bottom of the pot which is made out of aluminum because, as she explained, "It heats water better".

Avantco Coffee Maker
by: Anonymous

The Avantco C10 Coffee Maker appears to be all stainless steel!

Coffee water
by: Alen

I love coffee. I have diabetes so I drink only decaf now. I have perks, coffee presses, keurigs, and drip machines. I must say that the best coffee is still made using the perk method. Because of relative ease, I usually just boil water in my water heater, pour into the press with the grains or directly into my cup and add the instant crystals. I am beginning to become worried, however, because of all the bad hype about boiling water with plastic containers. You see my water heater is a white plastic unit (name brand omitted). Am I placing myself in danger continuing to use this method?

BraZen Is Junk
by: Anonymous

I purchased a Behmor BraZen Brew System from one of their Authorized Dealers, Roastmasters.com on October 25, 2012. The BraZen arrived a few days later and upon taking it out of the box I was really impressed with the solid feel and beauty of the machine which had almost every feature I was looking for on a new coffee maker.
Set-up was smooth and the next morning – oh my - what a great pot of coffee. Only complaint would have been it takes too long to brew. Same experience on day 2.
But then on Saturday I turned on the coffee maker to only find in about 10 minutes it made about 1 of the 8 cups of water into coffee. Figured I did something wrong so did it all over again and this time it made about ¼ of a cup of coffee out of 8 cups of water with the balance remaining in the reservoir. Re configured the unit and tried one more time with the same results.
On Monday I contacted Roastmasters.com and was told they were sorry but too bad contact Behmor they don’t honor warranties or anything else after the sale. Not happy I called Behmor who told me they don’t respond to product problems by telephone I would have to email my problems to them. Now I am really mad at this time but emailed them the information. It took almost 2 days to hear back from them with another oh we are sorry. After about 10 days of emailing (it seems to take 24-36 hours for Behmor to respond every time) Joe agreed to replace the coffee maker as it obviously had a failed internal valve. Ok so after about 3 weeks of watching a $199 coffee maker sit on the cabinet while I drank pour through coffee I got a new BraZen. Now I am pretty happy even though the process to get here was totally ridiculous.
After 3 uses the replacement coffee maker fails in the exact same manner as the first one – now I am disgusted to say the least. I immediately sent Joe an email describing what happened. Again it was about 36 hours before I heard back from Joe but oh no it was not Joe it was Lara using Joe’s email I guess. Lara says she is so sorry I have a problem, she will tell Joe and see what he says. That Did It, Now I Am Furious! That email was last night but I have not heard from Joe to see what he says.
Roastmasters.com and Behmor are the worst non-ebay product and purchase experiences I have ever had on line in my life. I hope you will assist me in helping others to avoid the $199 mistake I made while meanwhile after 6 weeks I have had 5 pots of coffee from a $199 coffee maker and a million headaches trying to deal with these two companies.

Same bad experience and a stainless-lined alternative
by: RES

Hey, all - I had the same bad experience with a new Cuisinart coffee maker. I tried the lemon juice and water technique after reading about it on this site, but the inside still had that awful plastic smell that was ruining my coffee.

I've been able to find a coffee maker that has a stainless steel water reservoir, and I just ordered it -- Google the BRAZEN coffee brewer ($199), sold online at a few stores. Of course, I haven't tried it, but at least I know the coffee will not have that terrible "plastic" taste, and the brewer gets good reviews overall.

When the Brazen arrives, I am going to try taking the Cuisinart back to Williams-Sonoma, where I got it. I've had it for a little more than a month, so I'm not sure they'll give me a refund or even let me make an exchange. (Unfortunately, they don't sell the Brazen, but I could get a nice grinder . . .)

Anyway, thanks to you all for helping me realize I wasn't losing my mind when I suddenly started hating my coffee! I could not figure out what was wrong, but once you guided me to the plastic lining, I realized you were spot on. Thank you for the diagnosis!

