Great Hot Beverage System
I bought this coffeemaker for my wife as a Christmas present (2011). We love it a lot. It makes great, HOT coffee, and the hot water system works perfectly. If you are like me, you are reading these comments in order to learn whether or not you should buy this product. With that in mind, let me give you a few things to consider: The Not So Good 1. Plastic taste - A number of folks have complained about a plasticy taste, especially on the hot water side, and I can verify that we have experienced a little of that, but only on the coffee side. It took us about 3-4 pots of coffee before the plastic aftertaste went away, and we haven't tasted it since. We have never tasted it on the hot water side. It's possible that the people who keep tasting it truly have models that have a problem, but it's also possible that they just imagine they are tasting it. Either way, at least for us, whatever plastic taste was there before seems to be gone now. 2. Hard to fill the coffee reservoir - It is true that the hole you pour water through to fill the coffee side is poorly positioned and quite small. Some folks use a funnel, others rotate around to the side of the coffeemaker to improve their pouring angle. Me? I just pour carefully. I have not spilled any water (yet). My biggest issue is that I find the last 1/2 cup of water difficult to get out of the carafe. If I try to pour 8 cups of water into the reservoir I can get the first 7 1/2 out easily, but that last little bit is tough. To compensate I just fill the carafe with a cup or so more water than what I intend to pour into the reservoir - say, 9+ cups if I want to brew 8 - and then discard whatever extra water is left in the carafe. Problem solved. 3. Slight residue from coffee grounds - We use the bundled reusable coffee filter. We have found that it leaves a very fine residue from the coffee grounds at the bottom of our coffee, which isn't a big deal, but is at least something worth mentioning in case that sort of thing bothers you. 4. Coffee brewing time - The coffeemaker is not slow, but it certainly is not fast. Reading some reviews led me to think this thing made really fast coffee, which just is not the case. I would say it's average, which really isn't bad, per se, but you should temper your expectations. A Bunn this is not. The Good 1. Great coffee - Isn't this why you buy a coffeemaker? This unit makes really good coffee, period. It is VERY hot. I mean, you can put cold milk/creamer in your coffee and it'll still be hot when you're through, especially if you select the hottest carafe heat setting (a nice touch, I might add). A coffeemaker should make good coffee, and this one does not disappoint. 2. Speedy hot water system - I was very impressed with how fast the hot water system heated the water. Once again, after reading some reviews you would think this thing took forever. It doesn't. In just a few minutes it does its job as advertised. It's certainly faster than heating up a pot on the stove, although it only heats one serving or so at a time. But the reheats in between each serving take less time than the initial heating of the first serving, a real plus if you plan on making more than one hot drink at a time. But keep in mind that this hot water system is not intended to completely replace a kettle if you intend to fix a lot of tea or hot cocoa at one time. If you are making hot drinks for more than 2-3 people at a time, it might be faster to heat a lot of water on your stove rather than waiting for multiple reheats. As long as you keep this in mind I don't think you will be at all disappointed with the hot water system. It really does work well. 3. Simultaneous dual function - I got the impression from previous reviewers that you could not make coffee and hot water at the same time. This is not true. My unit will brew coffee on one side and heat up water on the other side simultaneously. Perhaps Cuisinart updated this model to add this function, or perhaps the previous reviewers were simply wrong. All I know is that mine does both at the same time and they both perfectly. I disagree with some of the reviewers who complained about other various issues with this coffeemaker. The hot water drain plug on the bottom of the unit is positioned exactly where it should be, and is simple enough to use. If you are using simple tap water for the hot water system it'll work just fine. The five beeps that indicate that the coffee is finished brewing are not too loud, nor intrusive. My microwave makes more noise when it beeps. The hot water reservoir should be drained occasionally (since you canot dispense all the water you put in), but this isn't as big of a deal as previous reviewers make it out to be. This takes about 10 seconds of your week. The electrical cord is a little short, but do people expect it to be 10 feet long? In the end, just like with any product being reviewed by hundreds of people, every possible flaw will be brought to light. But all in all I think this is a great product that is worth the money (assuming you buy it on sale - the retail price on this thing is outrageous; I got it for $85). I highly recommend it. Read more