I purchased this coffee maker around Christmas and was a little concerned over the prior reviews that stated it uses too much coffee. The chemist in me had to do the experiment.
A standard issue coffee from Starbucks was ground to a standard medium grind for coffee makers of this type. The coffee was measured on a 1 gram precision scale according to the specification on the Starbucks coffee bag (2Tbs per 6oz cup) to make 6 cups of coffee. The coffee grinds weighed to be 54 grams. The same coffee beans from the same bag were ground in the coffee maker set to 6 cups and strong. The coffee grinds were then measured on the same scale and wouldn't you know...it was exactly 54 grams.
For my coffee beans this machine on the 6 cup setting produced the following:
Strong = 9 grams (2Tbs) of coffee per cup of water
Medium = 8 grams (about 1 3/4Tbs) of coffee per cup of water
Mild = 7 grams (about 1 1/2Tbs) of coffee per cup of water
I can't imagine that one couldn't find a setting to their liking when you consider you have increments of 2 cups with 3 settings (strong, medium and mild) each.
After considerable research for the absolute best coffee maker in the world, I decided to purchase the Cuisinart Grind and Brew DGB-700BC. It has a burr grinder. This one has the 12-cup glass carafe and it has a warming plate. Reviews on the stainless steel carafe have stated there is no warming plate. It seems the glass one does and the thermal one does not. It works perfectly and is very easy to program and use. It comes with a DVD which simplifies the process even more.
It can also brew ground coffee. Just turn off the grinder before pressing the on/off button and it's ready to go.
As for noise, I don't consider it too noisy. After all, it IS a coffee grinder and I expect to hear it when it grinds the coffee.
The hopper holds a half-pound of beans which is enough to make coffee several times (if you're using the mild setting).
The retail price is $199, but many places have it routinely for $169. I purchased mine at Kohls for $159 and they had a "scratch off" sale going on and I got an additional 15% off at the checkout.
I highly recommend this coffeemaker.
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I have owned a couple of grind and brews in the past with mixed results. Our first was a Mr Coffee back in the 1990's. It made great coffee, but was messy, and broke frequently. We also had the first Jura Capresso model about 6 years ago. I liked it, but my wife felt that no matter what the settings were, the coffee was bitter. Recenly we had been using a Krups stand alone machine, that makes good coffee, and a stand alone Krups burr grinder. Since our Krups burr grinder was getting finicky, and the coffee post was getting old, we decided to give the DGB700 Grind and Brew a try.
My initial take, is that it makes an excellent cup of coffee, better than my last Krups machine. I am still experimenting with the settings, but so far I am very pleased.
You do need to follow the directions. The key points I have found, is to make sure that the basket parts are dry. This means a quick rinse and dry between pots if you are making more than one.
I also have cleaned out the chute where the ground coffee goes into the basket. It's very easy, and although mine was not clogged after about 6 pots, I did see where the grounds were building up in there a bit. My stand alone burr grinder had the same issue, but the new Cuisinart pot is actually very easy to clean in this area. Just remove the bean hopper, open the chute, push the lever over, and push they grounds into the basket area. (put a filter in first). Actually now, I just clean the chute each time. It takes less than a minute, and I think that this is the one main issues that some people are having.
Also, I have lined up the arrows on the top of the basket. Easy to do, and it avoids some of the negative comments on other reviews. Finally, if you use paper filters, make sure that the top of the plastic basket is going INSIDE the top of the filter.
My wife likes her coffee mild and smooth, but flavorful. My settings to make 12 cups, are 6 Cups on the grind selector knob with Mild or MED on the brew strength selector. The brew has good smooth flavor, and is not bitter. I also drink a lot of iced coffee. I will simply up the strength when I make coffee for that.
Again, so far, so good. I think that following the guide and keeping the machine clean and dry should produce good results.
One last thought... other Grind and Brew brands (Jura Capresso) make a major point about NOT storing beans in the freezer. Actually, I have done this for years, but after doing a bit of Google research, I find that it's better to just keep the beans in an airtight container, and only open what you will use in a couple of weeks. We are doing that now. I do notice that this sees to make the beans less oily, so that may also be a key to why some people get clogs.
I will post a follow-up after I have had the machine for a few months.
OK.. update as of 3/12 the unit is still working well. I do clean the chute after most every pot, but this is easy, and only takes a minute. Again... I strongly suggest NOT storing your beans in the freezer. The research shows that freezing the beans can force oil to the surface of the bean, which can contribute to clogs. I will say that this pot makes excellent tasting coffee.
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We have had to return two of these units because the grinder stops working. The problem is that the chute beneath the grinder is horizontal so the coffee grinds have to be pushed into the filter rather than falling in. Even after cleaning, the coffee grounds get packed into the grinding mechanism causing it to break.
