Customer Reviews

Capresso 454 CoffeeTEAM-S Coffee Maker/Burr Grinder Combination

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I've had this model coffemaker at work for a couple of years, and so I placed it on my registry and got it as a wedding gift. As far as grind and brew goes, this one is mostly good, but falls short in a few respects.
The good:
o- burr grinder, much better grind than a blade
o- programmable - I just set it in the evening and it's good to go when I get out of the shower
o- no major cleaning necessary every time you use it
o- I don't see anything wrong with the plastic at all. Looks fine to me.
o- GoldTone filter - a very fine mesh to capture most coffe grounds, but does not absorbe any of the oils from the coffee the way paper filters do, giving you a fuller flavor, albeit at a price of a slightly silty cup.

The bad:
o - the temperature isn't quite up to snuff - a little too cold. If you pour it into a cup you pulled out of the cupboard, and add a splash of half and half or milk from the fridge, then pour in the coffee, it's just above warm. Not hot enough. Which also contributes to the brew not being quite as good as the beans' potential. Sad.
Update - being the engineer at heart that I am, I went and tested the brew temperature, just to be sure. I used two different kitchen digital thermometers, both in the basket and in the carafe. For most of the bewing time the temp stays at about 165F, climbing up to almost 175F towards the end of the brew. That is well short of the 200F +- 5F (92C-94C). No wonder then. I was always puzzled at how I would find great coffee at a shop, buy the beans, bring them home and only get a mediocre brew. Now I know. Too cold.

o - there is a conduit between the burr grinder and the basket. As you grind beans, the grounds fill up the conduit and push the grounds that were there already out to the basket. It's okay if you use it at the office and brew 10 cups at a time, a few times a day (full brew takes about 10 minutes, BTW). Not good for home use where you bew 2-4 cups a day: you are constantly using day-old grounds. Not good. Next time this thing breaks, I'm replacing it with a standalone burr grinder which dumps beans right out, and a thermal carafe coffemaker like Braun, which brings me to the next point:
o- No thermal carafe! What's up with that! For a high price like that, I'd have at least expected a thermal carafe. Alas, no such luck.
o- Reliability. At the office we've had to replace it about once a year, which isn't bad considering how heavily we used it - multiple 10-cup brews every day. My home version quit (motor burned out, I think) after just over a year of use. Luckily, the department store exchanged it, a'cause it was off the wedding registry and they are extra nice in those cases. Next time this thing dies, I'm getting two separate pieces - maker and grinder, both can be had for under half of the cost of these.
o - if you do get it, make sure to point the spout of the carafe to the right, away from the basket, as the steam can make the mechanism and beans sticky.
o- Brew time is too long. A full 10 cups take 10 minutes. Ideally a brew should not take more than 6 minutes; after that time you start to extract bitter unpleasant flavors from the beans. So if you want to make more coffee, then make 6 cups, pour into a thermal container and brew the other 4.
Better yet, don't buy this coffemaker.

Update: Capresso has come out with a new model, Capresso 455.05 CoffeeTEAM which does come with a thermal carafe. I don't know what the brew temp is - I suspect still too cold; no way to tell. It's an extra hundred bucks. I'm going to see if I can return mine and buy a better one.

We bought one, loved it and after several years bought a new one. Also, bought one for my Mother-in-Law, Sister-in-Law and Aunt. The digital readouts on all four machines have broken within 6-18 months. Capresso says we can send the machines in for repair at a cost of around $100.

Four out of four machines bought at different times tells me that this is a design flaw. Capresso clearly knows about this, but is unwilling to fix the problem. By the way, this only seems to apply to newer machines with the orange/red backlight.

Who wouldn't want to wake up every morning and have not only freshly-brewed, but freshly-ground coffee waiting for them??? No, we don't have a butler... we have a Coffee Team!

Ok... I'll admit the price of this coffee maker seemed a little high in the beginning. My husband is a coffee fanatic and I wanted to get him a coffee maker for his birthday that would hopefully last longer than 6 months and reduce his morning coffee-making time.

Immediately after discovering the Coffee Team I started doing the math on how many Starbucks drive-thru trips my husband could make for the price of this coffee maker and realized that in the end this would be more cost-effective for our budget.

