Customer Reviews

Mr. Coffee JWX27-NPA 12-Cup Progammable Coffeemaker, Black

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I purchased the Mr. Coffee JWX27 to replace an old, old programmable Mr. Coffee coffeemaker. I picked the JWX27 because it has stainless steel trim, the appearance of which I like, but it doesn't have a thermal carafe that a lot of the stainless brewers have and I don't want, and it is reasonably priced. My old brewer wasn't anything fancy to look at, but it started up in the morning on its own and it made good coffee. This new model has several "improvements" that actually take away from the simple, useful appliance the old one was.

First, the water filter. This is a piece of filtering material in a frame that lays on top of the brew basket. You have to pivot the water head away from over the brew basket and pick up the filter gadget to get to the basket to put your coffee in it. I plan to throw this junky thing away. It's a messy, annoying contraption that is just getting on the way of setting up the coffeemaker and I have some serious doubts about its effectiveness since it looks like it's made of paper. Additionally, if you're trying to brew a second pot quickly after the first, it's hot!

Speaking of the brew basket, rather than sitting in a separate assembly that pivots in and out over the carafe, to get to the basket on the JWX27, you have to flip open lid of the brewing machine. Once you get the water filter out of the way, there are some little loops to pull the basket out by, but it's not as neat as past designs that had a handle on the side to lift out the basket for dumping used filters/coffee grounds.

On the positive side, the clock and start timer are easy to set and are easy to understand how to brew immediately or brew at a programmed time. I have no need for the timer that can tell me how long the brewed coffee has been sitting, but it doesn't make itself annoying in any way, so no problem with it. The heating element turns itself off after two hours, which is peace of mind for when you are sitting at your desk at work wondering "did I turn off the coffeepot?" and worrying that you'll burn the house down.

The "pause 'n serve" function is still there for when you can't wait for a pot to finish up before getting that first cup of coffee into your cup but if I could figure out how to remove or disable the irritating beeper that goes off when the brew cycle is done, I'd totally do it. I live in a small house and when my coffee is ready at 5:00 AM, the rest of my family doesn't need to be woken up by Mr. Coffee obnoxiously announcing himself!

The JWX27 has a feature to switch between "regular" and "strong" brewing, and set on "strong", the resulting coffee (when I brew my usual 4 cups rather than a full pot) I get a nice strong "wake you up in the morning" brew.

In conclusion, my overall impression is that the Mr. Coffee JWX27 has a host of features that actually take away from the utility and ease of use that the basic no-frills Mr. Coffee design has but in spite of the unnecessary (from my perspective) annoyances, it makes a decent pot of coffee for a reasonable price.

I don't actually drink coffee, but I gave this coffeemaker to my parents for Christmas -- and I took a long time to choose one at that time. Dad wanted a glass carafe which he could fit his hand into (in case it needed a scrub), an auto shutoff, and a timer feature so the brew would be ready for him upon waking. And he didn't want ten million controls which he would never use. It's gotten daily use since then (in addition to a few cups of coffee every morning, the carafe and basket have been put through the dishwasher every two or three days, and the cleaning cycle is used just about every day) and we've never had a problem. I didn't even know it came with a special filter, as the other reviewer noted, but Dad wouldn't have used it anyway -- he was old school. Mom and Dad always said the coffee tasted perfect. I am buying one now myself to have on hand for when Mom visits.

The coffee maker makes a good hot, enjoyable cup of coffee. I am certainly no coffee connoisseur, but am very satisfied with the coffee. Unfortunately, the machine has several serious design flaws. I would NOT purchase this machine again because:

-Cleaning is much more difficult and time consuming than my old Sunbeam machine. On my old Sunbeam, the entire basket ensemble was removable and easily washable in the sink. On my new Mr. Coffee machine the basket itself is removable, but it sits inside the main reservoir of the machine, and coffee and grinds splashes up inside there, so on a daily basis, after removing and washing the basket I also need to wipe out the interior of the machine. Also, the water reservoir is right next to the basket with minimal division, so coffee and grinds splashes into the area around the basket and water reservoir as it is being brewed! Not a very smart design.
-The clock is not backlit or in color (it has small black numbers on a gray background, while my old Sunbeam had large red numbers on a black background) so it is impossible to read from a distance, and can be difficult to read close up depending on the angle and room lighting.
-Water reservoir cover is hinged on the left, making it difficult for lefties, such as myself, to pour the water in. (I need to use a weird wrist motion to pour from the rear of the machine, as it is unfathomable to me to use my right hand for this.) My old Sunbeam machine was hinged on the rear, which made a lot more sense.
-The removable basket to hold the disposable filter is black plastic. I specifically purchased a white machine (even though most of my kitchen appliances are black) because I wanted to be able to see when it was dirty. The entire machine is white, except for this one part which of course gets the most dirty (I guess they don't want you to be able to see this).
-The mid-brew delay to allow for you to sneak a cup of coffee while the pot is still brewing does not work - it makes a big mess (on my old Sunbeam this feature worked great). Additionally, every time I remove/replace the carafe some water or coffee must leak as liquid hits the warmer and sizzles for a bit.

