Customer Reviews

Capresso 464.05 CoffeeTeam GS 10-Cup Digital Coffeemaker with Conical Burr Grinder

5 star:		(127)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(33)
1 star:		(54)

 

 

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.

I'm a Top 1000 Reviewer here at Amazon, but haven't reviewed anything in years -- until now. The Capresso 464 compelled me.
First things first. This is not my first grind and brew. My old Melitta Mill & Brew, with its faulty plastic latch long since broken had become a drag. For years I had to put a box of chicken stock on top of the grind chamber to keep it shut so it would work! And while it made pretty good coffee, it seemed to waste grounds by spraying them inside the grinder basket. And the daily cleanup ritual had started to make the whole idea of grinding and brewing in one device seem only of marginal value. And yet, the alternatives, including a best-selling Cuisinart model, have notorious bad reviews here at Amazon for being a total chore to clean.

Enter the Capresso CoffeeTeam GS, which solves all of my problems with its ingenious design. No longer do you have to measure the coffee. The CoffeeTeam GS will brew from 2 to 10 cups automatically, grinding just the right amount of beans with no guesswork. Cleanup is a breeze. The filter basket swings out and is easily washed. And because the grinding occurs in a separate chamber from the filter basket, there is no wasted coffee.

The quality of the coffee is also exactly what I want -- hot, and with the full flavor of the bean preserved by the conical burr grinders. If you want stronger or weaker coffee, it's very easy to do. You can also choose finer or coarser grinds depending on the type of coffee you are using (oily coffee should be coarser, light coffee finer).

There are two items that are drawbacks, but I don't mind them so am still giving this five stars. First, the grinder is wake-up-your-wife loud. And it can go for 40 seconds if you are making a full pot. It's not so loud that it hurts your ears, but it is not pleasant, and Capresso would have done well to add some amount of noise insulation. Second, because of the design, a small amount of ground coffee is left in the machine every time. This is an issue in two respects. First, switching from one type of coffee to another is not instantaneous, because invariably there is this overlap. Second, if you leave the machine unused for more than about a week, Capresso recommends cleaning out the coffee chamber and using new coffee. That's because the coffee will get a little more stale with each passing day. But like I said, in my mind these are very minor complaints to a really great product!

This is my first review but I'm taking the time to express how impressed I am with this product and the company. I bought the coffee maker/burr grinder combo because of my annoyance with grinding beans that get all over the place. This coffee maker grinder/combo works wonderfully. Put the beans in, set the grind setting, and there you go. The consistency of the grind is awesome! I have it set to grind the finest with a mix of esspresso and columbian beans with no clogging problems at all for over a month now. I was wary because I had heard gripes about how loud the grinder is but I really found it to be quieter than my previous stand alone Cappresso grinder which cost $60 alone. I get up at 0400 and it doesn't wake up the rest of the house. The best part was the customer service. After a couple of days, I noticed that the clock appeared to be off. I measured it over several days and it ended up that the digital clock ran fast which messed up the programmed time I wanted coffee in the morning. I was worried that it would be a pain to return since I bought it on the internet and return or repair would be a hassel. When I called the 800 number for Capresso in the manual and told them my story they sent me out a replacement unit (without even requiring proof or info that I purchased the unit from a third party). The new unit arrived with return UPS label (I didn't need to pay for shipping for the new unit or return) and it works great!

I recommend this purchase whole heartedly. If your looking at this machine because you want great fresh coffee with NO mess and NO worries, this is the machine and the company for you!

I owned 2 Cuisinart grind and brews. 1 broke in a year, the others grinder stopped grinding well-enough and they both took 10 minutes to clean. You also couldn't make coffee again until the pieces dried after cleaning. I love this machine! 30 second clean-up, and the best tasting coffee I've ever had! Don't consider any other grinder/brewer, this is awesome!

I owned the predecessor to this model with the swing out basket. Prior to that unit, I used a Cuisinart that had a nice 12 cup capacity but suffered from a design which had the steam from coffee brewing going directly into the chamber where the coffee grounds came out which usually led to a mucky mess and a frequent need for clean up. The Capresso design, with its swing out basket, corrected this problem and made great coffee. We used that machine daily for about five years and then it finally gave up and would not heat the water anymore. When I went online to find a replacement, I learned that the models available had changed substantially but I liked the Capresso brand, so I selected the Capresso CoffeeTeam GS as its replacement.