I can't say enough about the quality of this coffee maker. I was initially skeptical as the coffee pot part appeared to be similar to several of the other no-longer-functioning coffee makers we have lying around our garage. I will admit that there isn't anything super-fancy about the actual coffee-maker part itself, but it is the incredible attached burr grinder, water filter and array of digital settings that sets this coffee maker apart.

It comes with a manual and a video. We never watched the video, but we did study the manual to figure this thing out. Once you get your settings right and make a couple of pots of coffee, it is really quick and easy to whip up a pot of fabulous coffee.

I love to drink coffee, but was notorious for making coffee too strong or too weak. Also, I could never really figure out how much to grind to make the perfect coffee. The Coffee Team really makes it easy to make a great cup of coffee without having to over-think it!

We love the three separate strength settings (mild, medium and strong) which actually change the flavor (unlike some of the other coffee pots we've tried). This really comes in handy when we switch from milder to richer beans. We also appreciate the ability to switch the number of cups we make with the touch of a button. It also has a reminder light to change the water filter (which I need!). I never realized how much water quality affected coffee, but now I can definitely tell when the filter needs to be replaced. I was a little skeptical about having to buy replacement filters, but they are only $10 for a 3-pack sold here at Amazon. Spend more than $25 and they'll ship 'em to you for free!

I will warn you that when you switch coffee brands or flavors you may need to make small adjustments to the settings for different beans, but ultimately this coffee pot always makes a great cup of coffee!

I highly recommended the Coffee Team as the ultimate gift for the coffee-lover in your life!!!

This is arguably the best coffee maker on the planet if grinding beans just before brewing is important to you. I've had at least 5 of these at the various houses I've had and they all work great (I kept giving them away to the kids when I moved). Unlike other brands, you don't have to pre-measure the beans every time you make a pot. And, unlike others, there is essentially no clean-up from the grinding process. The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is the coffee temperature is about 10 degrees cooler than what I would like. As I recall, it's about 170 degrees and I'd like it to be 180-190.

This is a great coffee maker, makes good coffee and is very easy to use. Do not have the cleaning problems other "grind and brew" makers have. We use a bean that is not to oily and set it for coarse grind, and have not had to clean it in 6 weeks! You can buy a maker (Cursinart) that will make a better cup of coffee, but spend 10 min a day cleaning it, only to have it quit working after about a year.

I bought the "452.01" version of this machine in Febuary of 2000. I've made about 1.5 pots of coffee per day since then, which comes to about 3800 pots of coffee. It still works as well as the day I bought it.

I am a home roaster. I buy green coffee beans and roast them myself. On a few occasions others in my household have accidentally put under-roasted (nearly green) beans in the Capresso's bean reservoir, which caused the burr grinder to jam (not at all surprising). This was a bit tricky to fix, but I managed to dig out the offending beans. My point: the grinder has taken some unusual abuse and is still going strong in spite of it.

I only have 2 issues with this machine. First, the coffee temperature is a little low, as many have already mentioned. It's hot enough for me, but I think I would get more of the complex flavors from the beans if the temperature were the recommended 200 fahrenheit.

My other issue is that it uses a glass pot rather than a thermal carafe. The coffee gets cold pretty fast after turning the unit off, and I don't like leaving the unit on because bottom heat damages the flavor of coffee.

My understanding is that the more expensive version of this machine solves both problems. Not sure I'm ready to cough up three hundred dollars for a coffee maker though.

Bottom line: My TEAM-S coffee maker has been used heavily, taken some abuse, and still works perfectly. I love this machine and use it every day. It's trivial to clean and extremely easy to use. When compared with other glass-pot coffee makers, this one stands out. If it heated the water to 200 degrees, it would be hands down the best glass-pot coffee maker on the market. However, the convienience of being able to go from whole beans to brewed coffee with the push of a single button cannot be overstated, and in my opinion more than makes up for the tempurature problem.

We have had this a couple years now. STILL LOVE IT! Already own a burr grinder..but heck waking up to a fresh pot, not having to measure beans (just fill and it measures /grinds what it needs). What is not to like?

You can brew whole beans, use ground, or just add some ground decaf to the filter and let it grind real coffee to do half and half, or mix the whole beans. Whatever you want. (As one reviewer noted, it is not easy to completely empty the beans if you want to frequently switch off types).

