My experience of coffee is limited; in fact, it extends to ground coffee in a jar and gazing and tutting at people sitting in swanky coffee shops, who seemed to be paying for the privilege to look stylish. I have often wondered if I was missing something. When Melitta contacted me and asked if I wanted to try its new Aromafresh II Filter Coffee Machine, I saw it as the ideal opportunity to see if I was.
I am unsure what the catalyst was, but since I can remember, I have had a mantra inside my head, “tea good, coffee bad”. However, this changed whilst watching a video featuring Dr Tim Spector OBE, a Professor of genetic epidemiology, medical doctor and one of the world’s most renowned experts in gut microbiotas.
During the interview, he said he drinks coffee, which surprised me, as this was from a medical expert who borders on obsessed with what he puts inside his body.
Throughout much of my life, I’ve viewed coffee as little more than a stimulant. My parents kept me away from it until my teenage years, and I’ve always been somewhat worried about its addictive qualities. Also, like many others who sit outside the “coffee bubble”, I viewed it as the nemesis of a good night’s sleep.
I cannot recall any time before last month when I entertained the thought that it might actually be good for me. So when a representative on behalf of Melitta made contact with an invitation to test out their new AromaFresh II filter coffee machine, and armed with a craving to learn more, there was no chance that I would be politely declining, as I so often do.
Although I started this piece stating that my experience with coffee is limited, I do drink it; however, mine is made using the instant variety from a jar, with milk and sugar. For me, coffee fits into an area of my mind, alongside other guilty pleasures, a place I call the “naughty but nice” department.
But, as time has moved on and my knowledge has increased, it is becoming evident that a broadening of horizons is needed. I, therefore, decided it was ‘high time’ I embarked on an exploratory journey that would take me far beyond the instant varieties.
About five years ago, I almost jumped head-first into the world of ‘proper’ coffee when Nespresso surprised me by sending over one of their machines and many boxes containing an endless selection of flavours. I thought long and hard about whether to try it out before eventually deciding it was better off in the hands of the editorial team members.
Nowadays, my feelings towards coffee have shifted 180 degrees. I now know that made the correct way, using good quality, un-messed-about-with ingredients produce a whole host of benefits, extending to much more than hydration, an alluring scent and an energy boost.
Coffee and the Microbiome
According to Professor Spector, coffee is a high-fibre food; surprisingly, there is more fibre in a cup of coffee than in a glass of orange juice. In addition, coffee is hugely beneficial to some of the bacteria in your gut, and perhaps most importantly, Tim Spector considers it a healthy drink for people who can tolerate it.
Having a healthy gut microbiome is vital for every person on the planet. It might surprise some reading this that in addition to caffeine, coffee contains polyphenols, which are rocket fuel for gut microbes. Polyphenols help the bacteria make beneficial chemicals, which help protect the whole body, particularly the heart.
As with most things in life, there will always be downsides and upsides with the vast majority of things we consume. I needed concrete scientific evidence that the benefits of drinking coffee outweighed any potential negatives. With that in mind, I decided to don my research cap.
I found a 2022 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine¹ titled “Association of Sugar-Sweetened, Artificially Sweetened, and Unsweetened Coffee Consumption With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality”, which was ‘A Large Prospective Cohort Study’. One of the first things I did was look at the disclosure information, finding no evidence of funding from any third party associated with the coffee industry.
The study involved 171,616 participants, and the conclusion was music to my ears “Moderate consumption of unsweetened and sugar-sweetened coffee was associated with lower risk for death.” As someone who takes his health seriously, that is all the incentive I needed.
With the benefits of drinking coffee now more apparent, it’s time to take a closer look at the Melitta AromaFresh II filter coffee machine.
Before I provide my experience of the machine, something I always enjoy doing is researching the story behind the brand/company. Although Melitta is a name I’ve associated with coffee for many years, I assumed it was just a fancy, made-up name with no historical substance. I was wrong; upon further investigation, I discovered it is the first name of an actual person, Melitta Bentz, a woman far ahead of her time.
Bentz is acknowledged as the inventor of the coffee filter (in 1908), which gives her a monumental place in the story of coffee, so there’s probably no better pair of hands than Melitta’s to guide me on my polyphenol-filled journey.
About the NEW AromaFresh II by Melitta
The new AromaFresh machine is designed for convenience and is a rather smart-looking piece of equipment. It boasts an attractive geometric shape and has a matt black and textured surface with an easy-to-read and operate LCD screen.
The key features of the Melitta AromaFresh II are it is simple to clean and comes with a ceramic grinder with eleven settings, which can be turned off for use with ready-ground coffee, along with adjustable coffee strength options to suit individual tastes. The AromaFresh II also allows you to pre-set operating times and has a warming function that will keep coffee warm for 20, 40 or 60 minutes.
The AromaFresh II has a 3-in-1 Calc-protection with a programmable water hardness calcification indicator. This is a nice feature as it helps prolong the machine’s life, and it is intelligent enough to let you know when you need to use the automatic descaling function. It also has a removable 1.25L (ten-cup) water tank, which makes filling simple for those who don’t like the sound of a sizzle; its design prevents coffee from dripping onto the warm-keeping plate, making cleaning it more manageable.
Using the New Melitta AromaFresh II
The AromaFresh II is straightforward to use. You add the required amount of water into the removable tank, set the timer, and place the beans into the grinding area (machine top), ensuring you’ve chosen the correct setting.
The grinding settings can be changed via a dial knob, and the cup quantity and brewing strength are selected using the buttons below the LCD panel. Melitta has also opted to go with a standard play/stop graphic on the start button to make life even more straightforward.
If you don’t want to grind beans, you can put ready-ground coffee into the swivel-out basket, which is also where you place the filter paper. My favourite feature of the AromaFresh II has to be the incredible smell it produces, hence its name. As blasphemous as this may be, I am keener on the aroma than the taste of the coffee I am creating at this present time!
Final thoughts
Melitta’s AromaFresh II was straightforward, even for a newbie like me to get to grips with. Finding my perfect taste/strength level is still the subject of trial and error, as my coffee journey also coincides with my giving up sugar, resulting in frequent grimaces and a stuck-out tongue reminiscent of the American rock band KISS.
However, although it is proving somewhat difficult to drink coffee sans sugar, this pales into insignificance when I remind myself that what I am imbibing is almost certainly keeping my gut bacteria in a healthy, celebratory mood.
The machine looks good in the kitchen, and I like that I am not restricted to using solely beans, which opens more doors for bargain coffee hunting. Overall, I found it to be a straightforward and effective introduction to the world of ‘real coffee’, and another bonus is my wife, Natasha, has decided to join my long-overdue journey to coffee nirvana.
The Melitta® AromaFresh II is available via melitta.co.uk and has an RRP of £234.99.
¹ https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/epdf/10.7326/M21-2977.
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