Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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447 of 458 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I purchased the thermal carafe version 10 cup, September 14, 2003
- previous was the typical old plastic type with glass carafeGood Points:
- much considerable improvement in coffee taste now
- the thermal carafe with autoseal until poured keeps coffee hot and no stale or burnt taste, it is double lined with stainless steel
- auto shutoff of heating element immediately after brewing prevents burning of coffee and electricity bills
- the 1-4 cup extra heat excellent idea
- the built-in grinding process
- choice of using paper filter or gold filter basket
- beeping tells you when coffee is ready
- does not have that ugly water level marker, it has a built-in marker where you pour water, a 3-D step ladder sort of speak
- does not expell any heat or humidity from unit, well sealed
- nice design and looks Bad Points:
- cannot tell amount coffee left in carafe
- pours out slowly from carafe
- carafe autoseal feature requires you to pour at a steeper angle to get faster flow output which still isn't fast enough for me
- grinder howls for about 30 seconds when running, it does not adjust grind-time for amount of coffee beans inside, it defaults to a 10 cup grind, solving this would require some clever engineering idea
- I find I have to clean more than my old machine, I clean the grinder and lid, basket and basket lid, ... the grinder does create a lot fine coffee dust which does get packed into every nook and cranny
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241 of 244 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
In defense of the Grind & Brew, February 27, 2005
Ye gads. I forgot all about the fierce partisanship amongst purchasers that this wee little machine invokes. Last year, I dutifully combed through all of the reviews and was almost pursuaded to look to another machine. Thank the stars I was not. Like many, I was won over by the lure of (1)the thermal carafe, (2) the auto grind&brew feature, and (3) the shininess. I also trusted the Cuisinart name and had been previously pleased with the Brew Central. I noted, however, that many writers were highly displeased with (4) the noise and (5) the mess. So, after a year, here are my experiences:
(1) The thermal carafe rocks out loud. Yes, pre-heating the carafe seems to keep the coffee hotter for longer, but on the crazy work-mornings that I use the auto-grind&brew function, I do not pre-heat and find no need to, as I am out of the house at light speed. Note that the coffee is still scaldingly hot. People seem irritated/perplexed at the slowness with which coffee is dispensed from the carafe, as well as the steep pouring angles necessitated by the carafe. I am not at all disturbed by either; however, a relative in need of immediate coffee discovered that one can get faster pouring by just removing the lid. Which defeats the awesome vacuum-packed thermal hotness, but seems a likely remedy for those with a fundamental aversion to slow pours. As far as weird geometry issues, I have nothing to offer.
(2) The auto grind&brew is very convenient. It has always worked flawlessly for me and really amazes and pleases guests who may rise before residents.
(3) It is damn shiny.
(NB: I have a lot of stainless in the kitchen and, through trial and error, have found that the Method stainless steel cleaner keeps it all damn shiny and keeps me from going stark raving from the constant buffing and rubbing).
(4) The noise? Really not that unusual for a coffee bean grinder. I did not notice that it was any louder than other grinders. If the "grind" portion of the auto grind&brew is waking one too early, I would imagine that one could either pregrind or use ground beans and just skip the "grind" function. While it is intriguing to imaging a space age machine with stealth grind mode, I would urge potential buyers to neither expect silence nor let lack of silence keep you from buying this machine.
(5) The ire over the mess was what nearly kept me from purchasing this maker. And I completely forgot about the issue until just now when I re-read some of the reviews. I guess that I don't understand what "mess" they mean. There are seven parts to this thing that I clean: carafe/lid, filter/basket/lid, and grinder base/lid. I rinse the carafe and filter with hot water and clean the rest with hot soapy water. It all takes approximately 2.5 minutes. I never have to clean the rest of the machine. I usually tilt the top-loader lid open to let condensation out after brewing is done. I occasionally wipe the inside of the machine down with a damp cloth. I have replaced the water filter a couple of times. But altogether, clean-up is not that big of a deal. Maybe others are not getting a tight enough seal on the the grinder parts?
SUMMARY: I have had this machine for over a year and have never had a single problem with it. It makes delicious, hot coffee. I was almost deterred by the problems that others have had with it, but am glad that I opted to take my chances. I gave it four, rather than five stars because so many people have had problems with it. Even though I have not experienced these problems, the negative feedback must nonetheless be taken into consideration.
cheers!
~currer bell
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85 of 86 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful machine, great coffee, February 16, 2003
By A Customer
Because of all the negative reviews, I thought I should write a positive one. I would consider myself a coffee snob and have worked as a professional barista in a coffee lover's cafe (as in NOT STARBUCKS), and I have never bought maxwell house in the can as was suggested that those of us who liked this machine did in an earlier review. My brew of choice is Peets Major D's blend,which is a full-bodied dark roast, and this makes a great cup of that.
Positives for me with this machine: it looks great on my bar (which was a key reason I bought it), the thermal carafe works with or without the preheating, it does not drip when you pour it, the coffee makes a great cup and I like the four cup feature since I usually don't make more than that anyway. I don't find the cleaning to be a big issue, and if I did, I doubt I would have bought a machine with technical features. The only negative really is that the grinder mechanism is not sealed enough to provide storage--I think it would be great if they came out with a hopper/grinder/dispenser attachment where you could store a half pound of beans on top--which would mean it couldn't fit under a counter. I don't have mine under a counter though, and the design of this probably isn't conducive to that anyway. Capresso makes a good machine, but it's not as pretty as this one.Since I was aprehensive about this machine from all the critiques, I can only suggest to those wavering on purchasing it to try the machine, read the MANUAL, don't overuse the brew pause feature, use quality beans, and don't overgrind--this is not an espresso machine. And yes, it takes a few brew cycles to flush out the "funny" taste. But if cleaning your coffee machine makes you twinge or you have low kitchen counters and can't move it out from underneath, don't buy it. This machine is not a generic "all things to all folks" as the polarized reviews indicate, so buy smart, know what works for you in your kitchen.
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