Customer Reviews

Saeco 10-Cup Automatic Drip Coffee Maker with Thermal Carafe and Burr Grinder, Stainless Steel

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

 

 

I have had this product for about 2 weeks and have owned several different brands of grind and brew machines over the years.

Thus far- coffee is good (on strong); clean-up is simple; programming requires a little experience on sequencing (I've owned other brands and seem to revert back to old habits).

The carafe design, however, is horrible. Whether filling the water reservoir or filling the cup, it leaks all the time unless you pour at a dribble rate (for the 1st cup of coffee in the morning? Come on!!!). About 1 cup of water seems to run over the counter when filling the reservoir. This seems to be a function of the narrow width of the spout. Should be an easy fix.

Also, the carafe design always seems to leave about 1/2 cup of water in the carafe when filling the reservoir until you practically turn the carafe upside down.

I purchased one of these with the expectation that it would be as easy to use as other similar brands I have previously purchased. The one I received had a defect in that the retractable metal device that opens to let the grinds through and closes to keep the steam out of the grinder path would get stuck closed and not let the grinder pass the grounds into the basket. The folks at Saeco USA were helpful but didn't have one to send me to replace it but noted it in case I had a problem with replacement.

Makes a good strong cup of coffee.
Stainless steel carafe means:
1. You had better heat it up with hot water prior to use or the coffee will be cool.
2. No heating element to keep it warm or fix number 1 above - the steel carafe is suppose to maintain the temperature.
3. No breaking the glass carafe

I agree opening the carafe is a bit awkward and annoying.

I used to purchase a similar product from Capresse, while it was better and easier to use in many ways, it broke down in constant use at home and at work (I purchase 3 of them).

as another reviewer said - i bought this despite the reviews thinking that people were being fussy. unfortunately the machine has issues that most people will find annoying. that said, if you play around a bit, you can get a great cup of coffee. issues:

1) manual is a joke. not consumer friendly. not helpful. bare bones.
2) carafe is terrible. all the comments about difficulty of pouring are accurate. to pour without spilling, you need to do it at a trickle. carafe also does not keep coffee hot for very long.
3)i'm finding the grinder to be a little fussy.. if you don't move beans around with your finger then they may not go into the grinder. there are moments you hear the grinder going but nothing being ground.
4) for some reason the "check basket" light comes on automatically before every use.

all of this is aggravated by saeco usa customer service being non-existent. emails are not returned. web messages are not answered. no live phone reps and messages are not returned. between this and the manual, i have to say saeco has no sense of being customer focused or friendly.

tips for getting a good cup of coffee:

1) use a very find grind
2) set brew to "strong"
3) set machine to grind 2 more cups of beans than you actually need. to make 6 cups -- set machine to grind for 8 cups -- and fill with 6 cups of water

that's my two cents!

*** UPDATE 5/4 - while I still have the same issues, I did get connected to Saeco customer service and they have been helpful and very responsive

Not real sure what some of the bad reviews are all about in regards to this machine. No issues with pouring that is not present with any other thermal carafe. Yes the water reservoir is a bit awkward to poor into, but not that big of a deal. Makes great coffee, and allows you to choose if you want your coffee made mild, medium, or strong. We love our machine, and you can't go wrong with a name like Saeco.

I would have to agree with the review of the other two people. The carafe is REALLY REALLY bad!!! I read the reviews before purchase and thought I would just take a chance on it! I had trust in this brand since my mother owns a Saeco and I really loved hers (hers however was a more expensive model without a carafe) I would strongly advice NOT to buy this product until they fix the carafe. We have had this product for about a month now and the coffee is good but it is just not worth it. The coffee also doesn't stay hot. My parents in law own a Starbucks machine and have a thermal carafe their coffee stays brewing hot for 8 hours!!!!! That was what I expected from this model and was sadly disappointed!

This machine is probably the best coffee maker on the market, certainly the best I have owned. The alarm is too loud? It dumps coffee on the counter? If YOU set it wrong it doesn't know it? My God, people blame their own complete idiocy on the coffee maker. It works like a charm, it washes easier than any maker on the market, the carafe works like a wonder UNLESS YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR COFFEE HOT FOR THREE HOURS! It's beautiful and works perfectly, if stupid people cant operate a simple coffee maker it makes your wonder about their ability to drive a car.

