In defense of the Grind & Brew
Ye gads. I forgot all about the fierce partisanship amongst purchasers that this wee little machine invokes. Last year, I dutifully combed through all of the reviews and was almost pursuaded to look to another machine. Thank the stars I was not. Like many, I was won over by the lure of (1)the thermal carafe, (2) the auto grind&brew feature, and (3) the shininess. I also trusted the Cuisinart name and had been previously pleased with the Brew Central. I noted, however, that many writers were highly displeased with (4) the noise and (5) the mess. So, after a year, here are my experiences:
(1) The thermal carafe rocks out loud. Yes, pre-heating the carafe seems to keep the coffee hotter for longer, but on the crazy work-mornings that I use the auto-grind&brew function, I do not pre-heat and find no need to, as I am out of the house at light speed. Note that the coffee is still scaldingly hot. People seem irritated/perplexed at the slowness with which coffee is...
I purchased the thermal carafe version 10 cup
- previous was the typical old plastic type with glass carafe
Good Points:
- much considerable improvement in coffee taste now
- the thermal carafe with autoseal until poured keeps coffee hot and no stale or burnt taste, it is double lined with stainless steel
- auto shutoff of heating element immediately after brewing prevents burning of coffee and electricity bills
- the 1-4 cup extra heat excellent idea
- the built-in grinding process
- choice of using paper filter or gold filter basket
- beeping tells you when coffee is ready
- does not have that ugly water level marker, it has a built-in marker where you pour water, a 3-D step ladder sort of speak
- does not expell any heat or humidity from unit, well sealed
- nice design and looks
Bad Points:
- cannot tell amount coffee left in carafe
- pours out slowly from carafe
- carafe autoseal feature requires you to pour at a steeper angle to get faster flow output which...
Beautiful machine, great coffee
Because of all the negative reviews, I thought I should write a positive one. I would consider myself a coffee snob and have worked as a professional barista in a coffee lover's cafe (as in NOT STARBUCKS), and I have never bought maxwell house in the can as was suggested that those of us who liked this machine did in an earlier review. My brew of choice is Peets Major D's blend,which is a full-bodied dark roast, and this makes a great cup of that.
Positives for me with this machine: it looks great on my bar (which was a key reason I bought it), the thermal carafe works with or without the preheating, it does not drip when you pour it, the coffee makes a great cup and I like the four cup feature since I usually don't make more than that anyway. I don't find the cleaning to be a big issue, and if I did, I doubt I would have bought a machine with technical features. The only negative really is that the grinder mechanism is not sealed enough to provide storage--I think it would be...
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