I once owned a Hamilton Beach coffeemaker 50 years ago when I first married my wife. I remember how the coffee brewing smelled just like it tastes, wonderful! Over the years, as a coffee enthusiast, I've tried many different brew methods, electric percolator, pourover single cup, Italian Mika brewer, and they all price exceptional tasting cup of coffee. The negative aspect with some of these is cleanup and maintenance. I wanted to get back to a 12 cup brewer because of my need for my coffee and simplified brewing method. This coffeemaker fills that need. It has simplified buttons easy for a senior to operate. Even though it is mostly plastic, like most items we use today, it is adequately durable with proper care. The 12 cup size meets my requirements, and it functions as advertised. Water flow has two speeds, normal, and measured /timed. Meaning, the choice for regular brew or bold. I tried a regular pot with 1 cup of ground coffee. It came out slightly weak tasting. Next, I tried the bold setting, same measures. It came out strong and a bit bitter tasting. So, following a suggestion from the owners sheet and reviews, I next tried a pot with 3/4 cup of coffee. Voila! A perfect pot of coffee! Now, my personal suggestions for making that pot last all day without getting blacker and Muddy tasting. (1) Immediately after brewing is finished, turn the unit off. As you pour a cup during the course of your day, put it in the microwave and reheat it. My wife always did this, and would even drink a cup of this coffee the next morning, using it all before making a fresh batch. I thought she was nuts, but, it does taste pretty good, and, it saves a LOT on rapidly rising coffee prices! (2) Once brewing is completely finished and dripping is done, remove the carafe, open the lid and gently stir the coffee for 5 seconds to mix it. Really? Well , while brewing, stronger coffee settles in the bottom of the pot while toward the end the water coming out is almost clear. It's stratified. So stir before serving, you'll enjoy your coffee all day long with these tips. Give a thumbs up if these worked for you. 😎 PS: After a couple months use, I've learned a thing or two about the brew cycle. Choosing the Bold cycle allows you to use much less coffee, but it takes experimentation to accomplish your expected results. I began experiencing acid stomach from this process, so I switched to regular brew, put in half cup of coffee plus one tablespoon and brewed on regular cycle and got a perfect pot. Folks had claimed that either the coffee was weak, or the brew basket would overflow. You just need to break in this coffeemaker. Overall, it's a darn fine product, and once you make friends with it, I believe you'll like it. 😎 Read more
Nice, easy to use. Fits well in the small space. Be careful removing. The glass pot is not very secure and can fall out easily and brake. Read more
Coffee maker is easy to use, brews a good cup o' Joe and is a good value for the money. I am used to the $70 coffee maker I've had for maybe 15 years and only got rid of it b/c of recent mold growth. But this one had good ratings and the brand has been around a long time so I wanted to give it a try. Its a little too lightweight for my preferences but its a nice shiny black plastic and feels like its made well enough. The stainless steel seems to be plastic...hard to tell. The water-level window starts at 4 cups, like right at 4 cups so if you are using the 1-4cup setting (very happy this maker has that function!) you must pour slowly when it is getting close so you don't overfill. Its easy to figure out the operation and brews in a reasonable amount of time. I am used to a thicker, heavier duty glass carafe so this one seems fragile to me but it is the same type as any other coffee maker I've used in a hotel or the workplace. So if you are used to coffee makers under $50 I definitely recommend this one and if you are used to more expensive, don't worry, this one brews just fine, makes a delicious cup of coffee and should last long. Read more
I bought this to replace the HB Professional when I broke the carafe and couldn't find a replacement. The Professional model had a clear tank, which was the only good thing about it (the carafe leaked every pour). I opted for this less expensive HB basic model. The carafe doesn't leak, the coffee is hotter and it's good! I love the white as you can see the bottom of the tank for cleaning. There is a spot for a filter in the tank, though the filter holder did not come with it, which I found odd. Thankfully my filter holder from my old one was a perfect fit. Read more
nice look, not huge not tiny, good size, hot coffee, coffee brewing sounds, small and larger serving sizes, not watered down coffee, careful to place the carafe correctly to avoid spill but easy to figure out, if I could change one thing it would be that it would make a sound when it's completely done brewing (however, it's easy to figure out = when it stops dripping) Read more
This has everything I was looking for: 2 hour automatic shut-off, a bold brew option (meaning you use less coffee yet get maximum effect), easy-pour, easy-clean, no-nonsense (meaning you don't need to be a computer programmer to operate this), and it looks great. You can set it to turn on, but if that's not your preference, this is basically a push-one-button operation. I prefer to set my coffee up the night before, then when getting up I push the ON button. There are 3 options: bold, not bold, and 1-4 cup setting), plus if you're impatient, you can grab a cup early. "Perkatory" is the time waiting for coffee to brew! Some people complain that their coffee makers are too loud. If that's you, this one if pretty quiet. The only improvement I'd like to see is the lettering for the cups, not on the carafe but on the maker itself. They are hard to read, and I drew a line to the point I normally make. We got the white one, which is quite attractive. I suppose you could spend twice as much for a coffee-maker, but I can't imagine it being any better than this one. *Update: I like bold coffee, but even when coffee-makers have that feature I usually end up having to add extra coffee. On this one, I'm adding less, and getting a full, rich, bold cup. So I'm saving on coffee and getting a better cup! Read more
