opinion needed on the Cuisinart GRIND & BREW coffee machine (1 Viewer)

[Micah Cohen]

Anyone have one of these grinding, brewing bad boys? I have coffee issues, no machine seems to make the serious joe I need for the morning rush, and I have come to the final plateau: The Cusinart Grind & Brew.

It's $150 (whoa!) at Bed Bath & Beyond, but I just got a 20%-off coupon for BB&B, so I'm thinking this is what I'll use it for.

Any opinions? Good machine, bad machine? Good coffee, bad coffee?

Thanks for your input!

MC

 

[CRyan]

Not bad coffee. Not too hard to deal with I guess. I was hoping it would hold enough beans for several days of brewing - only one day at a time. So you have to clean it every evening! Not too hard to do but still more than I wanted to deal with.

And most people will tell you to skip the plastic parts for better coffee.

Never had a better smell in the kitchen when waking up though!

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Read the fine print on those BB&B coupons...they exclude certain high-end brands.

 

[Micah Cohen]

Hey, thanks for that heads-up. It excludes Krups, but does not say that it excludes Cuisinart. And it is teeny tiny print, indeed. Thanks for that.

CRyan, what do you mean by "skip the plastic parts"?

MC

 

[Dan Joy]

This machine is a royal pain in the ass to clean!:frowning:
Makes great coffee, timer works well, and looks good. The bottom plate is not a warmer and in my opinion the caraff could retain the heat a little longer. Not sure it was worth the money but at the time was the only offering for timer initiated been grinding coffee. YMMV

 

[ChristopherG]

It does make very good coffee. The cleaning is somewhat tedious but not that bad IMHO. TO keep the coffee hotter longer you fill the carafe with hot water and let it sit a couple of minutes.

Overall I am pretty happy with it and can recommend it - just remember that it has an extra step or two.

 

[Dan D.]

The problem with the Cuisinart is that it has a spinning blade grinder which makes for inconsistant coffee grounds. For a really good cup of coffee, look for a burr grinder. Not many of the combo machines have them built-in, but this Capresso does. I have a different Capresso machine and a separate burr grinder and they make incredible coffee.

Capresso Coffee Team Luxe


http://ww2.williams-sonoma.com/cat/p...2Fhme&flash=on

 

[Richard Travale]

I have it and enjoy it very much. I have the model that is a few years old and it can be pretty noisy on those cold early mornings...but oh so worth it when you start drinking.

As for clean-up...just a rinse and into the dishwasher for me.

 

[Matt Stryker]

Micah -
Amazon had these on sale last week for $29.99 for a remanufactured model:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=UTF8&v=glance

(the price is now back up to $59)

Most of the reviews say that you should either expect a portion of the grounds to be wasted, and that you should also plan to clean the unit meticulously....I got my wife one because we needed a coffeemaker period, and she loves fresh beans...i figure if it(the grinder/chutes & ladders assembly) dies in a year, and the coffee maker part still works, it was fun while it lasted. Check the reviews for the particular model you're looking for there at Amazon, their appliance reviews are really good at pinpointing failure prone parts.

 

[Richard Beckman]

For years now my wife and I have used a single cup drip machine. We use freshly ground quality coffee, stored in an air-tight coffee humidor, and routinely enjoy great coffee. Wash the grounds out and your ready for another cup. Two cups in about five minutes.

These pots are small and light enough that we take them with us when we travel.

Life is too short to endure bad coffee!

 

[Philip_T]

One word: Toddy
A cold brewing method that prevents alot of the acid content you get from hot brewing which is very good for my stomach. Only costs around $30-$35. Makes enough coffee concentrate to last me at least a week. I just go to my local coffee house, have them grind some fresh beans at just the right coarseness, brew it overnight, take the consentrate to work, and whenever I want a cup, just add hot water and sugar/cream to taste. Clean up is fairly easy as well.
Link

 

[Kirk Gunn]

I believe Micah is referring to the Cuisinart DGB-600BC (Stainless Steel model), not the DGB-300FR at Amazon.

My sister has the 600 series and it did not seem that difficult to clean up, plus I like the SS carafe. There are some refurbed ones on the web for ~70.00 that may be worth a try/risk.

Richard B - which single cup model to you use ?

 

[Micah Cohen]

Huh. Lots of interesting stuff here, especially that "Toddy" thing. Thanks for your input. I'm waffling all over the place now.

I've been using a "Home Cafe" Black & Decker "pod" single-cup brewer. It makes a kick-butt cup of joe. But, build quality is garbage on this thing, and I have gone thru THREE of them (customer service, at least, is brilliant and wonderful -- they keep sending me new ones!). It makes better coffee than a drip machine because it's pressurized. Currently, the seal around the pressure nozzle and the pod holder is spurting water all over the place for some reason. I may take it apart and try to fix it with parts canniblized from one of the previous machines.

I am loathe to give up the great coffee/no clean up of the pod machine, but I'm seriously tired of lame, Target-level appliance performance.

Interesting things to consider.

Now I need a cup of coffee.

MC

 

[EugeneR]

FWIW, I got mine for free and didn't think it was worth the money. The filter holes are too big, so you get big ol' chunks of beans, thus requiring considerably more coffee. It wastes a ton of coffee, thus requiring yet more coffee because there is no actual mechanism for transferring the ground coffee to the filter. The brilliant design traps the steam inside the machine, so all the grounds that didn't go into the filter become a sticky mess. Then, it doesn't disassemble enough to give it a good cleaning required by the steam/ground coffee combination which gets into every crevice.

Other than that, it was a delight to use until the moment I threw it in the trash.

 

[Micah Cohen]

Hee hee, that cracked me up -- pre-coffee this morning, even!

I am stymied about this. Do I get an espresso machine and just do a couple espressos? But I like sipping "american" coffee, a full mug o'joe.

This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts. All I want is a seriously good cup of coffee, and I have all these choices -- drip grind, pod, grind & brew, pressure espresso, etc. I don't know what to do. In the meantime, I "repaired" my pod machine, and it worked again with no squirting for a few days, but it still squirts water around the seal.

I dunno what to do. Coffee is my only real friend.

MC

 

[Richard Travale]

In that case, go with Americano's. Basically you pull your shot of espresso (or two ) and then fill the rest of the cup with the hot water.
This makes for a pretty tasty "cup o' joe" in my opinion.

 

[Win Joy Jr]

I have the Gring and Brew (White plastic) and it makes a good pot of coffee. Yeah, the thing is a pain to clean, but it is worth it...

I find that using a paper filter and not the basket filter makes a better pot of coffee.