Maybe it's an "I spent most of the 90's in coffee shops" thing, but finding an acceptable cup of coffee is not the easiest task in the world for me. And if I'm not going somewhere for coffee, that means firing up my
Cuisinart burr mill (potentially waking up my family with the noise... possibly neighbors and nearby dogs, too) and waiting for my
Cuisinart coffee maker to take a small eternity to brew a couple cups.
That's fine, if I don't have anything to do. But I'm not a morning guy, and I don't get up any earlier than I need to. Adding 15 minutes for coffee isn't in the cards, and neither is stopping at a gas station or fast food restaurant for their dirt water.
A few years back, I picked up a
Senseo Single-Serve Gourmet Coffee Machine, hoping to achieve fast, quiet, and good coffee. Sadly, the Senseo failed. It was noisy, the used pods were messy, and despite trying almost every flavor, the coffee had a strange instant taste to it.
So, I had an opportunity to get the Breville BKC700XL, and I crossed my fingers. It couldn't possibly be worse than the Senseo, and K-Cups seemed to be easier to find than Tassimo discs. The selection of K-Cups really impressed me, especially seeing a wide selection from
Caribou Coffee. Fortunately, I ordered some different K-Cups ahead of time, as my Breville did not come with the 18 cup sampler advertised. (Note: This may be because the BKC700XL I received is for evaluation purposes)
As soon as I got it out of the box, I was really blown away by how nice it looks. I think the
Keurig Elite B70 looks really cool in the "I am a gigantic nerd who loves unnecessary blue LED's" sense of the term, but this has a distinct semi-retro look to it (with unnecessary white LED's and backlighting, which are much more understated -- and different than the item's pictured blue tank light and blue LCD). Personally, I think the Breville is less likely to look dated after it's been on your counter for a couple of years.
I was also surprised by how heavy this unit is. The exterior is almost all stainless steel, and the unit itself seems to be near bomb-proof. You can definitely tell that you're getting quality for the extra money you'd spend.
Setting it up was painless. Breville is nice enough to give you a quick-start guide that gets you up and running in about 10 minutes. If you don't use the included water filter (which appears to be the same replacement part that Cuisinart uses), maybe 5 minutes. And while you're running your first-time primer brew, there's enough time to read the full manual. But here's what absolutely floored me: This thing is SO QUIET! Quieter than a regular coffee maker, to my ears. Seriously, I can't express how surprisingly quiet this is. If you're more than a couple of feet away from it, you'd hardly know it was on when it heats up the water. Once it gets going, all you really hear is your coffee dripping in to your cup.
Aaah... coffee in your cup. The moment of truth. I have to say, this thing makes some fine coffee... and QUICK! I used the Large / 9.25 oz. setting, and had my coffee in under a minute. But, in fairness, it wasn't all that great. If you stray from the standard Medium / 7.25 oz. setting, medium roast coffee tastes pretty watered-down, and flavored coffee tastes almost like tea. On the other hand, if you go for two K-Cups in a 12 ounce mug using the Small / 5.25 oz. setting, you're absolutely golden. Of course, if this is the route you plan to take, you'll want to stock up on K-Cups if you aren't using your own coffee.
The built-in timer is also a very welcome addition. You can set a "window" for auto-on and auto-off, as well as an optional separate automatic shutoff after two hours. With these turned on, you really can have a full cup of excellent coffee in your travel mug in under two minutes, and not have to worry about ruining the machine and wasting power.
The Breville BKC700XL is probably the first countertop appliance I've actually been excited about. If the price doesn't have you calculating how many
Hamilton Beach Brewstations you could buy instead, buy this right now.
***November 2011 Update***
I was actually referencing this brewer in another review, and noticed all of the negative reviews about quality, so I thought I'd offer an update.
Having owned this for just over two years now, I can say that I haven't had a breakdown or leak, with the exception of the dismal MyCup system that's included. (If that's interesting to you, please buy a
ekobrew Cup, Refillable K-Cup For Keurig K-Cup Brewers, Brown, 1-Count, which works brilliantly with this brewer!)
What I have noticed though, is that the brewer is very, very, VERY sensitive to hard water. The public water system where I live comes from a community well, and while totally safe, the water quality is not very good in terms of hardness and taste. So, we use a 5-gallon water cooler (like in an office) for drinking water.
Not too long ago, I noticed the brewer was getting progressively louder, finally making a loud "clunk" one day, and it seemed like it was ready to hop across the counter. Before I could start shopping for a new one, I noticed that my wife was filling the reservoir with water from the refrigerator -- thinking that the built-in water filter would be adequate. I realized that the brewer probably had some scale build-up from the tap, ran some vinegar through it several times, and it was good-as-new. So, now everyone refills the reservoir from the water cooler, and there have been no other problems to date.