Classification starts with GRI 1: the terms of the headings, and the section and chapter notes. Heading 8516 covers electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters, electric space heating apparatus, electro-thermic hairdressing apparatus, hand dryers, smoothing irons, and other electro-thermic appliances of a kind used for domestic purposes. A coffee maker is an electro-thermic appliance of a kind used for domestic purposes: it heats water electrically and uses that heat to make coffee.
The subheading follows the function. Within 8516, the lines divide by appliance type, and electric coffee makers sit in 8516.71, for electro-thermic coffee or tea makers. The full ten-digit line, 8516.71.00.00, is the code that goes on the entry. The rate on that line is the rate that applies, and it is worth confirming on the line itself at hts.usitc.gov, because the rate is a property of the line, not of the heading.
The first check is always whether the terms of a heading describe the goods. A coffee maker that heats water electrically fits 8516 on its face. A coffee maker that does not heat water, a manual pour-over cone or a French press, does not, and it falls elsewhere: a glass or plastic article by its material, not by its function. The heating element is what makes it an electro-thermic appliance.
The trouble starts when a device does two things. A coffee maker with a built-in grinder is a heating appliance and a grinding appliance. A coffee maker with a milk frother is a heating appliance and a mixing appliance. A single-serve machine that also dispenses hot water is a coffee maker and a water heater. In each case, two headings could fit, and GRI 1 alone does not resolve it.
That is where GRI 3(b) comes in, the same rule that decides the smartwatch: when a good is classifiable under two or more headings, it is classified as if it consisted of the component that gives it its essential character. For a coffee maker with a grinder, the essential character is usually the brewing: the grinder serves the coffee, the coffee is the product, and the heating and passing of water is the function the buyer pays for. The grinder is a component, not the character.
The test is what the device does in use, and which function the buyer pays for. A machine that grinds and brews is a coffee maker with a grinder, not a grinder that happens to brew. A machine that froths milk and brews is a coffee maker with a frother. The essential character is the function that defines the purchase, and the classification follows it.
Describe the device by function before looking at the schedule. What does it heat, what does it move, what does it grind, mix, or dispense, and which of those is the reason someone buys it? The description that answers those questions is the description that classifies it.
Then read the heading terms and the chapter notes, not the heading title alone. Chapter 85 note 3 and the section notes shape how composite machines are treated, and the notes can exclude a heading that the title seems to offer. A heading that looks right can be excluded by a note, and a note is law, not guidance.
Finally, check the rulings for the nearest product in CBP's CROSS database, and confirm the ten-digit line and rate at hts.usitc.gov. A coffee maker is a simple product with a settled code, which is exactly why it is a good test case: if the method works here, it works on the harder products, and if it fails here, it will fail where the stakes are higher.
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Electric coffee makers are classified in heading 8516, as electro-thermic appliances, under subheading 8516.71 for coffee or tea makers. The full ten-digit line is 8516.71.00.00. Confirm the rate on that line at hts.usitc.gov.
General Rule of Interpretation 1 says classification is determined by the terms of the headings and any relevant section or chapter notes. It is the first rule, and most straightforward products are classified by it alone.
When a good is classifiable under two or more headings, GRI 3(b) classifies it as if it consisted of the component that gives it its essential character. For a coffee maker with a grinder, the essential character is usually the brewing, so the heading is 8516.
A manual pour-over cone or French press is not an electro-thermic appliance, so it does not go in 8516. It is classified by its material, as a glass, plastic, or metal article. The heating element is what makes an electric coffee maker an 8516 good.