On the positive side:
-While pouring coffee the carafe does not leak for me at all.
-The coffee stays HOT in the carafe for the entire warming period (2 hours I think). Much hotter than my old machine.
-Very easy and clear to set and program.

To sum up, while the resulting cup of coffee is very good, the flaws in design and difficulty cleaning make it a poor coffee brewing experience. I would NOT purchase this machine again or recommend it to anyone, as I'm sure there are machines out there without these seemingly simple to correct flaws.

I just made my first pot with this and thought I'd share first impressions that I wish I'd known in advance. Bought this coffee maker to replace a Krups, which lasted about 4 years and was very reliable until just giving up today.

My only complaint with the Krups was an annoying beep when it finished a brew- 2 cycles of three, high-pitched beeps. This feature could be turned off (though a pain to remember the programming sequence to do so)and it defaulted to being enabled every time the power went out- pretty common where I live. I don't understand why anyone thinks that confounded beep is necessary- who in the world can't tell from the gurgling and wheezing at the end of a brew that it's done? I hated the beeping because it woke up my infant daughter, whereas the just-as-audible terminal gurgling didn't.

Unfortunately, the Mr. Coffee also has that annoying beep, though only one cycle of three beeps. There was no way to know this from information on the box. I guess I'll just have to see if it's easier to defeat than the Krups. Or learn to live with it. Why in blazes can't they advertise this stupid feature so we can choose accordingly?

In buying the Mr. Coffee I struggled with the flat basket versus the semi-cone filter. The latter is more typical of higher-end (generally European) machines, whereas flat-bottom seems more American, hence apparently less sophisticated. In the end I decided that flat-bottomed must give better interaction between the water and the grounds. If it makes better coffee, or at least extracts the goodies more efficiently, I can deal with being less cool :)

OK, sipping the java now- it's damned good! Seems better than the Krups.

So many negative reviews for this unit but the majority of them are negative for stupid reasons! I purchased this unit to replace a crappy $65 Hamilton-Beach maker with an insulated carafe that was impossible to clean and made terrible coffee. My new Mr Coffee unit is easy to set up (seriously, add water, a filter and coffee then flip the spout over and press start, how is that too complicated???) and so far it makes a great cup of coffee. I purchased a permanent filter which only needs to be rinsed out after each use. The carafe and filter basket are incredibly easy to take out and clean in the sink. I have never used the automatic timer on any coffee maker before, never needed to. Bottom line, for the price this is a great coffee maker that is easy to set up and clean, plus makes a great cup of coffee!

We had a Mr. Coffee coffeepot for decades, and when it died, we replaced it with another. Within a short period of time, the warming surface peeled and we were sent a replacement coffeepot which we really disliked, so we replaced it with this model. We kept it though pouring water in had to be done carefully to avoid spillage, and you can only see what the amount of water going in from one side, which happens to be the side against the wall for us - not so convenient. The warming surface has peeled on this one too. We've had it too long to get a warranty replacement. I called Mr. Coffee and was told, unbelievably, that the surface peeled because we drag the pot across the surface rather than lifting it! Not sure that's so, but when I noted that the instructions certainly don't indicate that the pot has to be lifted, she agreed. Mr. Coffee used to make a good product. Our next pot will definitely not be a Mr. Coffee.

This coffee maker makes good tasting coffee. The BIG problem I have with it is the decanter dribbles every time you pour coffee into the cup. Many owners have complained of this. I've tried pouring slowly, pouring fast, and tilting the cup. Please be aware of this when making your decision. If you can deal with this you will like this coffee maker.

i love that it beeps when coffee is brewed and beeps when it automatically shuts off. nice design. makes a perfect cup of coffee

This is a great pot! Makes good hot coffee, fast. Easy to setup and easy to program. Good for a little or a lot of coffee.

Many have complained that the pot drips but I have not gotten it to drip one time. It is not huge and fits easly on my counter, under the cabinet.

I am glad I got this one and didn't spend more on the 'better one'. I love this pot!

This past spring we had to buy a new coffee maker since our other Mr. Coffee broke. This one looked nice and was an attractive price so we bought it. Only 3 months later it decides not to brew coffee anymore!! Don't have the receipt anymore so probably have to toss this one out and buy a new coffee maker. But I'll be sure to stay away from the Mr. Coffee brand. Lesson well learned!!