I'm writing from the perspective of someone who has owned more grind&brew coffeemakers than the typical coffee addict. This one is as good a grind&brew machine as anyone makes.
First, the negatives:
- It is definitely loud and long in grinding, as other owners mention. The burr grinding process is wonderfully consistent compared to blade grinding, but it seems to take forever and the noise is enough to wake up the ... sleeping.
- It doesn't have a way to dump out the unusued coffee beans if you want to change blends to another bean (though you can still put pre-ground coffee in the basket while there are beans waiting to be ground.)
- The carafe does tend to make a sort of "cracking" sound when it sits on the hotplate sometimes.
I have owned some of the most popular, and some unusual, grind & brew machines in the past 30+ years, including a very different Capresso long, long ago. There are some models/brands that only have a single grind possibility (no settings), some that require constant cleaning of parts, some that fall apart within the year and don't have even that much warranty, and one that was going to cost an extra $65 to replace the faulty super-recessed lid switch, which died after 4 months, without which it was totally unusable. There's only one of those previous coffeemakers that I'd buy again by choice, and they stopped making it over 20 years ago.
This Capresso is well made, nicely packaged, and has all the features I want:
- Fineness of grind is controlled with 5 possible settings
- Amount of beans ground (from the hopper that holds approx. 2-3 pots of beans) is settable in 2-cup increments from 2 to 10 cups.
- "Aroma" (i.e. darkness & flavor) is controlled with 3 settings, which in combination with other controls seems designed to yield every possible preference for "perfect" coffee.
- It has automatic shut-off. (One of the much-lower-priced grind&brew machines doesn't have this feature, which I think should be mandatory on coffeemakers considering how many fires are started by overheating appliances.)
- It has drip-trip, which is critical as I often don't want to wait for the full pot to brew before I take a cup in the morning.
- It's completely programmable. Not only can you set a start time, but you can associate specific settings with the programmed time that are not the same as the current settings.
Other pluses that are less quantifiable:
- It doesn't seem to cause me to spill water all over the counter in filling it, like the last one I had. I have no idea what design elements affect this, I just know that it happens with some coffeemakers & not others.
- It takes some parts in common with the other-brand grind&brew that I last had, which started leaking when brewing. The charcoal filters and basket, at the least, seem in common with many other brands.
It cost quite a bit compared to some of the more popular models but, frankly, I'm convinced it's worth the extra investment.
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ADDED 11 MONTHS LATER:
I had problems with my coffeemaker (not dripping, though the grinder was fine) just under a year from purchase. I contacted Capresso -- pay attention to their website advisory that Monday morning is the worst time to contact them! Despite the fact that I thought it was just past the warranty expiration, when actually it was just before the end-date, they were very helpful in getting it repaired at no charge, and they paid all shipping both ways.
Two weeks later, I now have a like-new or new (I'm not sure which) coffeemaker. I have to admit that I had no idea just how hooked I was on the quality of coffee I can make so easily with the Capresso. But in the interim, everything else has been tasting like dishwater by comparison.
I'm not only thrilled to have my coffeemaker back, but I'm happy to report that Capresso stands behind their products so amicably and thoroughly.