Customer Reviews

Capresso 453.01 CoffeeTeam Luxe 10-Cup Electronic Coffeemaker with Conical Burr Grinder, Black

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

After reading the reviews on this and another site, I was really torn over buying this coffee maker - especially since its so expensive. But I threw caution to the wind (and bought it through Amazon so I could return it if needed)- it arrived last week and I honestly don't understand what the people were complaining about. I made a checklist of things to watch out for from the other reviews. Here are my experiences with the issue identified by other in brackets:

[leaks on the counter] - Not if you have the carafe under the spout. Its just like all automatic coffee makers, if you have the carafe off to the side or half in the plate then yea, it'll spill out. But, its exactly like all other automatic coffee makers I've had. You just put the carafe on the brew plate, it has an indent so you know it's seated. viola - no problem.

[filter basket clogs] - we haven't seen this happen at all. We use Shade Grown organic coffee, which is just like the regular stuff you buy at the store except it's good for the environment and tastes better. Beans grind the same. No problem with clogging the filter basket.

[gold mesh basket lets fine dust through] - this would not have been a problem for me even if it did happen but it doesn't. The people with this issue probably damaged their basket in some way. I love the basket - very easy to clean, has a handle to lift it out, plop it back in. No big deal. If you don't like using the basket you can always use filters but there's no problem with the basket.

[to make 6 cups you need to brew 10-12] - False! To brew 6 cups you put in 7 cups of water since some does evaporate off. I was concerned when I read the review stating this because we sometimes like to have people over for coffee too. We certainly didn't have the experience that that person did. We put in 7 and get just over 6 cups.

[condensation on the front means you have to wipe it down or mop up the counter] - Also not something we encountered. We haven't noticed any condensation at all. It's clean and dry just like our old krups.

[coffee isn't strong enough] - now this one really worried me because I love my coffee and have traveled a lot to other countries and really enjoy a robust cup of coffee. We did not encounter this issue either. The coffee maker has three settings, light medium and dark. We keep ours set on medium and its very rich - as in, you can't see the through the coffee, even when you're pouring it. We tried it on the dark and even for me it was too rich for a morning wake-up cup. I stick with medium. I think the people with this issue were using inferior beans. Shade grown...it's the best!

[not hot enough] - Its the same degree of hotness as our regular old Krups so I have no complaints there.

[carafe dribbles] - Maybe this is a personal technique thing but the first thing my husband commented on was that it did NOT dribble! We had our krups for 5 years and we just couldn't get the right tilt not to dribble. With this one we have a clean counter but again that could just depend on how you hold the carafe. We're glad to now have graduated into the world of non-dribblers with this carafe.

[grinder is so loud it will wake your neighbors] - well not unless you're living in a tent inside their bedroom! We have a two level house and the coffee maker is in the kitchen downstairs. We can hear it but barely - it's no where near as loud as our alarm clock which goes off first so I'm definitely awake when it's grinding and it's not as loud as some of the reviews may have suggested.

So, yea, we love it. I really wanted to write this review to help dispel some of the review that were here because really, I think the negative ones are possibly the anomalies - the few people who had a bad experience. I was so nervous about buying it though after reading them that I wanted to weigh in. It's a great machine, saves counter space by not having to have a coffee maker and a grinder on the counter and for us its actually cleaner too because each morning we'd get grinds on the counter as we poured them from the grinder into the filter. Its also more convenient because it does everything for you. Clean-up is the same as with our old coffee maker - rinse out the carafe and throw out the old grinds. That's it. All to say, I highly recommend it.

I originally bought the earlier model, which is great, and this 'Luxe' model corrects some of the few design flaws in the earlier system.
1. The charcoal filter system now has a light indicator to let you know when to change it (6 weeks).

2. There is now a release button under the basket (which swings under the grinder). This prevents you from damaging the automatic swing arm mechanism.

3. They now include a short video tape to explain exactly how to use the system. The system is a bit confusing to explain via manual, but very simple once you see a few minutes of video.

A good grinder/coffee combo has to have two features: Keep the ginding away from the water/steam to keep from having to clean and dry the coffee grinder after each use: use burr grinders instead of wing grinders to release all the coffee flavor. The new Cuisinart does not have these features (Check out their user comments).

When I had a problem, the Capresso people were very very helpful with a free repair. The quality of coffee is great, if you take the time to learn how to set the controls for your particular taste. We use this every day.

I purchased a new Capresso model 453 about 2 weeks ago and it works just fine. Having a built-in grinder may seem like an unnecessary luxury, but it really does save time and is less mess than grinding the beans in a separate grinder.

