BLACK+DECKER 12 Cup Thermal Programmable Coffee Maker with Brew Strength and VORTEX Technology, Black/Steel, CM2046S

RainyUnited States

Simple, budget-friendly machine. Makes hot delicious coffee when we want it, every single time.

This affordable coffee maker is a gem, and that opinion comes from a pair of coffee-crazy coffee maker buying experts. We have spent a small fortune on coffee machines, always in pursuit of THE ONE, from an expensive industrial always on restaurant size Bunn because we were hoping for all stainless steel and no plastic, to everything in between. What we have learned, the hard way, is that spending a lot of money on a coffee maker does NOT equal a more delicious cup of coffee than a budget friendly machine like this. And pursuing a plastic-free machine that makes yummy coffee is like hunting for snipe. What we get with this machine, what I personally get as the setter-upper, is a straightforward ease of use machine that makes a delicious very hot cup of coffee, on a timer! no less, so that when our dogs wake us up at 2 am, as they do every day (that’s another story), the blessed coffee is inside the carafe beckoning to me, whispering…Forget about your happy dreams and your cozy bed with the satin pillow cases, Come hither… It is far and away the first quiet coffee maker we have ever owned, and we have owned soooo very many. No obnoxious buzzer. Just the near perfect silence of filtered water dripping over aromatic coffee. You can set the timer or not. The button is titled Brew Later. I use a magnifying glass because the am/pm in the upper right corner is ludicrously minuscule. So minuscule I still sometimes get it wrong. You can make a full pot or just enough. You can steal a cup during the brewing. This works better for us when we use a large Bunn paper filter, because the coffees we enjoy are finely ground. If we use a permanent filter they flow over and end up clogging things up. It even shuts off automatically so you never have to give it a second thought or worry. And you can buy a permanent gold tone filter that fits like a glove. I am currently using half Starbucks medium roast decaf with half gorgeous Seattles Best Portside Blend caffeinated ground coffee. I just pour the bags of coffee into a jar together. (We recently bought a Kitchenaid Cold Brew coffee maker so I want to get Starbucks Sumatra whole beans to grind for that. See! I told you we are coffee crazy!!). I cannot wait to make Sumatra fresh ground coffee in this machine. But I should mention it does better with a coarser grind. By the way decaf coffee has made giant leaps and bounds!! over the years. Who knew? the benefits of coffee without all the caffeine. After we enjoy our coffee in the wee hours, with our furry little stinkers, I set up the machine for the next day and push the Brew Later button once. Just the push of the timer button and I know I have another cup of joy to look forward to. If you accidentally push it more than once, it doesn’t matter. Still works. Tips: Do not overfill with coffee grounds, especially if they are Finely ground. The filter cup needs a bit of space between the spout and the grounds. We are comfortable making 10 cups. I believe I use a 1/3 measuring cup that I leave in the coffee jar, 3 scoops to a pot. Also, if you steal a cup during brewing, it won’t have had time to get very hot, especially if it is being poured into a cold cup. And if you overfill the basket, you will clog it up and the stealing a cup option becomes a small clean up operation. The machine tells you when it is time to run the Clean cycle. I simply add vinegar and water and press the Clean button. Afterwards I run a pot of water through it and Voila! Clean Machine. Update: We are hooked on freshly ground coffee of late. I found an inexpensive mess-free grinder on Amazon and we have been swooning this week over Seattle’s Best Portside Blend. It is a smooth, medium roast coffee that starts our day (or night) with the taste of coffee perfection.

Michele L HutchinsUnited States

From many options, one great decision!!!

