Customer Reviews

Cuisinart SS-1 Cup-O-Matic Single Serve Coffeemaker, Black and Brushed Chrome

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

This coffeemaker does what it says - makes good coffee, dee-lishis customizable coffee, in fact - using either ground or pod. BUT, if you have someone who is sleeping anywhere near the kitchen, beware. Grinding, thumping and bumping. Oh, and beeping - three piercing ones when the process is complete. AND, oops, if you remove the water container for re-fill whilst the machine is on, the beeping gets out of control. four stars - minus one for the sound issues.

I was very pleased with the quality of the coffee that this machine brews. For many people, that's all that matters and for them I think the SS-1 can be a great choice.

There is a good variety of cup size options, buttons to select strong or regular brew, and its very easy to use your own ground coffee instead of pods, if you'd like.

However, I find the noise generated by this machine to outweight the benefits of good coffee. Be prepared for a noisy experience. In my case, the cup actually vibrates across the drip pan. There is a youtube video that demonstrates the brewing situation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCzfQNKCZUw

I agree with the other reviewer it is noisy BUT this is one of the only single serve coffee makers which actually make a "real" cup of coffee. There is even a Bold setting for those who do not need sleep.

It arrives with a selection of Lavazza coffees (10 pods) which were all excellent except for the decaffeinated which was disappointing.

But the machine delivers outstanding results from ground coffee and the plunger compresses the used grounds into an expresso machine like lozenge that you can tap right into the trash.

Cup to cup times are good where it can be ready to make another 8oz cup in about 5-10 seconds from the last cup made.

Tired of wasting pots of stale coffee - buy this, you will not be disappointed.

NB - (added July 2 2008) I have now had this machine for over 7 months and I would like to add some observations. It is possible to make a good cup of tea with this machine too! I would recommend the purchase of an additional brew cup and filter basket which are both available from Cuisinart as spare parts (approx $40). This way the tea and coffee will not affect the flavors of each other. You can use both tea bags and loose tea.

I have also used coffee pods designed for the Senseo with the Sumatra blend being particularly pleasant. I am still a great fan!!

This machine is fantastic. I have to agree with the other reviewers - it is noisy. But the great and easy cups of cofee make up for that. I love that you can use a pod for this, but you don't have to. I generally grind my own coffee and skip the pods.

UPDATE:
I've been using this for more than two years and it still works perfectly.

After putting up with weak, lukewarm coffee from various early one cup coffeemakers and what I considered just so-so coffee from my Tassimo, I bought this Cuisinart Cup-O-Matic after my Tassimo started to leak. It is noisier than the others, but we have gotten used to it. Even though the Tassimo had the advantage of being able to make tea and hot chocolate as well as coffee, I was locked in to having to buy the rather expensive, hard to find T-Discs. This Cuisinart has the ability to use practically any coffee discs, except the Tassimo T-Discs, or ground coffee! So far I have used both but not surprisingly prefer the coffee made with loose ground coffee. Even though it was not recommended for this purpose, I tried using round tea bags such as Tetley tea bags (when I was too lazy to boil a whole pot of water for one cup) and using the pod setting, found that it makes a passable cup of tea as well! It looks better on my counter and takes up less space than the Tassimo did. If you're looking for a quality one cup coffee maker, bypass the others, spend a few dollars more and buy this one...you won't be disappointed!

The quality of the coffee made is after all the most important feature of any coffee make. After trying several coffee types (pods and grind), must say it makes an axcellent cup of coffee. The coffee is consistant in quality and is served hot. Also, as an american we like bigger cups of coffee than the European cup size and this machine delivers that. The cup size can be as large as a 12 oz.(U.S.) for a travel mug and as small as four oz.. It fit comfortably two pods or three generous scioops of grind coffee. The bold option really works and delivers a bolder cup. The design is good and compact on the conter. Its a great coffee maker! I have not tried any expresso coffees yet but will report on that latter.

Now for the negatives. First the coffee maker is made in China. How durable and trouble free the coffee maker will be is any ones's guess. The machine's water head has to decend and compact the coffee grind or the pods before the water is injected under low pressure and then it raises back up and decends again to squeaze out the last drop out of the coffee. I question the durability of that system coming from China. The second negative is the coffee basket. The inner basket is stailess steel but the outer basket holder is made of white metal. In the short time I have owned it it is already pitting. I hope there is no lead or contaminants in it! Its scarry from what you read from the lead contamination from products coming from China. I hope they will make this a single piece unit in the futer all out of stainless steel.

I have owned the Bunn Pod coffee maker and it it the best of the pod coffee makers. I haven't tried the grindmaster pod machine but have tried all of the others. Bunn is number one overall (Quality of machine and coffee) and the Senseo is number one for a european style of coffee with the froth (foam) due to its higher pressure system. The Cuisinart SS-1 is unique and will be the furture of single cup machines. The Pod Coffee Makers just haven't taken off like some had hoped and pods are hard to find in the stores. Also you are limited to buying coffee from coffee manufactures who make the coffee available in pods. With the Cuisinart you can use your favorite coffee or experiment since it can use grinds coffee. This will start a new trend in machines being developed. I can't wait when Bunn develops one!!!!!!

If your looking for a good consistant cup of coffee and allows you to use grind, then this is the machine for you! I give it a four because of the two negatives discussed. I would be will to pay more for a U.S.A. made product or one made in Germany, France, England or Italy. I would feel safer and be assured of better quality.

I bought this as a Christmas gift for my parents. I was concerned with all the reviews regarding it being 'noisy', however, the piston, the quality, the water filter and the choice of pods or ground coffee out weighted the noise. I took a chance it would not be that bad. I also wanted something easy to use. The choices of size of cups and regular or strong brew also helped swing my choice. My folks love it and the noise is nominal for them. The fact that the piston pretty much drys out the grounds/pod far outweighs the noise for the short period of time the piston operates. This was an excellent gift and a fine machine.

The machine does make some noise. That being said, who really cares when you end up with perfect, customizable coffee for one every single time? It is the easiest machine to use, clean-up is as easy as washing the brew basket and cup, and there is never stale or wasted coffee. The noise, to me, is completely tolerable and, since the machine is really fast, it is also short-lived. The only thing that I ama little wary of is that the machine shakes a little and can move a bit, so you need to watch the cup when it first starts dripping because it can move around and even off the tray. This can be remedied by removing the tray and placing the cup on the counter, and it can be lessened by placing a rubber mat (i use a mousepad upside down) under the whole unit. I think this helps with noise a bit too. All in all, I still give it five stars, even with these issues, because when all is said and done, you end up with perfect coffee using your favorite ground coffee and you never have to buy a pod, although you have that option too. I couldn't imagine life without my cuisinart cup-o-matic, I've even all but stopped buying coffee outside, which I did 6 times a day before! I LOVE this machine!

I owned the Bunn My cafe pod machine the so called best and the cup of coffee tasted processed and watered down, even when you use your own grounds with a pod making machine. The Cuisinart makes a bold rich cup of coffee that you would expect from a $200.00 machine.

My husband makes 2 cups every morning and on the weekends he has been known to make up to 5. After a month of using this machine the sensor stopped detecting the brew basket and we would have to slide the basket in and out until the machine detected the basket, there were even times that we had to turn the machine off to get it working again. Another problem was the noise that it would make, it is very loud. My husband greatly disliked this coffee maker. The coffee maker is a great looking machine but in no way is it an every day tool. If your looking for a single serve, I would suggest the Senseo.