Are you also fed-up with the daily morning routines because you cannot miss your coffee but also have to get ready on time? No worries, let’s make your mornings much easier. All you need is get an auto drip coffee maker on your kitchen counter, you may not be able to get a perfect brew but a whole lot better.

An auto-drip coffee maker is a very easy-to-use appliance, you can easily set it and forget it. But remember you cannot control the temperature or the water ratio. Don't worry, you can keep it as basic as possible and start with the right process. Let's see how?

Start the process right. That includes:

1. Use whole beans, a good grind, filtered water, and right temperature

It is not possible to control each and every variable while making a good cup of coffee with an auto-drip, thus, it becomes important to start with a right process. For this, you need some freshly roasted beans, get a good grind, fresh water and right temperature.

2. Pick and store your beans

It is really necessary to have fresh beans while making coffee because drip coffee maker already handicaps the flavor. It would be better if you have a local coffee roaster near you, it is worth getting coffee from there as they provide you with fresh coffee almost every time. Make sure that you always have whole beans as the coffee goes bad very quickly and the process goes even faster when you have pre-ground coffee. If you always go with the grocery store brand, check the roasting date before you buy so that you can get something fresh.

3. Get the grind right to speed up the brewing time

When you pour down hot water through the coffee grounds, at that time your coffee will extract maximum flavor and aroma. If the process is done very fast, the coffee will be weak and if the process is done very slowly, the coffee will be bitter. The speed will be decided by how fine you have ground your coffee.

With most of the auto-drip coffee makers, you’ll need fine or medium grind depends on what type of filter your coffee maker has.

For flat bottom filters, you should have medium grind (close to the texture of sand).

For cone-shaped filters, you should have medium/fine grind (a little finer than granulated sugar).

For gold/plastic permanent filters, you should have medium grind.

Most of the coffee makers are programmable but you need to grind your coffee the night before and do the settings so that you wake up with your morning coffee ready.

4. Use filtered water with the right ratio

If you want to have a good cup of coffee, make sure the quality of water should also be good. And for this filtered water is the best. Also, you need to get the right coffee to water ratio. Generally, you'll require 1 to 2 tablespoons of ground coffee per 6 ounces of water. You may try some other ratios and once you get the right one, stick with it.

5. Perform a trial run to get your coffee maker’s temperature up

If you have a junky drip-coffee maker then for sure you are not brewing a cup of coffee at the right temperature you should be. It is recommended that the coffee should be brewed between 195-205° F. Most of the cheaper models are unable to get up to this temperature quickly enough and thus end up brewing a bitter cup of coffee.

Sometimes, the drip coffee makers keep on raising the temperature even after it reaches the ideal temperature that may burn your coffee. To get rid of such problem, get a thermometer and do some tests.