The Marvelous Coffeemaker from Good Earth has a glass carafe with a lid shaped like a conical dome; (below) The Café Rico Filter coffee-maker from Morphy Richards offers a coffee strength selector

How would you like your coffee? Would you like it filtered or would you rather settle for a percolated brew? What about a frothy espresso, creamy latte or a steaming cappuccino? Well, your daily caffeine fix is now at your beck and call — as you like it — what with a slew of cutting-edge coffee-makers making a beeline for your stylish kitchen counter.

“A chic coffee-maker loaded with all the trappings of super-savvy technology is the order of the day. And you can’t go wrong with the dashingly stylish international brands,” says Priti Sabharwal, managing director, August, a plush lifestyle store in the Capital.

Sabharwal points out that the patrons of high-end home appliance gadgetry and coffee connoisseurs are opting for hi-tech electric coffee-makers simply because a mug of instant coffee does not make the cut any more. “Most of them are well-heeled and have acquired a taste for exotic brews from across the world. Now they want to replicate the same experience at home,” says Sabharwal. “It is not so much about the different varieties of coffee beans as much it is about the fresh ground coffee that has led to the boom in the sale of coffee-makers,” she adds. So, the modern-day coffee- makers demand the best freshly-ground coffee beans going.

FCML Home stocks up on the Chambord range of coffee-makers from Bodum that are utilitarian and stylish to boot

She attributes this trend to the presence of international cafe chains that have started providing the freshly ground coffee experience to Indians.

The brands that are moving off the shelves at a brisk pace in August are Bodum, Reidel and Saeco. The coffee fiends are opting for coffee-makers inbuilt into the kitchen cabinets from premium brands like Ariston and Saeco. “Every brand has a very distinct patronage and each section is aware as to what they want from these brands,” says Sabharwal.

Coffee buffs are spoilt for choice with the smart options provided by present day coffee-makers. Pallavi Khandelwal, owner-promoter, FCML Home, says that everyone is bending over backwards to find that perfect machine that’ll blend that perfect brew without a person having to lift a finger. “It’s so easy to offer a host of options to your guests even at your home,” says Khandelwal. FCML Home has the Chambord range of coffee makers, modelled on the traditional French coffee press. They are priced between Rs 1,740 and Rs 3,600.

(From top) Columbia’s insulated double-wall thermal coffee press keeps coffee piping hot for two hours; Kona is a manual, drip coffee maker; Santos from Bodum is a timer-controlled, vacuum brewer and has two stylish transparent glass carafes

At the top of the heap is the insulated double-wall thermal coffee press called Columbia from the French brand Bodum. Priced at Rs 7,020, it’s shaped like a jug, comes in sleek stainless steel in a matte finish. Columbia rocks in terms of its design and utility quotient. The insulated double wall keeps your coffee piping hot for almost two hours while a stainless steel filter and plunger works in tandem to give you a cup of rich coffee.

And for those who don’t mind getting their perfectly manicured hands dirty over a steaming cuppa, there’s the manual drip coffee- maker called Kona from the house of Bodum. The user has to fill water into the apparatus manually, twice — once while soaking the coffee and for the second time when adding more water to it. At Rs 4,320 this round, glass carafe is made with scratch-resistant borosilicate glass.

Kona hits the bull’s eye in its ability to produce perfect cappuccino without a trace of bitterness. The inbuilt filter helps it produce a smooth brew without leaving a bitter aftertaste. There are no paper filtration contraptions as in those regular coffee-makers and hence flavourful oils of ground coffee are allowed to seep into the carafe. Another prize pick is Santos from Bodum which is a timer-controlled vacuum brewer and has two stylish transparent glass carafes.

Morphy Richards India too has come up with models that are multi-taskers par excellence. The Café Rico Filter coffee-maker has a fast brew option that lets you sip your daily cuppa in eight minutes flat. But the real McCoy in this item is the coffee strength selector which one can adjust according to one’s level of coffee craving. And there’s more. A thermostatic hotplate helps keep the coffee at a constant temperature for as long as you want. And for this feature-packed wonder, you just have to shell out Rs 2,495.

If you are hooked to interestingly styled coffee-makers, check out the French coffee press called Marvelous Coffeemaker from the lifestyle store Good Earth. Priced at Rs 1,200, this has a glass carafe with a lid shaped like a conical dome. The transparent façade allows you to see the stainless steel filter inside, creating a contrasting statement of sorts.

A filter coffee-maker from Philips with a removable swing

There’s no reason why you should stop at stylised coffee-makers. The filter coffee-maker from Philips is modelled on the American coffee machine and could be a useful option if you want to blend utility and style. This one is priced at Rs 1,895 and comes with a removable swing filter which you can replace after several cycles in order to get the perfect strength.

It’s apparent that the options are endless when it comes to getting a headstart with a cup of coffee. And with each coffee-maker promising to be better than the other, it’s really time to wake up and smell the coffee.