Coffee Machines

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

175 of 181 people found the following review helpful.
A product which delivers on coffee-brewing functionality but loses a star on design
By Peter A. J. Bennett
-- Long Term Test Update (22-Dec-2012)I've been using this coffeemaker 1-3 times almost every day for over 18 months now and I wanted to take the time to offer some thoughts on my longer term experience.I have had no issues at all with the machine. It does require quite frequent descaling but we live in a very hard water region and the descaling process is straight forward and returns the machine to perfect performance (it gets a little slow as it scales up). I have not bothered to change the activated carbon filter and not seen any issues. I no longer use an additional filter paper due to laziness (although my original comments stand) and I've grown completely used to the three "design flaws" I highlighted, I no longer notice them.Most importantly, the bean grinder has continued to perform flawlessly - this is a great piece of kit and I commend it to any serious coffee lover.-- Original ReviewThis is a relatively large (24cm wide, 23cm deep and 39cm high) coffee maker which, in summary, brews a great cup of coffee but loses a five star rating due to three design issues which I will return to at the end of this review.The machine can brew the seeming home standard of up to 10 proper cups of coffee at a time (NOT the tiny 125ml capacity which was stated in the manufacturer's product description on the Amazon product page at the time when I received my review order).It will do so from ground coffee which can be inserted directly into the built-in washable filter, revealed at the press of a button in a panel which swings out from above the carafe (you may wish to invest in some filter papers none-the-less to make cleaning the machine after use a simpler process of removing the used grounds and paper and composting, although the built-in filter is quite easy to remove, empty and clean). In this scenario, you add the ground coffee, add water, press a button several times to indicate how many cups of water you have used and off it goes. This quickly (about ten minutes for ten cups) produces an excellent carafe of coffee.However, it is unlikely that you are considering this machine for such a simple scenario and it adds two additional features to justify its premium branding and pricing.Firstly, it has a hopper on its lid which accepts unground coffee beans. You can select a coarseness of grind from one of five options (although I have left this on the default central setting on the assumption that the manufacturers know which coarseness works best in their machine - they certainly have a view of what sort of ground coffee you should use so I find this option a little odd). In addition, if you are brewing 2-4 cups you can select from three strengths of coffee. If you are brewing a larger volume of coffee then you do not have the option to specify a strength (although the machine does grind more beans for a larger amount of coffee). Then, you specify how many cups of water you have added (at this point in my experimentation I started to wonder why Russell Hobbs could not provide a sensor which worked out how much water you had added to the reservoir automatically - maybe for the next version). Pressing a second button to indicate you are using beans rather than pre-ground coffee now grinds a portion of beans for you, adds them to the filter and brews the coffee. The process remains fast and again produces a delicious cup of coffee.Secondly, the machine includes a built-in clock and the ability to set a time within the next 24 hours when you would like the machine to start brewing (using any combination of the settings already mentioned). This works exactly as specified and I woke up to the smell of a pot of fresh coffee this morning made from beans ground just before the brewing process began - lovely.Given how good this machine is at making coffee it almost seems a shame to have to come back to those three design flaws :-1 - for such a premium model the door you open to add pre-ground coffee or to clean the filter seems very flimsy and thin - it is nowhere near as solid as it seems in the pictures or is implied by the branding.2 - opening this door catches on the top of the carafe if it is on the hot plate which seems unforgiveable to me. Obviously, you can jiggle it around to get it open and once it is shut it is not a problem to remove the carafe but it amazes me that the designers could have missed this one in their testing. Maybe they assume that you never open this door with the carafe in place but I noticed it almost immediately.3 - the control interface on the front panel of the device, a set of buttons with cryptic hieroglyphics, is complex and counter-intuitive. You would struggle to work out how to get all the features of the machine working withough turning to the manual. Even then the manual is written in a rather odd mix of dry bullet points and jaunty prose. This means that, although it gives you the information you need to decipher the workings, it also irritates with lines such as "press the button to brew the coffee. Leave it alone - you might upset it". Setting the timer is another example of over complication and poor design, if you take more than ten seconds to muddle through the complex series of button presses required the manual dutifully informs you the system will reset and you will have to start again. This was a fate which did indeed befall me the first time I was flipping between manual and machine to try the timer out.In summary, if you like the idea of a machine with an integrated grinder for fresh coffee beans and the ability to provide your morning cup of coffee when you wake then this may be the machine for you but I would suggest you take note of the three issues I highlight before you buy so you are not disapointed by one of the surprising niggles which come with your new coffeemaker.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
Brilliant, but with one suggestion
By Hugh
A solid machine that produces very good coffee. Overall I am very happy with this machine.My only design suggestion, would be that, even though you select the amount of coffee, (2-10 cups) this is only to determine how much coffee to grind, you have to put the same amount of water in the reservoir as cups of coffee selected. Why can't the machine have the reservoir filled with water and only take the required amount of water for the selected amount of cups? Obviously I'm being a bit nit picky, but it means that you have to top up the reservoir each time to the required amount of coffee that you will drink (How am I supposed to know that!!).

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Does what it says and at a fraction of the cost of others....
By Mitz UK
Put simply, it's very very good.Not perfect.- There are always some beans left in the chamber.- The viewing window that allows you to see ground coffee as it passes through always has residue, it's dry but it would be good to be able to clean it daily. It is possible but it would need a couple of screws removing so its designed to be as is so just irritating rather than functionally deficient.But it's a 5.- This is being compared to others at three or four times the price.- This grinds beans fresh and makes you coffee- Easy instructions to set up- Keeps the coffee hot- Overall, easy to clean (except for mentioned above)- Allows you to easily select different strengths- Easy to use timer so you wake up to fresh ground coffee - both the smell, the taste and the experience.I read reviews of other machines from people who apparently are coffee experts and need to have excellence and perfection in the morning.I'm neither - I just want a decent cup of coffee to wake up to that grinds itself from bean to cup and stays hot.This does all that for a decent price that is a third / quarter of others and it's therefore a 5.