Can You Brew Great Coffee in a Bad Coffee Maker? (Spoiler: Yes, You Can.)
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Let’s be honest—most of us have a cheap drip coffee maker sitting in a cabinet somewhere. Maybe it’s a hand-me-down from college, a $29 impulse buy from Amazon, or the standard-issue model you find at Airbnbs and grandma’s house. They’re simple, convenient, and often written off as incapable of making anything close to great coffee.
But what if the problem isn’t the machine—what if it’s how we use it?
At Battlecreek Coffee Roasters, we believe good coffee should be accessible—whether you’re using a $400 setup or a $20 countertop classic. So we put one of these "bad" machines to the test. Here's what we learned—and how you can get a surprisingly great cup of coffee with just a few smart tweaks.
The Big Three: Clean, Measure, Water
The core of good coffee, no matter your method, comes down to three things:
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Measuring your coffee and water accurately
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Using clean, filtered water
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Keeping your equipment clean
Seems simple, right? Yet these basics are often overlooked with standard drip machines—and that's why they get such a bad rap.
We opened up our old machine and found it coated in coffee dust and grime. A quick clean with Cafiza (a cleaning agent used in cafes for espresso machines and stainless steel mugs) brought it back to life. A tiny pinch in the water reservoir, run through a few cycles, and suddenly our “bad” coffee maker wasn’t looking so bad.
The Ratios That Matter
Next, we dialed in our brew ratios. Most machines are calibrated to the misleading "6 oz cup" standard, so if you fill to the 6-cup line, you're only getting 36 ounces—not six 8 oz mugs.
To simplify:
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Start with a 1:15 ratio (1 gram of coffee for every 17 grams of water)
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For 3 10 oz cups: 56g of coffee to 840g of water
We started with a 1:17 ratio and found it a bit weak for this particular brew method, so we also tested a stronger 1:15 ratio—45g of coffee to 675g of water—and got far better results. It produced a richer, fuller-bodied cup that still had clarity. Scale that up to whatever end amount you want to yield, knowing a regular cup of coffee is about 306 grams.
Treat It Like a Pour Over (Yes, Seriously)
One of the best takeaways? If you treat your coffee maker like a pour over setup—respecting each step—you can get surprisingly close results.
Here’s what we did differently:
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Pre-wet the filter to remove paper taste
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Let the coffee bloom by manually starting and stopping the machine
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Use a finer grind to encourage better extraction
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Agitate the grounds slightly to encourage even saturation
Even without a bloom feature, you can mimic it. Once the water starts dripping, turn the machine off briefly (yes, even unplug it if you have to), wait 30–45 seconds, then resume the brew. It’s a manual workaround—but it works.
Don’t Blame the Machine (Blame the Process)
Here’s the thing: you can ruin a pour over just as easily as you can mess up a drip brew. We've tasted lackluster lattes from machines that cost thousands. So maybe the machine isn’t the issue—it’s us.
But that’s good news. It means you don’t need new gear to enjoy great coffee. You just need intention.
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Use fresh, high-quality beans (like our forgiving and flavorful Tops Blend)
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Grind to match your method
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Measure accurately
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Clean regularly
The same way you’d treat a premium brewer—do that here.
When Convenience Wins
There’s no shame in wanting your coffee ready when you wake up at 4:30 AM. Auto-timers exist for a reason. And with a little prep (pre-grinding your coffee, setting the ratio), you can wake up to a solid, satisfying cup that beats anything you’ll find in a convenience store or gas station.
Sure, your weekend brew might still be a slow-pour ritual with lo-fi in the background. But your weekday grind? Let’s make it count too.
Final Verdict
Did our $29 drip coffee maker match our $4,000 batch brewer or fancy pour over? Not quite. But did it make a good cup of coffee when treated right? Absolutely.
If you clean it, weigh your ingredients, use good beans, and understand the quirks of your machine—you can get a $4 cup of flavor from a $30 coffee pot.
Coffee is about joy, not judgment. Whether you're brewing with a hand-built copper kettle or a plastic Black & Decker, what matters is how you approach it.
So dust off that old coffee maker. Respect it. And brew like you mean it.
Want to try it yourself?
Start with our Tops Blend or any of our thoughtfully roasted coffees—and show your coffee maker what it's capable of.