Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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274 of 276 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Big Improvements!, September 17, 2008
This review is from: Bosch TAS4511UC Tassimo Single-Serve Coffee Brewer, Silk Silver (Kitchen)
Ordered this new Bosch Tassimo machine on-line directly from Tassimo. Same price as Amazon at $139.99. www.tassimo.com. We have been using it for about a week now and I absolutely love it! We had used the Braun Tassimo machine for about 5 years and the new Bosch has much improved the Tassimo coffee maker. Here's a list of the Improvements:
1. It's narrower and doesn't take up as much counter space
2. There is a power button on the front of the machine so you can easily turn it off at night.
3. There is essentially no water warm-up time. It is almost instant after you insert the T-disc and push the green button.
4. It is extemely quiet.
5. It even makes the coffee a little stronger than the old machine did.
6. It does not collect waste water that you have to empty all the time. Only the few drops of coffee that don't make it into your cup are collected.
7. Much better filtering system. It also has a change filter indicator to tell you when its time to change the filter.
8. Higher construction quality, more solid feel to the machine.
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348 of 355 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good coffee, with a few caveats for the sytem in general, March 15, 2009
This review is from: Bosch TAS4511UC Tassimo Single-Serve Coffee Brewer, Silk Silver (Kitchen)
As a coffee enthusiast I've done most of the things coffee enthusiasts do - grind their own beans, try to get their roasts as fresh as possible, use different brewers and methods, etc. I tried the Senseo pod system as well. I also currently have a Keurig system that I enjoy. About six weeks ago I decided to try the Tassimo system, and these are my thoughts so far:
1. I think the Bosch unit is well-built. It is virtually instant-on, and its resevoir is adequate for home use. Keurig requires a couple minutes from cold to ready, but allows you to set an on time to coincide with your wake-up time so it's ready to go when you are.
2. I appreciate the fact that I can hold the brew button in and add some extra water to increase the portion size of a cup of coffee. I think that is more convenient than Keurig's fixed-size portion choices.
3. Overall, the coffee seems stronger than what the keurig typically brews. This system seems to have a better extraction method, and of course the bar-coded discs allow for variety.
4. While not a foamed-milk connoisseur, I think it does an adequate job of making lattes and such, with none of the attendant mess a steam wand and milk jar can create.
5. The cost seems pretty much on par with the Keurig products. If you have made a commitment to a cartridge-based coffee maker, you won't be sticker-shocked by the cost per cup. Of course it's higher than if one grinds their own beans, but on average I am using far less for brewing and, more importantly, not wasting partial pots that have grown cold or being forced to brew 4 cups when I only want one. I think if one begins to consider the waste factor of regular coffeemakers and their minimum brewing quantities, these cartridge systems become more cost competitive at providing a near-instant cup of completely fresh, hot coffee.
That being said, I think there are some irritating drawbacks to this system:
1. Unless you are happy with what you get locally, you better be prepared to get your order in by Wednesday at Tassimodirect, because they only ship on Fridays. Miss the deadline, and you will wait a week. Tassimo has a relatively thin selection compared to pods and K-cups, and many T-disc brands and types seem to be available only from Tassimo directly. This reminds me of small-time E-Bay retailers who run their auctions and set them up to end and then have a once-weekly "ship date". That's fine for them; it's amateurish for a company that is a division of Kraft Foods.
2. Brewing takes longer to complete. When my Keurig machine is done, I need to wait perhaps 5 seconds to remove my coffee cup and open the unit and pull the pod out. The Tassimo system seems to linger at the end of the brew cycle and dribble out coffee for quite some time. If you get impatient and open the lid, you will likely be greeted by a whoosh of hot steam and hot, wet coffee grounds. It really increases the amount of time to brew multiple cups. Bosch needs to introduce an option that allows people who know they are not going to add additional water to their coffee to have the brewing cycle terminate and relieve the pressure in the brewing chamber at whatever point the barcode on the T-Disc has instructed the machine to fill/brew to.
