Coffee Crisis (Coffee Maker Reviews)

I had a run of bad luck with my coffee last year. Last week I shared my Starbucks saga (if you use one of their travel mugs, you’ll want to check out my post), and today I’m going to tell you how Cuisinart let me down, and share my recent coffee maker reviews.

We fell in love with the Cuisinart grind-and-brew coffee maker that brews directly into a thermal carafe years ago. I always hated the smell of coffee that’s been sitting on a hot plate for too long, and the Cuisinart eliminated that problem, because there is no hot plate. While the “grind” feature wasn’t reliable (after a few uses it became impossible to remove the grinding apparatus for cleaning), the coffee maker brewed excellent coffee, and the carafe kept it hot and drinkable for hours.

Just before Thanksgiving, I noticed a puddle of water around the coffee maker. First I thought that I had spilled water while filling the reservoir, but when there was another puddle the next day, I realized it was leaking. When my husband declared that he couldn’t fix it, I went shopping on Amazon to order a replacement, but looked for a brew-only model since we had gotten used to doing without the grind feature. I was surprised when I saw negative customer reviews for the Cuisinart coffee makers, but they didn’t stop me from ordering this model since it looked like the one we had loved, minus the grinder. 

When it arrived two days later, I was excited to give it a try, and brewed up a pot of decaf after work. That tasted fine, as did the small pot I made before work the next day, but when I made a larger pot over the weekend, it was disappointing. The coffee just wasn’t that hot. A friend who had just gotten the same coffee maker noted that the coffee sits on a hot plate. I hadn’t noticed that–and it seemed silly with a thermal carafe–but when I made the next pot of coffee I confirmed that the base plate was HOT. I think that proves that Cuisinart downgraded quality with this model. A truly insulated thermal carafe would not need–or benefit from–sitting on a hot plate, because the heat wouldn’t get through to the coffee inside! Then I compared the carafe from my old coffee maker to the new one, and found that the new one was noticeably lighter. Rats!

I tried a few tricks to make the coffee hotter–rinsing the carafe with hot water before using it, using the old carafe instead of the new one, choosing the 1-4 cup cycle so the water would be subject to extra heating before brewing–but when even my husband thought the coffee wasn’t hot enough, I knew I was going to have to return my new coffee maker, and write my own negative review.

I did some internet searching in case there was a better Cuisinart model that Amazon wasn’t showing me, to no avail. I did more searching for a different brand that brewed into a thermal carafe, focusing on reviews about HOT coffee. After a few different sites had positive Bonavita coffee maker reviews, I read through all the comments on Amazon and clicked “buy now” on this model:

(If you need a new coffee maker, please use my Amazon affiliate link
to check out the Bonavita 8-Cup Coffee Maker with Thermal Carafe here)

The Bonavita is simpler than the Cuisinart, with no clock or timer feature. It is easier to fill the reservoir, but the filter base fits right into the opening of the carafe, so you have to wait until it’s done brewing to grab that first cup. That’s not a big problem, but it doesn’t beep when it’s done, so the only way to know it’s ready is to confirm that the reservoir is empty and then carefully slide the pot out to make sure all the water has filtered through. The coffee doesn’t pour well without the lid, so I quickly replace the filter with the lid and then pour myself a piping hot cup of coffee. While I wish the Bonavita brewed into a lidded carafe like the Cuisinart does, and wish it beeped when it was done, I am pretty happy with my new coffee maker!

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Do you have a coffee maker you love?

Have you had a company downgrade or discontinue a favorite product?