The main difference between the new model 453 and the old model 452 is a window through which the grinds may be watched as they flow into the basket. Also, the digital screen is backlit so it may be more easily seen in the dark, and, I believe, the older model carafe only showed marks for 2,4,6,8, and 10 cups
whereas the new model shows all cup marks. Essentially, though, the model 453 is the same as model 452. I feel most of the
difficulties some people experienced with the old model 452 were
probably due to not following directions, such as:

1. grinder may clog. (This is due to using oily or flavored
beans-directions warn against this.)The new window allows one
to easily see if this is a problem. So far, my grounds have poured freely into the basket with no problems or cleaning needed.

2. coffee may flow on counter instead of in carafe. (This is
a little tricky-again, the key to avoiding this problem is
to simply follow directions).

Some people claimed they could not get a strong enough cup
of coffee even on the strong grinder settings. These people
need to be drinking expresso, not coffee. I like strong coffee and have had no problem obtaining a strong cup. However, if
you like REALLY strong coffee, just use less water than called for.

Some people said that the grinder was really loud. These people must never have used a blade grinder, which is much
louder and screechier than the Capresso's burr grinder.

Some people claimed that the spout on the carafe was
poorly designed, but it works fine if you don't pour too fast.

All in all, I have been very satisfied with my Capresso
453 and am confident it will give me long problem-free
service. Don't be put off from buying one because of some of
the negative comments in reviews of the model 452 you may
have read. In my view, most of these criticisms are unfounded.

Like a few others who have posted reviews, mine is still going strong after 4 years of daily use. I bought it when it was more like $270, and it has been worth every penny. Mine is also the older model, which doesn't have enhancements like the grind window and charcoal filter.

Some comments and tips:
1) This thing is incredibly convenient when you want fresh caffeine first thing in the morning, otherwise I would not have time to make coffee every morning. It takes 15 seconds to rinse the pot and change the paper filter to start a new brew cycle. Just the sound of the grinder burring away starts the blood flowing already.
2) Mine has worked reliably with hardly any cleaning or care. I think only once have I ever decalcified it with vinegar solution, which I think you're supposed to do with nearly all coffeemakers to prevent mineral buildup. The brew-pause will occasionally drip when the pot is removed, but a good cleaning of the basket will remedy that.
3) As others have mentioned, oily beans can get stuck above the grinder. The newer window helps tell if that's happening, but you can also clearly hear the pitch change. I "stir" oily beans regularly to ensure they don't get stuck above the grinder. This should prevent any long-term damage to the grinder, which is a high-quality burr type, not a cheap blade type.
4) The carafe warmer on mine is hot and the brewed coffee will not sit well for long. It's a classic compromise between hot and fresh-tasting. Ideally they would come out with a model that uses a thermal carafe instead. But I recently found a $5 copper plate that works well to keep the coffee from getting a burnt flavor.
5) It's the only coffeemaker I ever bought which comes with a full instructional video. I never watched it, but I'm sure you'll avoid most problems if you do.

There are so many mixed reviews on this machine, that I struggled whether to get one or not. My Melitta Grind n' Brew was working fine, but my wife and I like a big pot of STRONG coffee in the morning.
As a home roaster, I'm a bit of a coffee snob. But I want the convenience of a drip machine early in the morning. I'm not awake enough to mess with a french press or anything like that. I hoped that this high dollar machine with burr grinder would fulfill all of it's promises - and it almost does.
At first, I was very unhappy with the machine. It has 15 grinder settings, but the longest only grinds for 30 seconds. From the beginning,this only gave me enough coffee for about 3 cups. Having to run the grinder 3 or four times to get enough coffee was a pain. Plus it negates the "wake up to fresh ground coffee" phenomena. After 4 months of cursing myself for buying this (and cursing Capresso!) I called them. They were extremely nice, and sent me a replacement right away. It works so much better, and I am always impressed with great customer service.
It still doesn't make '12 cups (5 oz)' of strong coffee, but I think that's a limitation of the drip method. It makes 8 - 10 cups just fine. But the great thing about this pot is, if you have a second filter, you can prepare a second pot in about 15 seconds, without spilling any grounds.
I still think the complex system for setting the grinder is a little hoaky. If you like coffee enough to spend $200 on a coffeemaker, you probably don't need to have the machine tell you what 'strong' is.
The other minor complaint I have is that the grinder is held on with a 'Tamper Proof" Torx screw. To really clean out the grinder, it would be nice to make that area accessible.

