Sometime between my apartment in college and the first move to my first real pad, my 4-cup Krups automatic drip gave out. I didn't drink enough coffee to buy a replacement. Every so often when the caffeine urge strikes, I would microwave some water in a Pyrex measuring cup, insert a paper filter in the plastic basket that sits atop the carafe, add the ground, and pour in the boiling water all at once. Call it the poor man's coffee maker but it made the best coffee bar none. There is no auto-drip that can extract as much strength and flavor as a quick 3-minute submersion in boiling water. Which, incidentally, is what a French press does, but leaves a bottom layer of silt.
I continue to make coffee this way, and never bought a replacement auto-drip, partly because I was lazy, didn't have a lot of space, and it worked. Alas, the carafe went to Krups heaven as well, and I cast about to buy an auto-drip. It seems time.
I did a lot of consumer research for machines from budget-friendly $35 models to $150 multi-function behemoth that would roast, grind and brew AND bring you coffee in bed. All roads lead to Rome and all coffee pilgrims eventually come to Chemex. This is the way to get great coffee, and it doesn't involved a plug.
I bought it because it's simple, has no moving or electrical part, is not prone to breakage unless I drop it, does not take up a lot of space, and oh, the MOMA considers it an objet d'art, if the art geek in you needs persuation. The design is quite clever, BTW. You insert the filter, which is flushed with the side of the opening; this creates a suction vacuum, of sorts. Water drips down, and the flow is regulated by the displacement of air from below, up the pour spout, which is not flushed with the filter. To clean, you just rinse and pour out. The wooden and leather "belt" can be removed if you want to wash your carafe in the dish washer.
I use a normal #2 coffee filter, it is a bit small but I'm told the #3 filter (harder to find) fits it perfectly. You don't need to buy the Chemex filter, but I've read that it is thicker, allowing for a longer saturation time therefore extracting more flavor. The carafe is heat-resistant pyrex glass, you cannot put this directly on heating elements. It will not keep your coffee warm. I make my coffee and immediately pour into my thermos. This is (still) the best way to make a cup of coffee.
And now for the reason why I have to subtract one star from such a fine product which I use, and like: THIS IS NOT AN 8-CUP CARAFE!
When it arrived I looked at the size of the box and thought the shipper made a mistake. But there it was, printed on the side of the carton: 8-cup capacity. I'm thinking "cup" as in "measuring cup", the normal kitchen unit for volume measurement. You may read "based on 5oz. cups" elsewhere, but what is that? I have trouble envisioning 5 oz. but I can estimate a cup. Incidentally my coffee cup holds a little less than one standard measuring cup.
I measured the capacity of the carafe. It will only hold barely 8 cups if you fill it to the rim, an impossibility as you need the top to situate your filter and ground. At the midpoint of the carafe, it holds a little more than 4 standard measuring cups. Even this is pushing it, as you need room for the drip. For practical purpose, this is a 4-cup carafe.
Chemex makes a 10-cup carafe, but I suspect it may be just 5-cup, practically speaking. The capacity labeling is inaccurate and just silly.