My grandmother, who likes to see through her coffee to the bottom of the cup, would love this machine.
Positive Product Points
looks nice and stylish, came with gold filter, easy to load coffee grounds and water, can regulate brew strength (weak, less weak-oh sorry, this is the positive part), hot coffee, heating element thermostat, delay brew
Negative Product Points
annoying beeper (5 beeps) to signal end of brewing, so the wake up pot of coffee feature comes with a built in alarm; slow and noisy; weak coffee even with 2x grounds/cup; the brew strength regulater was set to strong.
Detailed Commentary
The problem with this machine is its inablity to brew a hearty cup of coffee; and if its not a hearty brew, why bother? We got it because we wanted to try out a machine with the am 'wake up to a fresh pot of coffee' experience, but after experimenting with brew strength, the only thing I am willing to do with this machine is to return it. I had read a review of a moderatly priced, decent machine at Costco, but when I got to my local (hundred) dollar store, this was the only one there and I couldn't remember which brand I had read about. This turns out NOT to be the one reviewed (that one was a Phillips).
I brewed the first pot at the strength I use with our old and beat up, wrong color, delay-timerless, drip machine, and was shocked to find that even on "strong" brew, I got a thin cup of coffee that was almost transparent. My grandmother would love this machine, she calls our coffee "mud" and waters down 1/2 cup of mud with 2 cups of water! The length of the brew cycle (long) was encouraging, but deceptive. The 5 annoying beeps were a bit of a surprise, I can only imagine the echoes in the house at 6:15 am! So, I next tried 2x strength,it was a little better, but still no richness or depth. No more experimenting with Mr. C, I'm going to try out the Kitchen Aid.
I hope my review will not be disqualifed, but I confess that I have not owned this machine a week, tho' I will by the time I make it back to Costco. But, the disappointment of the first pot of coffee made 1 day feel like it was really 3 days, and the extra coffee wasted making the second pot made the second day feel like 2 days, which makes the real feel equal 5 days, which makes a school week, so, does that count?