If you don't already own a Capresso, then I will tell you that the key to these coffeemakers is CONSISTENCY. They use a burr grinder which is known to give reproducible results and have settings for grind diameter and coffee strength. So once you get these settings dialed in, you will get a great cup of coffee each and every time.

After using the new Capresso CoffeeTeam GS, I will say that this machine is even better than its predecessor in all respects. The coffee grinder is quieter (also lower frequency), there are four grind settings instead of three, the elimination of the swing out basket means the unit takes up less space, the better carafe design leads to fewer spills, the stainless steel accents make the unit look nicer, it uses the cheaper basket filters compared to the cone filters and, in general, the unit can make stronger coffee. The other attributes are much the same in that the brewing process is vented away from the grinder and the coffee maker consistently makes a great cup of coffee once you get it dialed in. With four grind settings and three coffee strength settings, there are twelve combinations for you to experiment with. If you want especially strong or weak coffee, you can also play tricks with the amount of water used (for example, set the coffee maker to grind beans for 6 cups but only pour in 4 cups of water to get stronger coffee and do the reverse for weaker coffee). One other surprise is that the bigger black on white LCD is so bright that we no longer need to have a kitchen light on at night when we go to sleep! ;-)

Of course, some other things would have been welcome changes, such as a 12 cup carafe for when we have company over, a larger bin to hold the coffee beans, an even quieter grinder (I think it is a bit funny, though, that people expect such an inexpensive appliance to be nearly silent) but these are really minor nitpicks. Moreover, given the improvements of this new model over the old one, it appears that Capresso is listening to their customers and putting this feedback into the design of their new models which is great to see.

Go ahead and buy this coffee maker -- you won't be disappointed!

After 2 generations of Cuisenart Grind and Brew frustrations I took a shot on this Capresso unit. So far it has been just great. The set up is easy and the clean up is a breeze compared to the Cuisenart. The noise is lower pitched so it really doesen't bother me as it is no louder then a stand alone grinder. You must take time to try all the different combinations of grind, aroma and amount to find the perfect blend for your taste. It took us about 2 weeks of trying different combinations but now that we are set the coffee is perfect every time. We had a small issue with the drip stop but customer service was quick to send out a fix at no charge. I love this machine!

INTRO. My wife and I like good coffee, but are novices at making it. We used to get our fix from Duncan Donuts or McDonalds (Starbucks is good but not worth the price premium). Not anymore.

With this machine, we've learned to make coffee to our liking at home. Not only have we saved time and money in the morning, but we no longer have to roll the dice on freshness and quality every day. As a side benefit, our home smells wonderful after coffee-making.

EASE OF USE. It's easy to use. Just (1) fill the grinder with beans and set how finely you'd like them ground, (2) fill the maker with the amount of water you want, (3) set the corresponding number of cups you'd like to grind, (4) tweak your preference for light, medium, or dark, and (5) push start. Programming to make coffee at a certain time of day is also a breeze. It may take you a few tries (as it did us) to figure out how to tweak the preferences to match your tastes, but after that, it's like flying on auto-pilot.

EASE OF CLEANING. It's also easy to clean. Rinse out the pot and filter basket with a little bit of soap. If you use the included gold-tone filter, you'll need to rinse that out as well. We prefer the ease of a paper filter. Besides, the gold-tone one seems to let through just enough fine coffee grinds to be noticeable at the bottom of a cup. Hopefully, the savings in water makes up for the wasted paper.

DESIGN. The off-center grinder prevents steam from the coffee maker from infiltrating the grinding chamber. Some other grind-and-brew machines have the grinder directly above the coffee-making elements, where (according to reviewers) condensation could make them a chore to clean. Not here.

NOISE. It's not as loud as we expected--or feared--from some reviews. Like the noise from a garbage disposal, you get used to it. If you put the coffee-maker in the kitchen rather than next to your bed, the noise from grinding should not be an issue after a week or so.

CONCLUSION. We're not coffee connoisseurs by any stretch, but we do know good (and bad) coffee when we taste it. This machine lets us make reliably good coffee from the convenience of home. It's easy to use and clean. We've now had it for three months, and it still works as well as the first day. Worth the money.

UPDATE. A year later, this machine still performs well. Still makes good coffee without hassle.

I bought this Capresso coffee machine after my previous Capresso swing filter machine developed problems. I had been happy with my previous Capresso, so I thought the new machine would be as good or better than the old one, but I was sadly mistaken.