I am an avid researcher when making a purchase, especially when it's as critical as our daily coffee supply- lol! So when our third rather expensive Keurig died very early I decided we'd spend no more money on that brand. I was looking for the versatility of brewing a whole pot or a smaller portion AND the idea of a thermal carafe instead of a hot plate was very appealing. I looked at many, many brands and models ranging in price from $ to $$$. I read reviews, I watched videos, I looked up anything and everything I could. This little machine continued to offer features that I really liked without bells and whistles I would rarely use. We are a plain yet picky coffee drinking household and we nurse a pot all day long (one of us is day shift and the other night shift so it's always "morning wake up time" around here). As one who nputs milk in their coffee, I'll admit to being doubtful that I'd find a coffeemaker with a thermal carafe that would maintain a drinkable temperature (once milk was added to the cup) for very long and I hate microwaving my coffee. So I read reviews saying this carafe "kept coffee hot for hours" with a strong dose of skepticism. WOW! Has this exceeded expectations! Four hours after brewing the very last cup of the pot was still quite hot enough to steam and be very nicely drinkable after I added the milk. So, here is my run down of the lovely features this model offers: 1. Capacity - It holds a full 12 cups which gets us through a day here. Everyone should remember that a "cup" when measuring coffee is actually 5oz. and not 8oz. So 60 oz. of water goes in and 60 oz. of coffee comes out (yes, the engineer in the house measured) which is more than our much more $$ Keurig could ever say. 2. Ease of Use - The brew, size and programming options are quite straightforward to operate, not only in compexity but in button size and readablity, which is helpful when my elderly father wants to help prepare the next morning s coffee. 3. Build Quality and Design - The machine fits easily under my kitchen cabinets, and takes up much less counter space than my Keurig. The markings on the water reservoir are easy to see. TIP: Do use a pitcher other than the carafe to fill the reservoir, not because the carafe doesn't pour well (IT POURS GREAT!), but because it is just easier if you are working under cabinets to pour from something smaller. 4. The carafe - This could go under design, but it's honestly such a great feature it deserves its own note. It is clearly a quality thermal container and very easy to pour from and it's wide mouth when you take the lid off makes it extremely easy to clean (no need for that narrow brush when washing, you can get your entire hand in there, even my husband's larger hands find it easy to clean). And here is the tip that I've been most grateful for from other reviews: After brewing is complete, REMOVE the carafe from the coffeemaker tray. When it is on the tray the "brew through" feature of the lid is automatically open slightly (to allow for brewing) and I'm sure this could speed heat loss. We simply take the pot and move it over to the counter and hours later it's still plenty hot, yet the cool-touch handle and sides of the carafe are not too warm to handle easily. We have not needed to put a hotpad underneath the carafe when on the counter. Also, the spout pours nice and neatly, unlike other coffeemakers we've had where you were cleaning up drips each time you poured a cup. All this to say, if you want a quality, easy to use and easy to maintain machine AND actual value for your money, purchase this machine! I'm so glad I did!!!

RichardUnited States

Still hot at lunch, display is a little difficult to read

Bought this to replace an old glass-carafe Mr. Coffee that was burning the bottom inch of every pot. The warming plate would basically cook whatever was left after the first hour, and by 10am the coffee tasted like a tire. So the thermal carafe was the whole point. It works. I set the auto-brew for 5:45 and by the time I'm in the kitchen at 6 the pot's done. Five hours later there's still coffee hot enough to drink without microwaving, not piping but hot. By 1 or 2pm it's warm and still tastes like coffee, not like the sludge from the old machine. Vacuum carafe doing what it's supposed to do. The coffee itself is better than I expected from a sub-100 dollar machine. I run a medium-dark Costco bean and the brew comes out clean, no bitter aftertaste. The strength selector actually makes a difference if you bump it toward bold. I can tell when my wife runs it on regular vs when I push it up. Auto-clean cycle worked the first time I ran it. Dump vinegar and water in, hit the button, walk away. Beeps when done. One real gripe: the digital display is small and the contrast is not great. Programming the start time means leaning in and squinting if the kitchen light isn't on. Once it's set you don't need to mess with it, but the first night I had to redo it twice because I couldn't tell if I'd hit AM or PM. Would buy again. If you've been living with a glass carafe and a warming plate, the upgrade is real.

JanetUnited States

Good Value

We had a Cuisinart Thermal for several years. It made good coffee, but the pot lid continually leaked. It was hard to fill the water because of the strange angle. It was reliable so we put up with it. Well, it bit the dust and we got this one for about $40-50 less than a replacement Cuisinart. We like—the ease in the water fill, the pot doesn’t leak at all and the coffee is fine. The display is very hard to read. They tell you to rinse the pot with hot water before making the coffee, and that does keep it hot longer. However, if you have it set for wake up, obviously you can’t do that. It stays pretty hot. The pot is so much lighter and easier to clean than the Cuisinart. We think this was a very good purchase and would recommend it. We have had it for a couple of weeks, we will see about the durability.