Plastic Free Coffee
by: Alexis Acosta

The only way to get non plastic coffee maker is to buy a commercial,or brew your coffee the cheap poor man's way.Use the brown natural paper coffee filters,and buy a steel mesh sifter.Add your ground then gently pour steaming water on top to brew.

poison plastic from China
by: Anonymous

I wonder how many millions of people are being poisoned by the toxic plastic coffeemakers and other objects which I think all are manufactured in China. I wish there were a class action suit; I'd certainly join.

toxic free coffee
by: siplu

Have you considered using glass straws? They're super classy and toxin free. I've seen a few brands out there. my favorite is simply straws, i love the travel case each straw comes with http://bit.ly/simplystraws

Bunn coffee maker warming plates
by: Anonymous

I wonder if the warming plates on coffee makers from Bunn, like the Velocity Brew GRW, that say they have "porcelain-coated warming plates" are free from any teflon or other non-stick type coatings on the warming plate (which is something else not good to be used on your coffee maker)? Link below.

http://www.bunnathome.com/products/velocity-brew/velocity-brew-grw

Stinky, Poison Plastic Pots
by: Tony

Couldn't wait to try out my new Hamilton Beach"scoop" one cup coffee brewer. The coffee was horrible. No matter what I did I could not remove the smell and foul taste from the coffee. E mailed hamilton beach and ,of course, got a "how to" instruction, did no good. Sent another email, hoping they would replace the unit, no reply. Boxed up the unit and returned it. My advise is to keep away from brewers that use plastice to heat the water, don't take a chance on being poisioned. Does anyone know of a good stainless steel or glass pot using the same idea as these plastic poison pots? Someone please make a good brewer.

Perculator
by: Noplastic man

Use a percolator. They still sell them at sears.

Trevor
by: Coffee drinker

Trevor, the problem with the Bunn coffee makers is that the baskets are all plastic inside, even the ones that have the stainless steel trim on the inside.

Editor's Note: You can find more information here on plastic-free coffee makers.

You can avoid plastic
by: Trevor JS

Bunn makes a range of residential coffee makers that boil the water in a stainless steel container, rather than plastic. See: http://www.bunncoffeemakers.com/

plastic free coffee maker
by: Anonymous

faberware makes a all stainless inside coffee perculator----it looks like a pitcher with plastic on the bottom of the outside--but the insides are 100% metal. It takes 8 minutes to make from cold water. I plug mine into a digital timer (from lowes--17$) and use it like a automatic coffee maker. It only holds 8 cups but I use the timer to have enough for my thurmas when I wake up, and I manually make a second pot (8 minutes) while I make my breakfast---enough for all my needs. I paid around 60$ for the coffee perculator 1/6/2011.

I found an insulated carafe
by: Coffee drinker

I found an insulated carafe on Amazon, the 44 oz. Emsa Eleganza Insulated Carafe. It's stainless steel inside and out and the underside of the top is fiberglass with a silicone seal. It should be here tomorrow.

I found one
by: Coffee drinker

I finally ended up with the Chemex 10 cup coffee maker. No plastic and I heat the water in a stainless steel kettle. Makes the best coffee ever and is so simple. It's a little more trouble to use, but so worth it.

Now I'm looking for a thermal carafe to store the coffee in after making it.

Editor's Note: You can find a range of Chemex coffee makers at Amazon.com.

Also looking for plastic-free
by: Coffee drinker

The plastic concerns me as well. I just ordered a Presto stainless steel inside and out percolator. I haven't used a percolator in years, but this seems to be the only way to get past the plastic.

I'm now looking for a thermal carafe to pour the coffee in once it's brewed. I don't like the idea of the coffee being on constant heat because they tasted "burned" after a while. Anyone know of a plastic-free thermal carafe that holds about 8 to 10 cups?

Interesting
by: Diana

This is a fascinating idea & one that never occurred to me. Duh, just because a plastic "brewer" is on the market or about the only type available does NOT mean if is safe. We have a stainless steel carafe & put coffee grounds in a mesh "basket" with a filter & place it on the carafe. Boiling water from a stainless steel tea kettle is then poured over it & we have lovely coffee. This method does take a bit more planning as it is not quite as fast as a drip brewer but the coffee tastes great. One thing to note - the mesh basket does have plastic around bottom & top edges as well as plastic support strips. However, the coffee goes through quickly so there shouldn't be a negative affect.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Questions about Coffee.