I bought one of these (actually the 452) back in July of 1999 after seeing one at a friend's house. I've now had it for over 3 years, and haven't had a single problem with it.

The grinder still works just as well as the day I got it, and I've never had it cleaned (though I have followed directions and haven't ever run flavored beans through it, I either get those pre-ground or use my old blade grinder), the carafe still holds water, and doesn't spill when pouring (though you do need to get the pouring technique down, but anyone who's had more than 2 coffee makers knows that every carafe has its own technique). Most importantly, it still makes the best coffee.

I used to use a blade grinder and separate brewing machine, but the convenience factor of having these combined makes it well worth the money. Having the grinder hooked up to the alarm/timer is great too. The sound of coffee grinding automatically in the morning makes it that much easier to get out of bed.

I had Cafe-San (Sanyo). I've used Cuisinart. This one's much better. I have an older one that's why only 4 stars. The newer ones have upgrades I would have wanted and I'd give them 4.5 stars because of that. With more lattitude in brew strength and number of cups it'd be a 5. The burr grinder is better than the propellers. If you use paper filters there is only 1 part to clean besides the pot. Unlike the others there is no mess of wetted ground up beans anywhere except in the paper (or gold screen) filter.

The taste is as good as any fresh ground coffee, but if you leave the beans in the holder for too long they can get stale. (I keep them in the freezer).

Service when I lost a piece down the drain was impeccable. Even though I bought a factory refurbished one in the now extinct Lechter's for a mere ... the full warranty was honored.

I checked out many coffee grinder/brewers and this one TOPS THE LIST. It is extremely easy to use and clean. The other brands require you to clean and dry before you can use them again.

I had company and made breakfast for them the next morning. My company loved the coffee that it brewed so much that I made 3 pots one after the other without having to dry all the parts like the Krups. (I purchased the Krups and sent it back because it was too complicated with all the cleaning, drying, etc.) They too liked this coffee maker, so much so that they where going to buy one for themselves.

We all agreed that it makes the best coffee and it's not complicated to use. It's easy to program for the next morning and delightful to wake up to the smell of FRESHLY brewed coffee. You will be VERY HAPPY to own this coffee grinder/brewer. THE PLUS is that it is the most quite of all grinders and it grinds quickly. Hurry and buy one while they last......A SATISFIED OWNER!

We bought this coffee maker in Jan. 05 here on Amazon. It was $199 minus a $25 kitchen discount with free shipping and no tax. That's a good deal right there. I searched around awhile (even added the pdf manual above) and I believe we made the right choice. But let's get into the details.

First off, the claims about the temperature not being hot enough. It's true. The book says it delivers 180F deg. in the carafe after brewing. Hey, it's actually 165F deg. That's hot enough for this family, besides any hotter and I'd probably burn my tongue. I tested it against our old Black and Decker coffee maker and a Mr. Coffee and it's 5F deg. hotter.

Some people claim the grinder is too noisy. Its about like a jet engine (Just kidding). More like your typical Dust-Buster hand vac. It's not that bad. Actually we love the burr grinder. We fill it up and with the setting we have (10 on the grind amount indicator and the saucer under the middle cup) the 453.01 will actually make 50 cups of coffee. Oh, and it's on the coarsest setting for the grind size. We've used two types of beans in it so far...Starbucks Colombian and Italian Roast. They appeared somewhat oily, but on the coarse setting they flow down the feeder channel with no problems.

All the buttons on the display are intuitive. But watch the video that comes with the unit, it explains everything. Sure the display is a little bright, but like another reviewer said, "I don't sleep in the kitchen!" With the kitchen light on it's just fine.

We use just the gold-tone filter that come with this unit and it will leave a fine residue of grounds in the bottom, but just don't empty every last drop in your cup. Another point on the filter, clean after brewing. Don't let the grounds sit in there for hours.
Overall, we love this machine. We chose black and it looks great on our counter.

I gave 5 stars to the Capresso 451 in a review April 21, two weeks after I purchased it. I am happy to report that I have now had it for 6 months and still have not had the first problem. I have not even had to clean the grinder. I noted in my first review that I felt most problems people have had seem to be related to not following directions. I still feel that way. I note, for example, that some reviewers have had problems with the grinder. I would ask them"Did you use flavored (oily)beans?" "Did you use frozen beans?" "Did you orient the pouring spout during brewing so that moisture could get in the grinding mechanism?" All of these warnings are explained in the instructions, but I'll bet the reviewers who had problems didn't bother to read them!!