We have a love-hate relationship with our thermal carafe. When we bought it, it was something we thought we'd use just for big parties or other occasions when we needed to keep a pot of coffee warm. We've ended up using it every day; it's a rather indispensable part of our morning coffee routine. But this particular carafe drives us crazy.
Looking For: Reliable and Classy Thermal Carafe
We bought it from Crate & Barrel about a year ago, and while it's very handsome, it simply doesn't work well. When the lid is on and you try to pour out some liquid, depressing the thumb-switch only lets out the merest trickle. Your thumb (and arm!) get sore very fast, just trying to fill up a teacup. So we just leave the lid off, which of course defeats the purpose by letting the coffee get cold much faster.
But we do think that a thermal carafe is a great thing to have. We make our coffee via French press, and it's not good for coffee to sit in a French press on top of the grounds. So we put it in this carafe to keep it fresh and hot throughout the morning. It's great for taking hot drinks along to other people's dinner parties, too; the other night we made a big batch of homemade chai to share and toted it with us in this carafe.
So, we love our thermal carafe, but it's also a royal pain and not well-designed at all. We probably won't buy a new one just now; it seems a little wasteful to go buy a better one just because this one is inconvenient. But we have been having a lot of dinner parties and may need a supplemental carafe at some point, so we are curious: Do you use a thermal carafe? Have you found one that you really love? Do you have any tips or suggestions for us?
Related: Good Question: Perfect French Press Coffee?
(Image: Faith Durand)
Comments (12)
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The most used present we ever got is a thermos that we use every day to put coffee in a drink throughout the morning. The bottom got melted on the stove burner and it slants but we still use it.
view Kate (NC)'s profile
Leifheit is a longstanding German brand that I'm starting to see more of in the States.
My office has some discontinued carafes of theirs that pour easily, stay hot, and are easy to clean. Depending on what you're looking for, they have some that are bright, robust, and playful or others that are more streamlined.
view akay's profile
I believe you should never keep a poorly designed object, even if you really don't want to be wasteful. (I sound like that Dyson guy...) I bet Goodwill would love to have it.
Frankly, we use the stainless steel carafe from our (old, broken) Melitta coffeemaker - I loved that thing, but the heating element was shot. It's not worthy of MOMA design status, but it's attractive & it works great - keeps stuff hot for about 10 hours. Maybe you can just go online and find a "replacement" carafe from a coffeemaker you like if you're not able to find a standalone carafe that works well.
view keltrue's profile
We have this carafe that we got for our wedding.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=15062681
It looks really great, and we've only used it a few times so far, but it really keeps the coffee warm, and it's not hard to clean. Ours at least seemed to look slightly different in shape from the picture...a bit larger on the bottom. Very sleek...but, I'd buy pretty much anything if it came in brushed stainless. :)
view nikki moore - photography and vintage treasures's profile
IKEA has a cute Scandanavian stylin one -- anyone know how functional it is?
I fear it's pretty, but too cheap to work well...
view guido's profile
I love my Alfi Juwel carafe http://www.alficarafes.com. I cringed at the idea of owning an expensive carafe before someone bought us one as a wedding present. After using it every day for the past 7 years, I can attest that it is worth every penny. Not only is it well made and stylish (Alfi has some pretty exquisite designs) but all the parts are replaceable. I have yet to find a carafe that is half as nice.
view cmolway's profile
I was going to suggest mine ... but I have that same C&B one ;o)
We don't seem to have that problem, though - ours pours really well.
view stlellen's profile
Purchased one for my husband who wanted one badly. He now uses it to water our plants. Sorry no suggestions!
view shantell's profile
i have one from pampered chef that i like. i usually think their stuff is overrated but i have enjoyed this particular item. i love the idea of using it to take hot drinks along with you.
view leonsartymom's profile
I normally think these things look extremely tacky, but this stainless steel classic from Stelton would make it past the threshold of our front door :)
http://stelton.com/ProductView.aspx?id=96
view katti's profile
I use an insulated cafetiere (French press). I hear what you're saying about it being bad for coffee to leave it on top of a French press, but pouring it into something else sounds too much like hard work to me, and the coffee isn't going to last all that long anyway.
Mine is from Bodum, and does the job:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bodum-Columbia-0-35l-Coffee-Press/dp/B0000A8VUS/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1259067096&sr=1-12
view sarahdesade's profile
Oops - that's the one-cup 0.35l cafetiere. The 1litre model is exactly the same.
view sarahdesade's profile