Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding Individual Coffee Cup Coffee Maker!, June 3, 2008
This is my second K-Cup coffee maker. My first was the Keurig model, which was also wonderful, but I really liked the looks and the features of the Breville model, so I thought I'd try it, and I'm really happy I did! Sleek, modern styling fits in with today's kitchens! Water filtering availability is a plus, and all accessories store neatly in top of unit. Makes a great cup of coffee every time! I'm the envy of all my friends, and everyone who has tried it has either wanted one or bought one, even my husband's boss! So many varieties of coffee and tea and hot chocolate on line, you can make everyone happy all the time! You'll LOVE it!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding. A wise purchase, regardless of price, for any coffee lover, December 9, 2009
First of all, I have to say I all but stole this thing. Brand new in the box at Linens 'N Things, currently bankrupt and liquidating all stock. At 40% off (the list $300 price), I snagged it for $180 before tax. I could not find it on the web anywhere for much less than $250, before tax & shipping. While I was there, I also snagged a matching Breville BKC100 K-Cup Carousel for $24. [There's a bunch of wire carousels out there, but this one is of a sturdier plastic, it's more stylish and it matches the coffee maker's silver/stainless finish.] Out the door, both items, just at $219. Then I stopped and bought a box of 18 K-cup (decaf) cartridges for $10 at BBB and headed home.
The machine is sexy and gorgeous and it appears to be built very, very well. In researching I did find complaints about quality build for the black plastic single-serve units branded as Keurig, but I didn't find any such complaints about this puppy! Even the packaging demonstrate manufacturing excellence and thoughtfulness, with small pieces of tape, foam strips, little plastic bags and whatnot ensuring zero damage in transit.
Following the 1-page crystal-clear quick start guide (since the machine has to be run through a one-shot 'priming' process), I went from in-the-box to first cup in under 30 minutes. And it was outstanding.
The taste, speed and convenience is a vast improvement over my five-year-old Melitta Mill-n-Brew (model MEMB10TB, which I reviewed on Amazon and is now out of production) which over time shifted to producing lukewarm coffee, requiring me to pre-heat the thermal carafe with hot water for five minutes in the sink. And that also made the auto-timer, wake-up-to-your-pot-of-coffee, function useless.
This machine comes with, hidden under the lid, a mini-basket system for 'brewing your own grind.' But I can already see the convenience of the K-Cup system, where you just pop the sealed coffee cup into the top ... and clean up is nothing more than tossing the used cup in the trash ... is going to be addictive. But I expect I will be doing a good bit of grinding of my favorite brand. And I am looking forward to only having to rinse out this tiny-teeny-weeny basket as clean up. For the Melitta Mill-and-Brew, that involved cleaning the carafe, the carafe lid (which took grinds), the large basket, the basket lid (which also took grinds) and the inside bottom of the basket/filter hopper (which took grind residue).
And the machine has a little charcoal filter packet and holder that mounts/snaps easily right into the water tank!
The control buttons and the menu are almost 100% intuitive. Flip the power on switch then when the big "brew" button lights up, you are ready to go. The menu is operated by buttons marked menu, up, down and OK. Simple enough. The menu is brief and not deep - set the clock, set the temp, set the cup size, set the auto-on. The auto-on does not actually brew, it just starts the thing up so that the water is heated up and ready to brew at the push of the button. When the machine is in that "go mode," you get your coffee in about 30 seconds.
The LCD Screen is easy to read, backlit in soft/sky blue. And so is the water tank. Apparently, that backlight flashes to let you know when you are low on water! Clever!!
The thing makes a fairly loud racket for about 10 seconds as it pressure-heats the water before the brew ... and again afterwards, apparently 'reloading' for the next cycle. Posters indicate this is normal. It's not any worse than the racket a grinder makes. I bet a thin pad underneath (like a foam mouse pad) will dampen the sound somewhat. And the pre-packaged K-cups are not exactly economical. But, so far, after researching on the web and tinkering with the thing the first day, those are the only two downsides I can find.
Now I just have to add the perfect grinder! It will be Breville as well, the BCG450XL Conical Burr Grinder. The runner up grinder was the KitchenAid ProLine (the one that looks like an hourglass), but there are lots of posts about how it clogs easily, turning the grinds into pure putty and so requires frequent cleaning. And that the beans have to be poked down into the chute with a chopstick or whatnot. The posts for the Breville grinder don't indicate that ... or much of any downside for its grinder at all. And aesthetically it marries to the Breville coffee maker quite well.
There's a whole lotta' upside to this coffee maker. Give it serious consideration!
NB: Two days earlier I also snagged from LNT a Bialetti Moka Express 6-Cup Stovetop Expresso Maker - the device many Italians keep in their homes to do expresso - for about $15. And now I've got the Burr Grinder on it's way. Look out - now I've got the MacDaddy coffee setup!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome coffee maker, beats Keurig hands down, September 30, 2009
My parents have had one of these for a few years and we use it every time we go over there. I finally decided to get one and we couldn't be happier. We had a Keurig machine (high end model) at one point in the past and this is far superior. The programming features are a nice addition. It is very well made. I bought a refurbished model and there was one little hiccup with a clogged nozzle, but it has been running fine ever since. We now use a fraction of the coffee we used to use making full pots every time we wanted coffee. The Breville "My K-Cup" seems better than the Keurig ones which used to break all the time. The one we have is still going strong and we used it 4-6 times per day. This model has a nice little storage compartment on top for the filter and scoop, very convenient. I like being able to set the water temperature as well - nice touch. Over all I highly recommend this unit. By far the best coffee maker I have ever had. We had a good experience with the refurbished model and saved quite a bit of money that way.
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