Thermal Carafe

A thermal carafe will let you make a pot of coffee or tea once and then keep your beverage piping hot for several hours. This can be very helpful if you use a stovetop percolator, which doesn't have an automatic warming setting.You'll find a wonderful selection of thermal carafes available on Amazon, many at discount prices.

Take a look at the Zojirushi thermal carafe to the right, which holds 1-liter of hot or cold liquid. (One liter equals about 34 ounces.) It has many of the features of most popular thermal carafes. Other than keep your coffee or tea hot, which it does for about 4 to 6 hours. To get the most out of a thermal carafe, I pour boiling hot water into the thermal carafe and let it sit there for 10 minutes. After I discard the hot water, I pour in my coffee. It also has a screw-on top so you won't spill your hot drink. There's a convenient thumb button on the handle for easy pouring.

This thermal carafe has been reported to keep coffee very hot for 8 to 9 hours! Perfect for parties or just sipping coffee all day long. With a 2-quart capacity, it will hold more than most coffee pots make! It has a press-button dispenser, so you don't even have to lift it up to pour a cup of coffee or tea. I work at home and often have a cup of coffee in the morning and that leaves an entire pot of coffee for the rest of the day. I put it in a thermal carafe and then head up to the third floor to write for the morning. Very convenient.

My husband and I love to have our family and friends over for dinner. While I love to cook, it's more fun for me to sit at the table and enjoy the conversation than to keep jumping up to get things for people. So I've learned over the years to put a thermal carafe filled with hot coffee and another with iced-tea on the table. Put some cream and sugar on the table and my life is much simpler. I love the Alfi design to the left because it isn't stainless steel and therefore less industrial feeling. We live in an old farmhouse and this design fits the traditional decor much better.

Lovers of sleek modern design will love this 2-quart thermal carafe from Copco. It gleams with its brushed stainless steel finish. The vacuumed, double-wall stainless steel will keep your coffee hot or iced-tea cold for up to 8 hours. The screw-top lid is secure so that you don't have to worry about spilling coffee or tea on your desk. If you have cats, you don't have to worry about them tipping your drink over. I have two, Busy Body and Chaos, and they live up to their names most days. So I find this to be very important!