A hot cup of coffee is very important. It’s something that all coffee lovers usually look forward to. And, it’s always the first cup from a freshly brewed pot of coffee that tastes the best.

Why doesn’t the last cup taste as well as the first cup? For one, as time goes on, coffee gets cold. And once it gets cold, it doesn’t taste as well. To remedy this, most coffee makers have a warming plate that helps keep the pot of coffee hot for hours after it was brewed. The problem with using a warming plate, however, is that once the pot or carafe has been sitting on it for a while, the coffee gets burnt, thus leaving a burnt taste in the coffee.

Thankfully, this problem has been noticed by some coffee maker companies and they have released coffee makers that come with thermal carafes.

What is a thermal carafe? In a nutshell, a thermal carafe can keep coffee hot for hours without the need for an external heat source. In other words, it doesn’t need a warming plate anymore to keep coffee hot, thus eliminating any cause for any burnt taste in the coffee.

How does it keep coffee hot without an external heat source? It keeps coffee hot by using insulation. It maintains the temperature of the coffee at the right temperature, by preventing the heat from escaping and maintaining as much heat as possible for hours.

It works the same way as a thermos or a travel mug does. Therefore, with a thermal carafe, the last cup of coffee tastes as great as the first cup, even if you drink the last cup a few hours after you drank the first cup.

Using a thermal carafe has another benefit. Unlike glass carafes that tend to crack and break, a thermal carafe is usually made of stainless steel. Therefore, it’s sturdier and more durable. If you happen to drop one, it won’t crack, unlike a glass carafe.

Probably the most popular and the most highly rated among coffee makers that use thermal carafes is the Zojirushi EC-BD15 Fresh Brew Thermal Carafe Coffee Maker.

It’s programmable and it automatically turns itself off once it’s done brewing. It has an easy to read water gauge as well that has enough space to hold up to 10 cups. It’s easy to remove the filter basket for cleaning. It’s very sturdy, and has no parts that could be easily broken as well. Most of all, it can keep coffee hot for hours, thanks to its well designed 1.5L thermal carafe.

Zojirushi has been known for its vacuum pots in its other products, and it has applied all its expertise and experience in designing this reliable, convenient, and sturdy coffee maker.

If you’re not willing to buy a new coffee maker but would like to enjoy the benefits of using a thermal carafe, there are a bunch of replacement thermal carafes available.

Although they might not be compatible with your current coffee maker, you can just pour your freshly brewed coffee from the glass carafe into the thermal carafe. Therefore, enjoying the benefits of a thermal carafe is just one pour away. You won’t be wasting coffee anymore due to it getting cold or getting burnt because of the warming plate. You can just leave the carafe sitting on the counter, keeping the coffee hot for you so the last cup will taste just as great as the first one.