Brewing Coffee Manually

Better coffee. One cup at a time.

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Ceramic coffee mug beside coffee beans and a pour over notebook on a kitchen counter

5 years later…Hello, I’m Back

May 7, 2026 / / 6 Comments

Hello?

It has been quite a few years since I’ve made a post. I knew you all would still be out there brewing, talking about and drinking good coffee so I went and checked on the situation.

I fired up Instagram, talked to some coffee friends, and read some coffee articles.

Wow…

Things have changed a bit since I last wrote about coffee.

Where Have I Been?

I started Brewing Coffee Manually a few months after my son was born. (He turns 12 in June). My boy was my second child and his arrival coincided with household coffee consumption increasing dramatically. It was also at a time in my life where I felt like writing and creating something. I was already very interested in manual coffee brewing processes and seemed to be discussing it with friends constantly. A coffee blog is where I ended up.

Over the years, I had a lot of fun running the blog. I liked researching, writing and taking pictures of coffee apparatuses. I liked meeting people and talking about coffee. Some really cool people reached out and introduced themselves to me, some even sent me coffee and gear. The coffee scene developed and changed around me and I enjoyed and rode the wave. Then life got a little wild.

My wife and I welcomed two more daughters to our family. We remodeled our house, built an addition and then moved. We then remodeled the new house. Work got busy. Life got busy. I had to set some things to the side and I gave up writing about coffee.

Right around the time I decided to put my coffee adventures on the back burner, my blog started gaining a little traction. I was getting more visitors than ever and I didn’t have the capacity to contribute to it. I also didn’t have the heart to shut it down.

I tried to revive it once or twice when I got a little margin, but the margin did not last long. I also had a few other hobbies and interests sneak in and vie for my attention. Eventually, I left the coffee blog to gather dust on the shelf and moved on to other things.

I haven’t posted or written a thing about coffee in five years.

Still…

Every couple weeks someone will ask me my opinion about something coffee related or want to discuss some coffee topics.

Every November it is time to pay my hosting and website fees.

Every time I reached a decision point for the blog, I can not bring myself to scuttle it all and let it sink into the abyss of things internet past.

This year I had finally resolved to let it die on its November anniversary. A couple weeks ago a changed my mind.

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OXO 8 Cup coffee maker with stainless thermal carafe

Need a New Coffee Maker?- OXO 8 Cup Coffee Maker Review

December 14, 2020 / / 22 Comments

When OXO approached me about sending me their new 8 cup coffee maker for review, I was a little leery. This is a manual brewing blog after all and I have been championing manual brewing methods for the last six years. After some deliberation, I decided a sponsored OXO 8 cup coffee maker review could be fun. The auto drip coffee maker scene has seen some changes since I last visited the subject in 2014. Let’s see what this new wave of automatic brewers is all about. 

2026 Update: Five Years Later, I’m Still Brewing with the OXO 8 Cup Coffee Maker

I originally published this article in 2020. After using this machine pretty consistently, I wanted to revisit my thoughts on the brewer and share some observations from years of use.

It has been more than five years since I first reviewed and the OXO 8 Cup Coffee Maker and I have to admit that it has occupied a spot on my counter for most of that time (see What Gear Earned a Spot on My Coffee Counter for Five Years?).

My overall evaluation of this coffee maker remains mostly unchanged. It has proven durable and reliable through years of consistent use. Surprisingly, I have rarely used the single-cup brewing option. In fact, I’m not even sure where I put the single-brew attachment. I appreciate that single-cup brewing is an option with this machine, and it might persuade some people away from K-cups. If I am making one cup of coffee, I would prefer to make a pour-over instead of setting up the machine for single-cup brewing.

One issue that I have encountered a few times involves the thermal carafe. Because the opening where coffee enters the carafe is relatively small, it can occasionally become blocked by coffee residue, oils or a haphazardly placed coffee ground. A few times, this has resulted in my coffee overflowing onto the counter instead of flowing properly into the carafe.

The solution is pretty simple. The opening needs to be kept clean and clear for the carafe to function properly. My personal workaround has been even simpler. When brewing, I usually remove the carafe lid entirely and switch the brewer to single-cup mode. This disengages the automatic stopper in the filter basket while eliminating any possibility of the carafe opening becoming blocked.

After brewing hundreds of pots of coffee with the Oxo 8 Cup Coffee Maker, I can still recommend it. It remains one of the better automatic coffee makers I’ve used and continues to brew an excellent pot of coffee with the push of a button.

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gifts for coffee lovers

A Guide to Coffee Gifts- How to Buy Gifts for Coffee Lovers

November 24, 2020 / / 5 Comments

Buying gifts for coffee lovers can be a bit overwhelming . The coffee gift space is vast. It runs the spectrum from punn-y cat mugs to the super obscure Bripe, a manual coffee brewing pipe. How do you find the right gift for a coffee enthusiast? Hopefully I can help.

How to Buy Gifts for Coffee Lovers

Finding the best gift for a coffee enthusiast starts with some observation. Not all coffee lovers are the same. Some are really into espresso, some are into pour-overs, some just really love good coffee. There are coffee nerds, coffee snobs and the ‘everyman’ coffee lover. You can start by observing what your gift recipient values.

A great way to make these observations is to turn a conversation towards the coffee sphere. Most coffee lovers will like to talk about their passion, so ask them a few questions. These questions can be simple, direct or more covert.

Where do you go from there? The more you know about the person you are buying a gift for, the easier it will be to pick a gift.

If you don’t know much about your coffee enthusiast, don’t despair. Here are some ideas from a wide range of the spectrum. From coffee subscriptions to coffee artwork, the Brewing Coffee Manually blog has you covered.

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