The History of Coffee Makers

Thousands of years ago, families roasted fresh coffee beans over a fire like popcorn. By the 1770s, the coffee making process was a bit closer to what we are familiar with today – particularly in America, where fresh, ground-up beans were placed in a sock or linen sack; water was then poured over the top, creating a basic version of the infusion method. The first French press appeared in 1806, and the method is still preferred by some coffee drinkers today. In 1889, the first percolator hit the market. In 1908, a German entrepreneur named Melitta Bentz created the first coffee filter by punching holes in the bottom of a tin cup and lining it with her son’s blotter paper. The vacuum coffeemaker was introduced in the 1930s, and in 1938, the Sunbeam Coffeemaster hit store shelves. In the 1970s, Mr. Coffee was introduced; it was the first in-home automatic-drip brewer. This style of at-home coffee maker ruled for decades in America. Then in 2003, Keurig introduced its single-cup brewer for the home; it was quickly embraced and has remained extremely popular ever since its debut.