Coffee makers have been around, not surprisingly, almost as long as coffee. The original coffee brewer was the Turkish Ibrik, a copper container with a long handle and a grooved tongue. Still used in the Middle East, it produces a very strong brew since it does no filtering.

For those more interested in drinking a beverage than eating coffee grounds, a wide variety of types are available from the plain to the esoteric. Here are a few things to look for…

The largest percentage of coffee makers these days is, of course, the inexpensive drip model. Pour water in the top, it’s heated by an electric coil, the water passes through coffee grounds and into a glass pot sitting on a heating plate.

But beyond these basics, there are a few features it’s handy to have.

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Coffee beans, like any food product, oxidize when exposed to air. The grounds, since they have a much larger relative surface area than the bean, and no covering, suffer this effect even more. Grinding beans at home produces the least exposure to air and the freshest grounds. And you can grind only what you immediately need.

But nothing is without its price. Grinding is time consuming and messy, so if you choose to invest the effort to reap the reward, pick the best you can afford.

Grinders fall into three broad categories - burr, blade and crusher.

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