Mr. Coffee BVMC-ZH1 Power Serve 12-Cup Coffeemaker

Coffee is one of my four main food groups, so I am always pleased to try a new twist on coffee brewing. The Mr. Coffee Power Serve is a carafe-less coffee brewing system with a convenient, delayed brewing feature, a pause and serve feature, and cup-at-a-time dispensing.

You notice immediately upon unpacking that there is no carafe! The coffee is brewed directly into a reservoir, and you dispense your coffee directly into your cup or mug by pressing it against a pedal in the front. You can brew up to 12 cups at a time, and it takes 10 minutes to brew a full 12 cups.

The reservoir is designed to be used as a pitcher from which to pour the fresh water, but since it is a square shape, I found it to be a little awkward. I use a water pitcher instead. One very nice feature is that there are clearly marked "steps" in the back of the machine where you pour the water that makes it easy to add exactly the right amount. This is a big improvement over the hard-to-read marks on the side of most brewers.

There is a digital clock on the front that allows you to prepare your coffee maker before you go to bed, set a morning brew time, and wake up to freshly brewed coffee. Additionally, there is a brew now button, which lights up while the coffee is brewing. A loud beep that signals when the brewing cycle is done. On the front and on both sides of this coffee maker, there are clear panels which let you see how much coffee is left in the reservoir.

The brewing basket comes out easily for cleaning and for adding your filter and coffee. It uses round, basket-type filters rather than the cone shaped ones, but sadly there are none included in the box so be sure and buy some if you order this Mr. Coffee.

The dispenser is motorized so your cup is quickly filled when you press your mug to the pedal. You can also dispense a cup of coffee before the brewing cycle is done for those days when you just can''t wait. There is a small, detachable drip plate on the bottom of the machine so if you spill a little, it doesn''t end up dripping under your coffee maker.

The coffee reservoir sits atop a warming plate, which is supposed to keep the coffee at optimum serving temperature after brewing. I personally don''t like my coffee to stay on a warming plate since I think it takes on a bitter taste, so I push the brewing button again when the brewing cycle is finished and that turns off the warming plate.

One negative for me is that the coffee reservoir is black and smoke colored plastic. Since that is where the coffee sits, it needs to be cleaned regularly just like a coffee carafe. However, it is not as easily done because of the square shape, and the dark color makes it hard to see if it''s clean. I found a soft bristled brush that seems to work OK for this, but it''s not as easy as cleaning a glass carafe.

The coffee is good. It seems to bring the water up to correct brewing temperature, so you end up with a nice cup of drip-brewed coffee.

I think that for people who have trouble with breaking their coffee carafes, or perhaps for people who have active young children, this is a novel take on a drip coffee maker.

This coffeemaker was bought to replace another carafe-less coffeemaker from ''Cuisinart'', which gave up the ghost. Coffee, is a must in our family 1x/day-weekdays and 2x/day-weekends, not counting friends visiting or family coming over.

In the past I have had 3+ Mr. Coffee units and been fairly well pleased so I thought this one would be a decent unit. Boy was I surprised.

The Good:

1) I liked the speed at which it brewed very nice and fast

2) The layout of controls is simple and uncomplicated

3) The coffee tasted as it should no odd tastes that we could determine

4) The water fill area is nicely wide compared to others that I have used

5) The ease of cleaning IMO

The Bad:

1A) Purchase Date: 7/13/2011

1B) Date of First use: 7/14/2011

1C) Stopped working date: 8/21/2011

1D) Length of product life: 5 & 1/2 weeks (39 days total)[TOTALLY unacceptable]

2) The inability of setting the length of time for the auto shutoff my Cuisinart had a 2/3/4 hour setting choice before it shutoff

3) As some have indicated sputtering/spitting when getting the last amount of coffee

4) The inability to easily determine how much coffee is left in the reservoir

5) The stiffness of the dispensing lever arm It would push to unit backwards and away from me, so I usually had to hold on to the top when dispensing.

6) The stiffness of the top cover lid, as it would not stay up & open when trying to fill the unit; it kept swinging shut so I would hold it with my hand..

This is not a product I can recommend. I will be contacting Mr. Coffee and see how well their customer service is, but the product still does not impress me.

If your particular unit performs well and is still working, then I am glad for you and hope it lasts. As for me and the others who have had issues, I hope we can find a unit that keeps working for at least a couple of years.

Clifford Phillips

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The coffee maker that I received made coffee but the dispenser did not work. I contacted Mr Coffee''s customer service and they sent me a new machine without any hassles. I always appreciate a company with good customer service. The new machine works well.

This coffee maker is rather bulky. It takes up about the same amount of counter space as my old coffee maker: Cuisinart 12-Cup Brew Central Coffeemaker, but the Mr Coffee is larger on top and this adds a lot of bulk. The other thing I don''t like about this coffee maker is that the reservoir is plastic. If you drink the coffee right away it''s not a big problem, but if you let the coffee sit for a while it tends to get a plastic flavor. I prefer coffee makers with glass carafes.

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My wife and I incorrectly thought this style would be a great idea. We were very wrong. We normally make enough coffee so we can each have one very large cup each. We like our coffee fresh. Therefore, the reservoir has to be removed and cleaned after one cup each. Where''s the advantage over a standard or thermal carafe? I wouldn''t even consider this coffee maker unless I regularly filled many tiny little tea cups. We returned ours because the noisy pump wouldn''t even pump all the coffee out. I was grateful it didn''t work properly so I wouldn''t feel guilty about returning it.

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With my first purchase the tiny spring fell out of the brew basket and wouldn''t go back in. Customer service said once this happens, the brew basket is useless. They couldn''t replace the brew basket by itself, so they sent me an entirely new coffee maker. No complaints on customer service, but the spring part of the brew basket is so fragile I knew I would have another problem with it, so I was sad to find out that this expensive coffee maker would be a temporary item for sure. The new one came right away too, so that was nice.

Fast forward to this morning (after delicately washing my new brew basket by hand) and now the water reservoir will not suck water. The machine was puffing smoke and shaking like it might explode. I took the plastic pipe out and it''s not clogged so that means there is something wrong with the base unit. My husband tossed the first base out in the garbage from his garage so I couldn''t mail it back to Sunbeam and now I can''t salvage it for parts.

7 months of use for $70. Not a total loss, but still not worth the money or grief. The two stars are for a reasonably tasting cup of coffee and good customer service. The product itself is flimsy.

*** Update: They''re sending me a second replacement with no hassle. I didn''t expect that. The coffee maker is still lame for breaking down constantly, but if it''s replaced each time without red tape I guess I can''t complain that much.