tilbrook's Full Review: Cuisinart DGB-300 10-Cup Coffee Maker
For years, I've used a Bodum French press-style coffee maker. So my morning routine was: boil water, grind beans, put grounds in coffee maker, pour in water, wait five minutes, press down filter, pour coffee, wake up. Not a huge hassle, but enough that on weekdays I usually opted to drop by Starbucks instead.
Earlier this year, I read of a number of studies that linked non-paper-filtered coffee to higher blood cholesterol (I guess the paper catches the offending chemicals and keeps them out of the coffee but metal filters don't). Now, I'm not one to panic about this kind of thing -- remember when butter was bad and margarine was good, and then margarine was bad and butter was good? But it did get me to thinking that y'know, I really could use a somewhat fancier coffee maker.
I finally settled on the Cuisinart Grind & Brew, in part after reading a number of reviews here on Epinions. The two features that really attracted me to it were (1) the timer that lets me wake up to fresh-brewed coffee, and (2) the built in grinder, that lets me wake up to fresh-ground fresh-brewed coffee. I'm quite happy to say it scores great on both accounts.
Operation is a snap, really. Just fill the grinder part with beans (no need to measure unless you're making less than a full pot), make sure there's a filter in place (paper #4 cone, or flaunt your low cholesterol and use the included gold filter), pour in the appropriate amount of water, and set the time you want your coffee brewed. Or just press "On" if you want your coffee right away.
Or do what I did one evening and press "On" by accident while moving the machine around on the counter and brew yourself a nice fresh pot of coffee at 11 P.M. My bad, really, there's all sorts of fancy interlocks to make sure you don't start the machine up without all the pieces replaced inside, etc., which is a good thing when you're kind of absent-minded like me, but be warned, if you say you want coffee now, it gives you coffee now!
The only other minor mishap I've had so far was once when I wasn't real diligent about making sure the filter was completely unfolded while setting it up. Apparently a coffee ground or two found their way around the filter and plugged up the little nozzle at the bottom, so I awoke the next morning to find 8 cups of coffee in the pot and about 2 cups of coffee spread around on the counter. Oops. Again, I have to say, my mistake, really. But something to watch out for.
The design is relatively well thought-out (for example, they have rubber feet at the front of the unit, so it stays in place when you push the buttons on the front, but plastic feet at the back, so it's easy to move around on the counter -- they're very proud of this in the manual), and generally goof-proof (like, the programmed start button is on the opposite side of the unit to the "On" button, rather than right next to it). I have a minor quibble with the actual carafe, though. They've gone for a kind of fat teardrop-shaped design which, while pretty enough, makes it kind of hard to pour the last half-cup or so out of the pot, and is really awkward for filling the coffee maker reservoir with water.
One of the common complaints in some of the other Epinions reviews was that cleaning was pretty high-maintenance. This is true to a point; you really do have to take the machine apart after each use and there are three separate parts (plus the carafe) that need to be cleaned. However, I've found that a quick rinse under hot water is generally enough, and then leave the parts in the dish rack till they dry. (It's really important that the internal parts be dry, otherwise the next time the beans are ground they'll stick everywhere except inside the filter where they're supposed to end up.) Fortunately I live in a very dry climate, so it doesn't take long, but it could make it a little annoying if you wanted to make several pots in a row. All these parts (and the carafe) are dishwasher safe, too, so about once a week I run them through if I have an otherwise light dishwasher load. All in all, the cleaning isn't a huge problem, but I have to admit it's more work than was required for the old Bodum.
Oh, yeah, the coffee. It's great, if you start with good beans. And I bet it would even be pretty good if you started with mediocre beans. And what's best, you get to wake up to it. Mmmmmmm ....
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