As stated in the above, I think for the money, (or even twice this amount), anyone would be very hard pressed to find a better unit than this one by Oster! I'm not going to comment, where it was stated: "It doesn't make coffee that has the Starbuck's quality", mainly because, I've never liked any coffees that Starbucks puts their name on, so I can't say if this machine is capable of doing that or not!?
But, since I either buy from my local roaster, and/or, used this machine with my own self roasted beans, I loved this machine for the over two years service it gave to me! There's no "holes drilled in the center of the grounds") with the shower head dispersing evenly and no "grounds piled up the sides of the filter" that I've read so many others complain about with other machines. (This unit even comes with a perma-gold wire mesh filter!) I don't speak lightly of ANY coffee making unit because I guess, by most standards, I could be termed "machine abusive", when considering how hard I use my coffee makers every day of the week............ 3 to 5 full- 12 cup- pots each and every day of the week, is normal use for any machine I own. I use my coffee makers for both daily coffee consumption, as well as, use them for testing roasts when I want to make a "press pot to drip comparison" test for a roast I'm working on.
Before trying this Oster machine, I was averaging about 3 to 5 months use out of other store purchased brands, (Mr.Coffee, Barista Sole'a, Black and Decker, etc.), before they would either burn out entirely or some major malfunction in their operations system would let go. When I saw this machine at Costco, in Oregon where I live, I bought it FIRST for the price, thinking........... "for $35.00, if I can get 3-5 months like usual, it's money well spent!" Little did I realize, that my $35.00 would last almost 22 months! When it "started to go", it was with the burner: First, the coffee would almost boil, regardless of where I sat the burner temp dial. Next, it went the opposite direction and wouldn't keep coffee, even freshly brewed, above 73 degrees. Finally, one day, the burner went stone, dead, cold and "that was that". I dug out my receipt and couldn't believe I'd owned this machine for 22 months!
It's very easy to use, has all the features of machines twice its price................programmable presets, hot plate settings, gold filter, very quick brew time, easy to clean and keep clean, I THINK.... very pleasing looks for a machine of this price range, even a clock for regular time keeping that also tells you "How long your coffee's been sitting there, in the pot"! Plus,Auto Shut Off after 2 hours.But, most importantly of course.......... VERY GOOD COFFEE TASTE! I think for the price of this machine that's truly a lot of nice features, not to mention making great tasting, drip style coffee. |