I do understand why people say this is a great coffee maker though. When it works, it is very convenient and grinding the beans right before the brewing makes great coffee. I want to like this product but the poor design of the grinding chute makes it unusable.
Cuisinart is a decidedly unhelpful company. If you have a defective product, you can expect long hold times and rude customer service agents. The warranty on this item is that if you pay shipping & handling both ways, they will send you a replacement. After three defective units, they will issue a credit for other cuisinart products.
Update: California law requires them to replace the product without charging for shipping & handling. So, after telling me that they wouldn't waive those charges, they had to waive them anyway due to California law.
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About once every two weeks I have a "bad coffee day" in which my machine just gets persnickity. I am usually guaranteed that I will have to make at least two pots before it gets it right. OK, so I've had this machine at my vacation home for about a year now and here's what I've learned:
1. The paper filters are much more convenient than the metal basket. I just throw the paper filter (preferably the unbleached kindbetter for the environment) into my garden and then all I have to do is rinse the basket and wipe with a sponge. Saves time and my septic system from the coffee grounds.
2. Don't forget to use a filter of some sort in the basket or your counters, cabinets, floors, walls, etc. will get coffee makeover. I am talking from experience.
3. Make sure you clean most of the removable parts before each use. You only need to clean the coffee bean holder every so often (I do it when the beans start to run out). You don't need to do a soap and water cleaning on the other parts but you should wipe them down with a rag or sponge under running water. It only takes a few seconds. Once a week or so toss everything into the dishwasher.
4. Make sure you have enough beans in the holder to brew the amount of coffee you want. As I said above, when it gets low is when you want to do your thorough cleaning.
5. Make sure that you put the carafe in fully and correctly. If there is one BIG criticism I have about this machine is that it's very easy to misplace the pot and give your kitchen a nice coffee tattoo. This most often happens when I am in a hurry and really don't have time to be cleaning up a big mess.
6. Clean the chute. You have to clean the chute regularly. Here are a few tips I've learned to make it easier. First, put a filter in the basket when you do this (I like to do it after I've done the "dishwasher cleaning" of my parts, but before I brew the next pot) but don't put the lid on the basket. That way the grounds will fall directly into the lined basket and if you do this often, there's no reason why you can't just leave them in there while you brew the next pot (your coffee will be a little stronger). Cleaning the chute only take a few seconds.
This is the 3rd incarnation of a Cuisinart grind 'n brew coffee maker I've had. The first was the one with the glass carafe where you had to put the beans in each time you brewed. There were 5 different parts that needed to be soap and water cleaned after each use, and quite frankly, I didn't notice a great improvement in quality of coffee for all the extra work. The second was just like the first except it had the thermal carafe. There was a vast improvement in quality, but again, so many parts to clean made me reluctant to use it. Also, unless you know exactly how to measure unground beans, you pretty much are stuck making a full pot of coffee. This last one has been a great improvement over the other two. I can make just a cup of coffee for myself in the morning or I can make a whole pot and everything in between. Yes there is a bit of labor to it, but considering where they've come from this machine is a vast improvement over the others and I can't stress enough how good the coffee is.
I've read the other reviews and the main things I hear people complaining about are that the pot doesn't pour fast enough and that the coffee isn't hot enough. I don't have a problem with how fast the coffee comes out of the carafe. It is a little slower but the difference is from a 3 second pour to about a 12 second pour. However, if that is unbearable I don't see why you can't just take the lid off of the carafe while you pour? It will come out just as fast as the glass carafe that way.
As for the temperature of the coffee, I am not sure how to address that as I've never found that to be a problem. When I do use the timer feature, I preheat the carafe at night before I set up the coffeemaker and the residual heat still assures that you are starting with a carafe that is not cold in the morning. Generally I don't use the timer and get my coffee immediately after it's done brewing. I also don't preheat my carafe. When I get my second cup in the morning it's still plenty hot so I'm just not sure what all the fuss is about. Of course I don't really like my coffee scalding hot either so maybe it's just a matter of preference.
I would also like to point out that I have recently remodeled my winter home and put in an $1,800 Miele coffeemaker that is built in and plumbed. It can make espresso, cappucino and cofffee with the push of a button. However, that has more parts to fuss with than this Cuisinart and talk about frequent cleaning! It does make the best cup of coffee I've ever had, but it's not all that much better than this unit at a fraction of the cost.
The bottom line is this-if you want a really, really good cup of coffee you either have to go to a coffee shop and pay for it (and often I find their beans much inferior to the ones I use) or put up with the inconvenience of the home machines. As far as I know, no one has come up with the perfect machine yet, but this one does make a most excellent cup of coffee.
So when deciding whether or not you want to buy this machine I would say you would need to ask yourself what's more importantquality or convenience. If you are a coffee fanatic as I am, it will be quality and this machine does come through. If you love coffee but are time challenged and can't be bothered with all the extra steps then I would say that this machine isn't for you.
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