I have had this coffee maker for ~ a month. It was a replacement for a Cuisinart grind and brew that started to leak after 6 years. I liked the Cuisinart but was tired of the daily cleaning. This coffee maker makes fantastic coffee, better than my old Cuisinart and has no more cleaning required than a normal coffee maker. The reason I am not giving it 5 stars is the carafe. My old Cuisinart had a thermal carafe. That carafe had issues dribbling when it poured so I wasn't put off by the other reviews about this one. This one is a hundred times worse. I pour my coffee over the sink to get around how bad it pours but it still is problematic when filling the reservoir. I have also noticed it doesn't keep the coffee hot as long as my old Cuisinart unless I preheat the carafe. I don't think this is because of the carafe. The Cuisinart had a heat plate that heated the carafe while the coffee was brewing and turned off when done. I don't think this one has that function. If I would have known how unsatisfactorily the carafe poured, I would have not bought this machine. That being said, I am keeping it and not returning it. I'm hoping the manufacture will redesign the carafe and I can replace it.

I would easily give this product 5 stars if the carafe could be redesigned. The grinder is noisy, but efficient and quick. I like the hopper storage for coffee beans on top of the unit, and the brew basket assembly is a snap to empty and clean. It can be set for auto grind and brew or manually started, and you can also adjust the number of cups. The coffee brews hot and doesn't take long to brew. The only issue I have is that the carafe was designed without a pour spout and, instead, has a solid lip under the entire rim inside carafe. Unless you set the lid on the carafe in the EXACT location to pour, coffee drips down the front of the carafe and can make quite a mess on countertops or the floor. Still worth purchasing and a nice unit (my second Saeco coffee brewer), but hopefully this design flaw will be addressed for future units.

The coffee maker works reasonably well and is simple to use. It has a minor issue in that it always asks you to check the basket when you turn it on and you then have to press the on button again in order to start the brewing process. The seems to be reminder and does not relate to whether the basket is open or closed. In fact it seems like you can grind and brew with the basket open causing a mess. Other than this minor quirk it seems to work reasonably well and it is much better than the Cuisinart grind and brew it replaces. If you like your coffee strong you will have to adjust the grind setting and reduce the water level a little. My major headache with this was that the item arrived new from Amazon without the Carafe. Following Amazon's directions I contacted the manufacturer; Saeco. There customer service is atrocious and they dont respond to email. I finally got them on the phone to send me a Carafe after they argued with me that it doesn't come with the carafe (it does). They sent me the Carafe and it was clear that it was a used Carafe as it was scratched up on the lid and still seems to have coffee in the lid. It looks like maybe they took it out the break room or a return. In any event I emailed customer service to have this fixed and never received any reply. I would have returned the whole item but I'm too busy and so I just wound up sanitizing and using the carafe but needless to say I am not happy and will never buy another Saeco product.

I have owned a Saeco coffee pot before (the Saeco Aroma) and was totally satisfied with the purchase as the machine performed faithfully for 5+ years. So of course, when I was ready to replace it, I naturally went with another Saeco product expecting awesome quality...BIG MISTAKE! The Saeco 10-Cup Automatic Drip Coffee Maker with Thermal Carafe and Burr Grinder is an extremely poor coffee maker at best. First, lets talk about the coffee bean burr grinder. What an awesome idea to have your coffee drip maker automatically grind the beans fresh right into the basket...a great idea if it worked! If I do not manually push the beans into the grinder feed opening in the bin after the automatic grind sequence begins, I end up with a tablespoon of coffee (at most) in the bottom of the basket once the grind sequence is completed. So, if you push the brew button and walk away, the ten cups of water will cycle through the tablespoon of coffee, and you will end up with hot water that is slightly tinted brown with no hint of coffee flavor. Isn't it the point that the machine is supposed to do it automatically for you without having to stand around and babysit it to make sure you get coffee? Oh, and don't get me started about the thermal carafe. I mean, the thermal carafe is probably one of the top reasons I purchased this machine as (at least with my old Saeco Aroma) it allows the coffee to remain hot without getting overcooked by a burner plate. My old coffee maker thermal carafe would keep the coffee hot for 3+ hours but this one, maybe 30 minutes tops and then the coffee gets ice cold. On top of that, the lid on the carafe, if not put on just right, dribbles coffee all over the counter and floor while you are pouring it...YUK. To say the least, I am extremely disappointed with my buy and wished I had never purchased this machine. In short, DISAPPOINTMENT!