3. Watch out if you get a bad batch of T-Discs. I have had 2 batches of discs (same flavor, 2 different packages) where about 80% of them ruptured during their brew cycle. This results in hot water streaming out of the brewing area, accompanied by lots of coffee grounds in the brewing area and coming out of the unit. It's a mess, and it's dangerous. Both batches had actually ruptured the foil tops on the T-Disc pods. I really doubt it's my unit because the dozen or so other brands/flavors/types I have tried have not ruptured.
Is it a good system? Yes, it is. It's positioned somewhere between K-Cups and Senseo-type pods, which have the largest choice, and the highly boutique systems such as Nespresso and Lavazza Blue, which have a much narrower focus and selection. Its system is also more versatile at brewing than Keurig, which can't do Crema or milk foaming, but it does need some fine-tuning to cut down the cycle finishing time and make it safer to open to unit more quickly at the end of a cycle.
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130 of 130 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
FINALLY! Well Worth The Wait!, September 29, 2008
This review is from: Bosch TAS4511UC Tassimo Single-Serve Coffee Brewer, Silk Silver (Kitchen)
My wife and I bought the BRAUN Tassimo Maker about a year ago as a wedding present to ourselves and we LOVED it (use it just about every single day). The BRAUN unit did have a few drawbacks that we would have liked to see changed: Unit too wide, too LOUD, no cord storage, and that annoying "puddle cup" for unused/overflow water, etc.
We had heard the BOSCH unit was much improved over the BRAUN so we bought it this past weekend. All I can say it BOSCH got it right. Although we were a bit disappointed neither unit has a timer, the fact that the beverages are brewed so quickly (even faster in the BOSCH) that the inconvenience of not having a timer is really not a big deal. Although the BOSCH is a tad bit deeper (longer) than the BRAUN...it has a slimmer width and looks much nicer on our kitchen counter. The new BOSCH is still very simple with a similar one-touch operation...but with the addition of an on/off. Our 11 favorite features of the new BOSCH Tassimo are:
1 - The noise has been reduced by at least 90%! Anyone who has had the BRAUN will notice a HUGE difference with the BOSCH!
2 - FASTER brewing time. Within a few seconds after turning the unit on and inserting a T-disc the unit will start brewing, unlike the BRAUN which sometimes took a minute or more for the "ready" light to come on.
3 - A more "solid/quality" look and feel. This is especially evident in the T-disc housing. It is a much heavier plastic and you don't feel like you are going to break it whenever you clamp down on a T-disc.
4 - Longer "piercing unit" that narrows down toward the cup. This significantly cuts down on coffee splatter which was a real pain with the BRAUN.
5 - CORD STORAGE! With the BOSCH I only pull out the exact amount of electrical cord I need making for a much better fit on the counter than the old coil and hide cord on the BRAUN unit.
6 - NO MORE PUDDLE CUP! Although the storage tank on the BOSCH has slightly less capacity than on the BRAUN, we love not having to empty the "dribble cup" or soak up water in the base everytime the unit's base cup was removed to fit tall mugs!
7 - The Cleaning Disc is conveniently stored away in the back of the unit, virtually eliminating the possibility of misplacing it.
8 - On/Off switch! This is a nice feature for turning the unit OFF when going out of town, etc. rather than having to unplug it!
9 - Filter Change Indicator. I like this feature, but I feel that having to buy filters every couple of months can get pricey. We use "double filtered" water (filtered from our fridge and then filtered in the unit). By doing this I am confident we can get twice as much usage out of the filters than those using unfiltered tap water...simply "reset" the filter indicator twice.
10 - The water reservoir on the BOSCH has a handy-dandy handle which makes it much easier to remove/fill/clean, etc.
11 - PRICE! Considering the improvements on the BOSCH, I would have gladly paid the same amount as we did for the BRAUN (retail $169)...but at just under $140 this until is well worth the price.
I hope this helps those of you trying to decide between the two units!
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