You can have a night setting of a few cups and morning setting of 10 or whatever.

Coffee maker comes with Video instructions..The instructions were helpful to clean the chute and learn about how to do the manual latch... Did not watch them for about three months until after in service. I put coffee maker into use, with just looking at the box and maybe the online video clip.

The goldtone filter does allow some silt to get through for some of the coffees. We use Peets coffee (now available locally in Florida at Publix/Albertsons). But you can add a paper filter if you want. Or consider it like a French press and these are extra goodies.

DO remove the pot before you replace the filter -that is a trick to get them to seat. Always replace pot with handle straight out.

We love this. Were afraid it was too complicated!

If the coffee is catching in the chute, you clean it. So you do get fresh coffee every day. I completely took off the screw to make cleaning easier. The new models may have this gone now.

Would buy again. Thanks Amazon for allowing us to rate.
I did call Capresso about a problem (resolved myself) they were very nice.

Been virtually trouble free for 18 months. Couple times I forgot to latch /or forget to add water. I love this machine. Just empty filter, rinse, add more water and check the level of beans. If you forget to add more beans, have a couple brews "grace" period. Only had two times when feeder needed cleaning, though good to check it /clean it out periodically.

Recently got some beans from Coffee bean direct. We did a Peets tour (samples from all over), and mid-tour we found we really like Indonesian low acid types. So from Coffee Bean Direct we are trying balanced Estate Java, balanced/heavy Sumatra Mandheling, and a heavier French roast of Dark Celebes Kalosi. Watch buying coffee from Amazon..one company sent ground coffee and refused to return. They did not have an option whole bean or ground.

My husband says he will never go back to ground again. he is spoiled by this pot and fresh ground.

For traveling...either take a french pot..or try some sealing tea bags.
I grind coffee and then use a vacuum sealer with small packs for travel.
Going to try sealing in tea bags..since you never know what kind of pot the hotel will have.

Can it possibly be worth spending this much money on a coffee maker? Just a coffee maker, not espresso? Yes indeed it can. I used to go to Starbucks maybe twice a week, now almost never. I'd rather go home and have a better cup in my kitchen! It's a good reminder that espresso isn't necessarily "better" or more "gourmet" -- it's just hard to find great American-style coffee. Once you do, you'll be hooked.

Capresso's grind/brew system is really well designed, it's less work to keep clean than a separate grinder and brewer. I like the ability to tweak the fineness of the grind, the speed of the brew, etc. I've also found that it brews very consistently -- just make sure that you use the same temperature of water from pot to pot. (And different varieties and brands of beans can make a difference too.)

My favorite feature: this is the first full-size coffee maker I've found that brews a single cup or two perfectly, which means less waste. I use 8 oz. of water on the 4-cup setting for an intense and satisfying cup.

A final note: it comes with an instructional video. You'll initially think "come on, like I'm going to watch a video about my coffee maker?" But do watch it, it's quick and surprisingly helpful.

We got this product because we wanted fresh coffee in the morning. The Capresso does a nice job of grinding and brewing, but we quickly noticed that our coffee wasn't as hot as we were used to with our old Cuisinart coffee maker. When we called Capresso about this it was suggested that we purchase a thermometer, which we did. Capresso states that brewed coffee will be 180 degrees. It was close to this - between 175 and 180. The problem came in with the heater/burner, which only maintains the temp to 165. (Our Cuisinart heats to 190 degrees.) When I called Capresso back they agreed to take the machine back to be tested and even sent a shipping form to do so. We got the unit back having been tested to be functioning properly, but they replaced the heating solenoid just the same. The result? We still get coffee that sits at 165 degrees. It is drinkable, but at our house we prefer our coffee hotter. We will be packing up the Capresso and going back to the Cuisinart and will probably eventually spring for a Cuisinart grinder/maker combo unit. One other minor peev is that the Capresso doesn't have an alerting beep that sounds after the coffee is brewed and after the heater turns off at two hours. The Cuisinart has these and we find it helpful.

I have had this coffee maker for about 2 years. After about 1 year, the display slowly started to die but I could still discern # cups I wanted so I dealt with it. Now it is totally dead and although the machine still works, it is worthless because I have no way of programming it. Way too expensive a machine to malfunction so quickly.