Best Commercial Autodrip Machine?

[seldomseensmith]

Hey guys, in your opinion, what commercial autodrip machine on the market makes the best cup of coffee?

[headchange4u]

Technivorm gets my vote.

[mp]

Fetco, Bunn, Curtis ... you can't go far wrong with the big names. Even better if you can get them at a great price.

 

[seldomseensmith]

Commercial, as in coffee shop type or home.

For shops, I hear Fetco Extractor a lot, but no experience.

Yeah, I'm talking for a shop.

[headchange4u]

Commercial, as in coffee shop type or home.

For shops, I hear Fetco Extractor a lot, but no experience.

Yeah, I'm talking for a shop.

For a shop I would look at a Bunn system, probably one of their air pot systems.

[PozzSka]

One of my customers (a diner) uses a Bunn airpot system, and the coffee is good...not as good as one cup at a time, but good, nonetheless.

[Warrior372]

Is anything really going to produce a cup that is the same caliber as a single pourover?

I recently read Buzz-Killer Espressos blog and they made a great point in regard to this topic. They said obviously people who love great coffee will appreciate pourover much more because of process, appeal, and final taste. As I am sure you quickly find out after opening a shop, a large number of people are in your shop because of convenience / location and could care less about pourover / taste as much as they care about very quickly getting a cup of coffee so they can be on their way. For those people a compromise in the taste department is often more than made up for in the convenience department. The biggest thing with pot brewers is keeping them the parts that touch the coffee as it is being brewed very clean so you do not get the old coffee /stale taste. Are you going to offer pourover in addition to the auto brewer?

I know nothing about commercial brewers outside of the fact that Bunn, Curtis and Fetco make them. I bet if we all peruse our favorite shops websites we can quickly figure out which brands they use.

Edit: So much for that idea . . . I struggled to pick out any brewers / brands in any photos I found of shop interiors. I do know Buzz uses this Fetco though: http://fetco.com/pl,product,24.html

[John F]

From what little I know I'd go with Fetco.

But as a customer every time I have an option of per cup brewing I will choose it over the auto drip. If they have single cup pourover, Clover, trifecta, or anything.

I had a killer personal French Press at a little shop one time....

[John F]

Yeah..if we are taking about rush jobs and lesschances to screw things up maybe auto is less bomb proof.

But yikes man, quality counts.

[mp]

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/bfs/2899411612.html

http://spokane.craigslist.org/bfs/2873716632.html

http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/bfs/2827677537.html

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/app/2905600583.html

http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/app/2899391253.html

http://southjersey.craigslist.org/app/2898731827.html

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/bfs/2856060278.html

http://westernmass.craigslist.org/app/2898989080.html

http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bfs/2897821074.html

How about something like this?

 

[milowebailey]

I know a few guys who use these Bunns commercially with good results.  They seem to have a lot more brewing flexibility than other brewers too.

Remember drip coffee drinkers are not that picky to begin with or they'd order something else.  They just want a fast, good cup of coffee.

[EricBNC]

Have you heard of the Curtis single cup brewer? 

I know that Handsome Coffee Roasters has one in addition to their Fetco extractors to brew by the cup when demand is low, supposedly not as fussy and more repeatable than a pour-over bar.

I have an old Curtis Alpha at home - it's big but looks to be easily as good as a Bunn or Fetco (older photo from a CG post):

[1981er]

It seems to me that Tom from SM's comment (on their site) about drip coffee tasting better and better the more you brew is very true.  Unless having the perfect pour/ grind, etc, I've found rather than using something like 20g/ 12oz  I get better taste/ complexity from a v60 by:

1.  Using 50g dose, 60oz water
2.  Completing 3 full pours through the v60
3.  Pour off from server by the cup (12oz)

[BoldJava]

Buttwhiskers used to sing praises about the Fetco line.  After the two Colombians I have had this week on Fetcos (this morning in Caribou/Chicago's Union Rail Station), I am agreeing with him.  This morning's rig was a 3 gallon Fetco.  They were hustling.

B|Java

[seldomseensmith]

FYI, this isn't for my shop; we only do pourover, french press, cold brew and espresso. I'm just asking for accounts that want my coffee, but have really cheap/bad brewers.