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I shiver thinking of this morning's cup.Tonight I went and spent three times as much to replace it with one of similar manufacture too our nine-year-old-faithful. There is a small hole in back to keep you from overfilling the coffee maker but it is right at the maximum water level so if you move the coffee maker once it is full then water pours out of the back. Maybe lemons are more common now that they are all imported from China. It is difficult to see the water level without a shining a flashlight down into the water chamber. But that would be if it worked.After 6 short weeks it stopped working. Whether on timer or manually operated we would have to restart it four, five, six times to finish the brewing cycle. Maybe I was spoiled by my Portuguese made coffee maker that finally gave up the ghost after 9 faithful years. This one was designed so poorly.
It uses the basket type filters (not the cone shaped) which stick in the filter carrier and make emptying used grounds a mess. The coffee was lukewarm and tasted horrible. Maybe I got a lemon. I have a lot of Black & Decker tools but this will be the last kitchen appliance I ever buy from them. This all may seem like minor inconveniences.
For the price, it is a great buy. A few reviews complained that it leaks. I live in a country in Africa where electricity is not always on. I didn't want to pay a high price as electronics don't last too long here, so the price was a good one. My only complaint about the coffee maker is where the water level chart is. It is on the right side, which makes it difficult to watch while filling the tank if you are right handed. I wanted a thermal carafe so that if it is on and I happen to be awake between 4-5am, then I can turn the coffee maker on and go back to bed. This coffee maker is perfect.
Well, there is a hole in the back of the water tank, so if you put more than 8 cups in, the water goes out of the hole. A level on the front or on both sides would be helpful.Other than that, it is easy to clean, keeps coffee hot for hours, and very easy to use. I love this coffee maker. This way I have hot coffee when we get up at 6:30 even if there is not electricity (this is a regularly occuring scenario). That is pretty obvious.
Don't overlook this coffee maker. BTW, this replaces my MC 10 cupper which I mostly had to throw away the last 2-3 cups everyday anyway. The thermal pot does an excellent job keeping the java warm. Coffee thermal this one replaces. I am very impressed with the speed of the brewing cycle and how hot the coffee is after the brewing process. I just purchased this great coffee maker. It is definitely faster than the Mr. It is set to brew at 7:30AM, but this morning didn't get to it until two hours later and it was very close to being as hot as fresh brewed, probably a combination of a hotter brewing cycle and efficient thermal pot.
I think that the best part about this coffee pot is its ease of use. This is great for me because I really don't have time to sit around waiting for coffee to brew, and it is nice to grab a cup quick. I find that this is a better option than the heated pots because I don't necessarily remember to shut the heated one off when I am done, and this one remains warm on it own, so I don't have to worry about scalded coffee, or wasting electricity. I figure that anyone looking to get something inexpensive and good quality can trust that this is a good product to choose.
I program it to start when my alarm goes off, and by the time I am done getting out of bed and go to the bathroom, I can walk into the kitchen and grab a finished cup. However, I was surprised at how much I liked the coffee that came out of it. It takes roughly 3 minutes for the brewing to finish, sometimes longer, but that is usually a result of the coffee pot needing to be cleaned. I have had only one overflow issue, and that was a result of the coffee pot not being seated right. They had owned it for 3 months prior so I didn't have high expectations as I was just looking for something to throw on my counter. I had to fiddle with the measurement a few times to get the right strength, but after a couple pots I got the measurement right, and had no issue with the taste, in fact I found that if I ran a vinegar and water mix through once a month to clean it the taste remained perfect. (User Error). Mine did not come with a manual, so I had no clue how to program it, but it only took me a couple seconds to figure out how to operate the controls.
Like I said though, all of the issues that I had with the coffee pot are either a result of user error, or need for routine maintenance. I actually got this machine from my mother, who got it from a garage sale, only because someone was getting married and they had gotten a better coffee pot as a result. (taste is also a result of getting the right coffee and the fact that I use filtered water).I have owned this coffee pot myself for about 6 months, and use it daily. The user's manual is also online, so even if you can't figure it out, the manual can.
I won't be going back to the glass carafes. Often the coffee was burnt despite the automatic turn off feature. And the coffee stays hot for at least 6 hours because of the carafe. But the coffee that came out was the perfect hot temperature. We've had good luck on black and decker products in the past, so we decided to try out this product.
All in all, I'm sold on this machine, and thermal carafes. I drink at least a cup in the afternoon, and I do have to nuke that, but with the machines that have hot plates, I either had to heat it up the pot (it had automatic turn off) or nuke it anyway. It took me a little bit to figure out how use it, but once I understood it's been super easy. After breaking a carafe on our last machine, and discovering that buying a replacement would cost close to the same as buying a new coffee maker, I decided to take a chance on a thermal carafe (we've broken a number of glass carafes). Unlike our last coffee maker, this one's programmable features actually work.
I was a little taken aback when I first picked up the thermal carafe and it was barely warm.
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