I have been on the hunt for a single server brewer that doesn''t use those awful Keurig pods. I want to use my own, home roasted coffee and I''m picky about water temperature, spray head design, etc. I''m a coffee professional working in the Specialty Coffee industry. I live a breathe coffee every day. I prefer manual brew methods, but at 7am I want a good cup without the fuss. This brewer has impressed me in that role for sure.
This brewer has really fit the bill. The water gets up to the required 200 degrees, the shower head design disperses the water evenly across the bed of coffee, and it brews quickly through a nicely designed brew basket and gold tone filter.
The gold tone filter works quite well. I would avoid paper. Aside from the waste, paper filters soak up a lot of the volatile oils in the coffee that provide so much of the flavor especially in the body of the coffee. The metal filter allows those oils to extract into the coffee giving a more flavorful cup with better body. If you use paper, go with the Filtropa brand. The white ones.
The water reservoir is handy. It has a nice handle that lifts up on the top for easy carrying. The carafe/travel mug keep the coffee hot. I use it as a carafe instead of a travel mug. I just know I''ll lose it if I take it to the car and I like to keep the coffee hot while I drink a cup waiting for my wife to come get her cup in the morning. It pours very nicely into a regular mug.
You can also put your own regular mug under it, but I prefer the carafe/travel mug so that the coffee stays hot inbetween pours.
This is just the right portion size. I can make one 12oz cup for myself, or 2 12 oz cups for me and my wife (with a little left over for a partial refill makes 18oz total at full capacity). This was very well thought out!
It is tall, but it will fit under your cabinets (well, most cabinets). You may have to slide it out a bit to remove the water reservoir, but what''s the big deal? Every coffee maker I have ever owned required that in order to pour in my water.
The drip tray is fantastic. Most brewers don''t have them, and that''s a shame. KA took a cue from the espresso market and included one on this unit. It''s handy and gives it an upscale feel that is appreciated.
Some may consider the lack of a timer a negative. Not me. Once you grind your coffee, you start losing noticeable flavor in less than 1 minute. Grinding your coffee and leaving it in the non-air tight brew basket for 8 hours should be a crime! Is it that hard to scoop and grind in the morning?
Leaving the timer off is, I''m sure, a big part of why this machine is so affordable. KitchenAid has always been great at including the features you need, and not the ones you don''t so that they can build high quality gear at a reasonable price point.
And, yeah, the blue light on the front is mesmerizing. What can I say?Really great machine! Coffee is HOT, and flavor is outstanding, never bitter and no funny aftertaste, this really lets the flavor come through. Although I like the design of the Hamilton Beach Scoop better, this KA makes a better tasting cup I had them both side by side for a week and picked the KA, and returned the HB. I think the cone shaped filter and the showerhead design gives this machine what the HB Scoop lacks evenly soaked grounds and a nice bold flavor from the cone design vs. the flat bottom HB filter. Build quality seems okay, and the design works quite well no complaints. I use 5 tbsp''s for 16oz. and it''s just right. I didn''t care for the thermal mug that came with it, seemed to introduce a plastic taste. I found a 16oz Mr. Coffee "Traverse" ceramic travel mug that fits this machine perfectly and this combo is equal to, if not better than anything I get when buying coffee out vs. making it at home, and I''m extremely picky about that.
Edit 3 machines later.... I give up. I really like this machine, but unfortunately it has a fatal flaw. Each of the 3 machines I bought ended up having the same issue after about 3 weeks of use it''s clearly a design flaw. The filter basket hinge is weak, and apparently grows weaker with use due to heat. Eventually it begins to droop, creating a visible gap. But, it''s not just cosmetic, although it does look weird. When the gap grows large enough, the filter basket housing no longer makes contact with a switch that''s located in the center of the shower head housing. This switch must be depressed by the filter basket to make the brewer work, otherwise it won''t get the signal that its okay to send water. So, to make it work you have to manually push and hold the filter basket up to make it brew coffee. Too bad, because I like the coffee and the overall design, but it''s back to the drawing board for the engineers at KitchenAid.
Buy KitchenAid Personal Coffee Maker Now
My main coffee maker is a Cuisinart. Using high-quality beans, grinding my own, I have perfected the art of making coffee -to my tastes, at least. I tried a number of other single cup machines, and this one is the closest to my normal weekend pot. It is really just a smaller version of my main machine: cone gold filter, etc. Note that this machine does not have a hotplate, as the coffee is meant to be dispensed into either a travel mug or a regular mug. The temperature of the coffee is hot, without being too much so, and it takes about 3 5 minutes to brew a 16oz travel mug when I leave in the morning. I grind the beans and fill the water tank the night before, then just hit the power button as I''m getting ready to leave. The unit seems well made, but be aware that the entire body is metal-colored plastic, and doesn''t have the build quality of my full-sized coffee maker (stainless). All in all a good purchase for me. Recommended.It''s huge takes up way to much counter space, the drip tray is stainless so if you use a regular coffee cup and move it at all without picking it up it sounds like nails on a chalk board. I find the water fill hatch to be unfriendly for those that need coffee to wake up in the morning.
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