Customer Reviews

Mr. Coffee SL13 Home Café Single Serve Coffee Maker, Black

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I shopped around and compared features on a lot of models before I bought this one. The big differences for me were
1) You can use your own coffee grounds or loose tea instead of spendy pods
2) It's also compatible with pods from a variety of makers.
3) It's much cheaper than the big name pod machines
4) Unlike some of the other machines that use a lot of electricity to keep water constantly heated so it can dispense quickly, this only heats when you turn it on.

To use it, you fill the water reservoir, put the pod in the pod tray, and press the start button. You add water for each cup you make, which makes it easy to control how much coffee you get out of it and control the brew strength. There are 3 pod trays that you can use: one that accepts a single pod, one that accepts 2 pods in case you like it strong, are making a big mug (most pods have enough coffee for 4-6oz mug) or for 2 cups at a time, and a 3rd tray that uses your own grounds or loose tea leaves. My only complaint is that the coffee could be a little hotter, though adding hot water instead of cold to the reservoir helps.

SL13 comes with 3 pod holders: single pod, double pod and ground coffee.
Pod coffee comes out weak because the pod holder diameter is a bit larger than Home Cafe and Senseo pods and water can flow around the pod instead of through it.
I had better results with the ground coffee holder, though I felt compelled to put filter paper (2.25 inch diameter) under the coffee.

I have owned MANY pod coffee makers. Many, because I have purchased them from their inception and they inherently break because they are plastic units under steam pressure. I enjoy the taste of coffee that is brewed by steaming the pod. To my mind, the next best thing to a latte. The Mr. Coffee Simple Brew does a more than adequate job of brewing a single cup of coffee. You can adjust the strength by the volume of water you pour into the water resevoir. By using a Folgers Columbian pod, I brewed an excellent 14 ounce mug of coffee with just one pod. It was hot enough to enjoy for several minutes. This coffee maker has eliminated three problems from the last Mr. Coffee pod machine I owned and just threw in the trash: difficulty sealing the pod into the unit, splatter and overfill. The mechanism sealing the pod into the coffee brewer simply slides sideways, it does not need to catch and seal. By adjusting the height of the brewer exactly to my cup, there was zero splatter on my white countertop. By pouring the water directly from my coffee cup into the resevoir, I had a perfect cup of coffee. Of course there are better cups of coffee out there, but not for this price. I give it an A+.

I have read the other reviews on this machine and it seems like the negative ones came from serious coffee drinkers. Bear in mind, I am an occasional coffee drinker. I was using the Maxwell house single coffee bags that you brew right in the microwave but I cannot find them anymore so I bought this coffemaker. I am enjoying my first cup right now and it tastes great. About the pods being too small, I bought Folgers (I know, you die-hard coffee drinkers probably think that is rot-gut but as I said...occasional drinker so it's good enough for me. The pod is the perfect size for the pod holder and looks like it was made for it. The coffee is good and hot and strong and the coffemaker is super easy to use. I love the fact that if my dad comes to visit he can use his tall mug that he likes because the height is adjustable. I highly recommend this machine. Coffee afficianodos may disagree but it does the job very well for me!

This is my third single serve machine. I have a Krups Home Cafe ($120) which only uses pods and I bought a Senseo ($70) which I gave away to a friend. The Mr. Coffee I purchased at a discount store for $20 and it is by far the best one I have owned. My problem was the expense of the pods. I drink a lot of coffee and wanted a machine that would use regular coffee grounds. The machine comes with three holders. Single pod, double pod and one for coffee grounds. What I do is take the cup I am drinking from, fill it with hot water and pour it in the machine. I then fill the holder with coffee(I use a "minimum" of 1 tablespoon for "my" regular 8 oz. cup) and place the screen on top. The screen does not lay flush with the holder since I like slightly stronger coffee but when I lock it in the machine it works fine. I have experimented with the amount of coffee I use and have made it way too strong (for even me) in the past. When done, I dump the grounds into a can and when the can is full spread the grounds around in my flower beds. On the down side, it is weaker than other brands when using the actual pods and yes, yes, yes, there will be some residue at the bottom of the cup when using coffee grounds. However, I don't generally "drink to the last drop" and end up pouring that out to make a new cup. Again, I am very pleased with the machine and will end up getting more of the machines for friends and relatives since I finally found one that truly uses my ground coffee.

I was excited about this product when I first used it. It has a pump that actually pumps the hot water through the coffee. I was hoping for a semi espresso effect. However, it pumps too fast at too low a pressure for a single serving to get good extraction and the coffee comes out a bit thin. I find myself stopping it part way through (just by pushing the ON button again) and letting the coffee grounds "brew" to get a richer flavor. 2 Cups work much better.
They should have a switch for 1 or two cups to allow for a slower pump time.
It is probably a good 2 pod coffee maker but I have only tested it extensively with ground home roasted beans.

Tried several batches with the single pod (to save money on the pricey pods)... really weak coffee. Tried several batches with the dual pod holder... still pretty weak. The only batch of coffee that would taste half-way decent was using the ground coffee holder... and the coffee would end up with a lot of coffee grounds and muddy cup bottoms.

Sure, the concept of a single, quick cup of coffee was alluring, but we've set this $50 model aside in favor of our good ole $10 standard coffee maker.... which still makes good coffee.

The only reason I didn't give it 1 star is because it does have the option of brewing with 1 or 2 pods or loose grounds. Also, the dispenser moves up and down to accomodate mugs of various heights while eliminating splatter... pretty cool feature actually.


This European concept of pressure-brewed coffee is probably a fine, theoretical concept, but this coffee maker does a terrible job in applying that concept. You have been warned.

Bought this to replace my old Mr Coffee pod machine, which worked great but busted the O-ring after a yr or so. I liked the adjustable ht feature, and like the almost silent operation, but it produces the weakest cup of coffee I've ever drank. I've tried double pods, even starbucks strongest brew to no avail. I threw it away after a week

Gives you a nice, fresh cup of coffee quickly (or at least as quickly as the other pod type coffee makers). Easy to use. Less expensive to use b/c you can use ground coffee rather than pods. Coffee is plenty strong when you use two tablespoons (for a larger cup). Coffee is plenty hot. Just can't find a thing to complain about! No more throwing away half a pot of coffee b/c it sat there and got stale--just make one cup at a time.

Bought this product for my Mom's birthday, mainly due to the feature that you could use your own coffee grounds and not be limited to just using the expensive pods. Poor product, as others mention, using pods the water bypasses the coffee pods giving very weak and timid coffee. Using ground coffee, it also seemed unusually weak for the amount of grounds and water used. It also dispenses at only lukewarm temperatures. Returned it and got the slightly more expensive Senseo and will live with using pods only. The Senseo is a far better choice and delivers water at 205 deg.