How to Use a Drip Coffee Maker | Complete Guide

Learning how to use a drip coffee maker might seem like a no-brainer. Just throw the coffee in and turn it on right? Not quite. A little knowledge and a bit of effort can help you take your drip coffee from fine to fantastic. We’ll walk you through how the machines work and go over all the super simple tweaks you can make to your brewing process that can help make your drip coffee shine.

What is a drip coffee maker?

Before we discuss how to use a drip coffee maker, let's discuss what it is and how it works. Basically, it’s an automatic way to brew coffee that doesn’t require a flame or stovetop. It involves hot water dripping over ground coffee in a filter basket into a carafe. Drip coffee makers are designed for brewing a pot at a time rather than a single cup and are by far the most common coffee machines in America.

While many options are available with plenty of bells and whistles, they all operate in the same way and have the same basic parts. 

1. Reservoir – This is the compartment where you pour in cold water before brewing. The machine heats this water during the brewing process.

2. Shower head – A part inside the machine that evenly sprays hot water over the coffee grounds to ensure proper saturation and extraction.

3. Basket – Holds the coffee filter and the ground coffee. Hot water flows through this basket to brew the coffee.

4. Carafe – The glass or thermal pot that collects the brewed coffee as it drips through. It usually sits on a warming plate that keeps the coffee hot until you’re ready to pour.

How does a drip coffee maker work?

Once you’ve filled the reservoir with cold water and added ground coffee to the basket, the machine takes care of the rest. When you turn it on, the water in the reservoir is heated. It then travels through a small tube to the shower head, which sprays the hot water evenly over the coffee grounds in the basket.

Brewed coffee drips into the carafe below as the grounds become fully saturated. The carafe typically sits on a warming plate, which keeps your coffee hot until you’re ready to drink it.

Most drip coffee makers include helpful features like a water level window (so you can see how much water you’ve added) and an auto-brew timer, which lets you schedule your coffee to start brewing on its own.

How do you make drip coffee taste better?

If making drip coffee is so easy, why does it have a reputation for being so blah? That’s because there are lots of little ways to boost the quality of your cup that the average person doesn’t do. Most of them won’t even take you any extra time! Keep the convenience, but treat yourself to a better-tasting java.

Drip coffee makers typically use one of two types of filters: paper or reusable metal. Each has its own impact on flavor and cleanup.

• Paper filters trap more of the coffee's natural oils, resulting in a cleaner, lighter taste. If you choose paper, rinse the filter with hot water before brewing. This helps remove any papery residue that could affect the flavor.

• Metal filters let more oils pass through, giving your coffee a bolder, richer body. They’re reusable, which is great for sustainability, but they do require more effort to clean.

After brewing with a metal filter, toss the used grounds in the trash or compost. Rinse the filter under warm water and scrub gently with dish soap. To keep it in top shape, give it a deeper clean about once a week using either a vinegar soak or a baking soda paste to break down oils and lingering aromas.

Choose fresh coffee beans

Fresh coffee beans are best! But that doesn’t mean simply buying and using them quickly at the store. To really get the freshness you can taste, look for local roasters in your neighborhood, especially those that roast onsite. That means there’s no lengthy shipping period between the beans being roasted and hitting the shelves, and many roasters will list the roast date right there on the bag for you.

This also means you should look for whole beans, not pre-ground. Grinding fresh daily helps retain even more flavor, making your coffee taste even better. You should also mainly look for light and medium roasts. Dark roasts often taste too bitter when you use the automatic drip method, so keep that in mind when experimenting with new beans, origins, and roasters.

Grind your coffee to the proper size

First things first, get yourself a good grinder. Push-top blade grinders are common and highly affordable, but they don’t produce the best quality grind. You want to aim for a medium grind, at least to start. But there’s always room to play, even with an automatic machine. Your medium grind should be pretty fine, like sea salt, but it shouldn’t really cling together.

Once you brew, if your cup tastes too bitter, you’ve probably ground the coffee too finely. But if you find the flavor sour or weak, your grind might be too coarse. Make your adjustments from there.

Use filtered water instead of tap

Water is one of the easiest things to overlook when brewing, but it’s also one of the easiest to correct. If you’re simply grabbing unfiltered water from the tap, you’re not doing your coffee any favors. Instead, grab filtered water. There’s no need to go crazy buying bottled water and you definitely don’t want distilled water, which can make the coffee taste flat. Install a filter directly onto your tap or use a filter pitcher in your fridge. After all, coffee is 98% water, so the water's flavor will definitely affect your coffee's flavor.

Step-by-Step: How to Use a Drip Coffee Maker

1. Add filtered water to the reservoir: Check the water level indicator and fill it based on how many cups you make.

2. Insert the filter: Rinse it if using paper; make sure it's seated correctly in the basket.

3. Measure and grind your coffee: Start with 1 to 2 tablespoons of coffee per 6 ounces of water (~15–17:1 ratio). Adjust to taste.

4. Add coffee grounds to the filter basket: Shake to level for even saturation.

5. Turn on the machine and let it brew. Takes 5–10 minutes depending on batch size and machine power.

6. Serve immediately: Coffee left on a hot plate for too long becomes bitter. Pour right away or transfer to a thermal carafe.

Common mistakes and easy fixes when using a drip coffee machine

If your drip coffee isn’t tasting quite right

• Bitter or harsh taste? Try a coarser grind or better water quality.

• Weak or sour flavor? Use more coffee or a finer grind.

• Coffee is lukewarm instead of hot? Preheat your mug or carafe; check if your machine is fully heating.

• Plastic or paper taste? Rinse your filter and run a vinegar rinse through your machine monthly to eliminate old oils and smells.

Additional tips for using a drip coffee maker

Now that you’re familiar with how to use a drip coffee maker overall, there are a few more tips you can employ.

• Use programmable brew timers to wake up to fresh coffee in the morning. Just add the grounds, set it, and forget it.

• Experiment with water-to-coffee ratios for lighter or stronger cups. Figure out what tastes best to you.

• Clean your machine regularly to avoid buildup and preserve flavor.

Brew the perfect cup of coffee with the right tools!

Drip coffee makers are affordable and convenient, but you won't get a quality cup if you don't know how to use them properly. Using our tips means better coffee for less effort. Pesado knows coffee lovers deserve the best.

That’s why they make espresso and coffee tools and accessories out of professional-quality materials. Add this coffee cellar to your setup to keep beans fresh, or pour your morning brew into this beautiful ceramic mug set. 

Shop Pesado’s full collection here.