Parts of a Coffee Maker – Reservoir, Basket, Carafe

All 11 parts on the diagram

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Start here: 5 main parts 5

Water reservoir The tank at the back that you fill with cold water.
Brew basket The funnel that holds the filter and ground coffee. It sits under the spray head.
Filter Paper or metal that holds back the grounds. It lets the brewed coffee through.
Carafe The pot, usually glass, that the brewed coffee drips into.
Warming plate The plate the carafe stands on, which keeps the brewed coffee warm.

How the water gets hot and up: 6 6

Spray head Where the hot water comes out over the ground coffee. It is also called a showerhead.
Riser hose The insulated hose that carries heated water up to the spray head.
Metal tube The thin metal tube in the base where the water is heated. Often aluminum.
Heating element The element wrapped round the metal tube that heats the water. The heated water rises by itself, like a thermosiphon.
Thermostat A switch on the heating element that turns it off as needed. This keeps the water in the tube from overheating into steam.
One-way valve Stops the heated water flowing back into the reservoir. A valve in the hose.

How this list was compiled: Read 2026-09-27. (1) Wikipedia, Drip coffee, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drip_coffee : the automatic drip machine lets cold water from a reservoir into a hose in its base, leading to a thin metal tube (heating chamber), usually aluminium, where a heating element round the tube heats it; by the thermosiphon principle the heated water moves up an insulated riser hose to a spray head and on to the ground coffee in a brew basket below it; the coffee goes through a filter and drips into the carafe; a one-way valve stops water siphoning back to the reservoir; the carafe, usually glass, rests on a warming plate; a thermostat on the heating element turns it off as needed to prevent overheating. (2) Wikipedia, Coffeemaker, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeemaker : grounds in a paper or metal filter in a funnel over a glass or ceramic pot. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site by script, 2026-09-27. Own work, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

These are the parts of a coffee maker on an automatic drip machine cut down the middle. Start with the 5 main parts, then follow the water inside.

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Following the water

Cold water runs from the reservoir, through a one-way valve, into a metal tube in the base. The heating element round the tube heats it, and the hot water rises up the riser hose by itself.

Brewing

The spray head sprinkles the hot water over the grounds in the filter, held in the brew basket. The coffee drips through into the carafe, which stands on the warming plate.

The water is not pumped up: heating it in the narrow tube sends it up the riser hose by itself, the thermosiphon principle.

Questions and answers

How does a drip coffee maker heat the water?

A heating element wraps a thin metal tube in the base. Water from the reservoir flows into the tube, heats, and rises up the riser hose to the spray head.

What does the one-way valve do in a coffee maker?

It stops heated water from siphoning back into the reservoir, so it can only go up to the spray head.

What keeps the coffee hot?

The warming plate under the carafe. A thermostat on the heating element also switches it off as needed so the water does not overheat.