Most people get up in the morning, spoon coffee grounds into their drip pot, add water and turn on the machine. They drink their coffee, rinse out the pot and never give the process another thought. While this method will give you a drinkable cup of something that contains caffeine, the results are nowhere near what a great cup of coffee should taste like.

A great cup of coffee should be smooth and rich, but never bitter and harsh. It should taste good black without any addition of cream or sugar. You may like to add flavors to your cup but your coffee should be easily drinkable without it. Take some tips from coffee experts and make some changes in the way you make your coffee. After you taste what a truly great cup of coffee is like, you'll never go back to mediocre brew again.

Clean out your pot. There is nothing wrong with making coffee in an electric drip pot. The problem is that most people never clean out the works inside the machine. Cleaning out the pot itself is fine, but minerals and deposits build up inside the tubing and reservoir in all drip pots. Run a pot of half white vinegar and half cold water through a regular brew cycle. Rinse out the pot and run a pot of clear water to rinse the inside of the pot. Run two more pots of clear water to make sure all the vinegar and loosened residue are gone from the inside of the pot.