First of all, the burr grinder in the new machine is very rough sounding, as though it was poorly made, whereas the old machine had a grinder that ran very smoothly and quietly. But the main reason for my disappointment is that the chute from the grinder to the filter basket clogs continually. After spending I don't know how much time cleaning the chute in the hope that it would finally work correctly, I finally gave up. Expecting a nice strong cup of coffee and ending up with nothing more than colored, or plain hot water is an exercise in frustration. Maybe the reason for the problem is that I use dark, Italian or French roast coffee which is pretty oily, but the fact remains that my coffee maker cannot cope with the beans - maybe it's a fluke, or maybe not.

If I can't get my money back on this uncooperative coffee machine, I'll just take it to the dump and forget about the money I lost. I would not recommend that you buy this product, especially if you use dark roasted beans for your coffee.

This is my first review for Amazon and this experience has been fab!!!!!
Amazon did everything perfect first of all and then there is this most fantastic coffee grinder/brewer... WOW. I bought this before Christmas and I'm ordering my second one today (I'm Decaf and he's hi-test)!!

Here are my positive thoughts:
1) It's a breeze to set up and get going.
2) It's very simple to "program" and use several times a day.
3) The swing-out basket is easy to use and rinse (I choose paper filters instead of the supplied mesh basket).
4) Understanding where the fill lines are inside is very do-able even though they are inside the unit and the first time I had to get out a flashlight, then I realized I could just count down backwards by two if I wanted less than the 10 cup top mark.... very ok with me.
5) The grinder is QUIETER than the other brand(starts with a C) I have sitting next to it (currently for HIS beans) and it is a very pleasant "alarm clock" at 6am which motivates me towards my #6
6) Undoubtedly the most delicious cup of coffee ever to touch my lips. I use Dunkin beans and bottled water.... and I am convinced it's better than I get AT DUNKIN!!!
7) There is NO mess... No dripping...
8) And important to me: it's stylish as a non disruptive appliance in my kitchen, which is a soft, open part of my home (not a garage full of automotive styled gadgets) sorry, but appliances are not an important part of the look I'm after and I don't want them to be noticed... This is perfect for that concept.

Negatives:
1) The bean container could be larger... I have to fill it everyday (but that shows you how much we love the coffee) This could also be a height restriction they had to fit under residential cabinets (which I do not have) so we will excuse it.
2) You have to remember to coordinate the cup setting (2,4,6,8, or 10) of grinding to the amount of WATER you put in!!!! The first time, ha, ha, I FILLED the water reservoir but only asked for 4 cups of coffee..... I got VERY weak 10 cups of coffee!! Surprise. I have done this 3 times because I'm distracted and forgot to coordinate 2 things!!! ha ha. This is more about the instruction guide and level of automation in the unit. More of an operations thing which we CAN get over.
That's it!! Essentially, there is NOTHING wrong with this coffee system!!!!

I look forward to their "product improvements" and would ask them to make a model which is directly hooked up to our water line (like my frig) and has sensors to dispatch the amount of water that would go with the bean grinding number (just a suggestion). And to add a larger bean hopper....
While I'm asking for things, there could be a large model with two hoppers, two grinders and..... why would they do that???? they just got me to buy TWO for one house and I will buy one for my mom for mothers day and one for my sister for her birthday..

Done. FABULOUS PRODUCT
oh yeah, throughout the holidays and all that brings, EVERYONE LOVED the coffee and the grinding noise was fine (I threw a small quilted cloth over it during dinner) and I will make a custom cover for it so I'm prepared to entertain properly (worse than Martha huh??)

Buyer beware! We ordered this coffee maker to replace a Capresso we received for our wedding 13 years ago. We really liked our Capresso and wanted another one. When we received it we followed all of the set up instructions and set the alarm so it would make coffee just before 7 am. In the morning, it made coffee and then the base started on FIRE! We were very lucky that we were awake and we were able to get it outside before our cabinets caught on fire. This could have ended in a big disaster or tragedy! We thought the fire was out when we brought it outside but it started on fire again and it continued to burn on our front walk until one side of the entire bottom completely melted. We had to put it out with the garden hose. The company was not too concerned about the problem, said that this model has been out for 2-3 years without a problem. They replaced it with an identical machine. Next problem: the replacement coffee maker leaked water. It would only brew 1/2 a pot and the rest of the water was all over our counter. To make sure we weren't doing something wrong we filled it with water, unplugged it so it wouldn't make cofee and the next morning there was water all over the counter again. I called Capresso and they are going to send our money back. Two tries...both failed! Junk!