An unbleached filter in a Chemex brewer. Photo: Erin Meister.

Erin Meister trains baristas for North Carolina-based Counter Culture Coffee and sporadically maintains the blog Meet the Press Pot from her home in New York City. This is part of a series of tips for the caffeine-addicted.

Aside from beans and water, the coffee-brewing puzzle almost always requires at least one other element: a filter. Just about every method or machine utilizes them -- French press plungers have fine-mesh screens, espresso machines use perforated metal baskets, electric drip-coffee makers require the ubiquitous accordion-fold filters and even preground coffee pods come in their own little brew packs to keep the grounds at bay (that is, out of your teeth).

Understanding your filter situation can actually be a bit confusing, since there are myriad varieties available in a host of sizes, shapes and materials. Trying to make sense of the coffee-filter section at the market is not unlike trying to find the right replacement mop head (there's about an 80 percent chance of failure).

Read on for more about coffee filters.

When brewing coffee, there are two factors that play a huge part in the final flavor. The water-to-bean ratio is important, but first you should have fresh beans and they should be ground as soon before brewing as possible. Fresh grounds will have the natural oils of the bean still in them, which will give you the fullest flavor, eliminating much of that flat and bitter aftertaste that can come from stale grounds - and ground coffee can stale very, very quickly. This is why, if you brew coffee at home, it's a good idea to buy a grinder and grind your own beans. Since that's another step between you and coffee in the morning, however, many opt for preground. The all-in-one coffee makers, which have built in grinders, are a good option for anyone who wants to get the best cup of coffee with the least amount of work.

The machines are programmed in advance and they heat water, grind beans and brew your coffee all with the touch of a button. A recent test showed good results from each of three machines. The Melitta preformed well, but had no insulated carafe, which keeps the coffee from becoming burned or overly strong sitting on a heating pad. The Cuisinart made a slightly better cup of coffee than the Melitta, but the Capresso, with a burr grinder to ensure even grounds and smooth flavor, won the test.

All in all, you can't really go wrong with any of the machines from the sound of it, but if you already have a machine you like, look into getting a grinder instead of a whole new machine to really improve the quality of your morning brew.

Well, we may not need it here in southern California where we know it's 70 degrees everyday, but if you have to watch the weather every morning to figure out what you're going to wear to work, now you can get that information while you're waiting for your coffee to brew. On November 15th, Melitta will begin shipping its new ME1MSB Smart Brew, a 10-cup coffee-maker that also provides animated weather information on an LCD display.

The region-specific weather info comes from MSN Direct via an FM signal, so there's no Internet connection required. It displays the current temperature and conditions, high and low temperatures, and chance of precipitation, so if it's really cold outside, you can pour yourself a second cup.

Very cool.