Hamilton Beach 2-Way Programmable Coffee Maker, 12 Cup Glass Carafe And Single Serve Coffee Maker, Black with Stainless Steel Accents, 49980RG

Ben PowellUnited States

Great coffee maker- single cup or full pot

This the best coffee pot I've ever owned, seriously. I appreciate good coffee and regularly buy beans from a local roastery. I am not a barista nor do I claim to be a coffee expert. I enjoy good coffee and a drip coffee maker is good enough for my daily habit. This maker can be used to brew single cups on one side or a full pot on the other side. Typically, I am the only coffee drinker in my house. Sometimes we have guests. This coffee maker allows me to serve both situations easily. To use the single serve side, I fill the cup that I'm planning to use with the correct amount of tap water and add it to the single serve side of the maker. This is accessed from the top under a small lid that flips up. This side is designed to only hold enough water for a single serve amount of water. I don't use manufactured pods as I prefer fresh grounds but this maker apparently can handle pods too. I grind my beans or use pre-ground coffee and add that to the slide out tray on the single serve side just above the cup location. There is a metallic mesh screen that holds the grounds on the single serve side and I find that I waste less coffee than when I try to make only 1 or 2 cups in a large pot. The single serve side has a nested set of plastic circles that sits under a tall mug when not needed. These little circular risers can be un-nested and stacked to allow a shorter cup to be closer to the dripping coffee (see photos). This allows the maker to accommodate a variety of sizes of cups. The single serve side takes about 2 minutes to brew. I think the coffee tastes great and I can control the strength of the brew based upon how many grounds I add. The full carafe side is much like any basic drip-coffee maker. There’s a small reservoir that holds enough water to brew a full pot of coffee. There’s a flip lid and a basket for coffee grounds. You can use paper filters or buy a separate metallic, re-usable mesh filter that fits inside this basket. I like these baskets as it’s less wasteful than using paper filters daily and I don’t have to remember to constantly purchase filters. I’ve used the same mesh filter for over 7 years now. It doesn’t filter as finely as paper filters do and the last sip of coffee contains a small amount of grit / sediment but this seems normal to me now. If someone doesn’t like this idea than I would warn them not to drink the last sip. It’s pretty easy to avoid. The coffee maker has a very obvious and easy to use manual switch that selects whether you are brewing a full pot or a single serve. Only one side can be used at a time. You simply move the switch to the left or right as the illustrations show to select which side you wish to utilize. I frequently use the timer feature. Prior to work I have one 16 oz metal travel mug filled, warm and waiting for me when I wake up in the morning. The display is bright when you touch a button and dims to normal again after about 30 seconds so it doesn’t light up the kitchen at night like a beacon. There is a single bright green LED light that indicates that the timer is set and ready to go. Personally, I like this feature as it is an obvious acknowledgment that the timer is ready to go at the time that I programmed in. Some might find this too bright but it’s hard to imagine it being a nuisance to most people. Other reviewers have indicated the their carafe broke instantly upon the first use. I’ve used my carafe several times without issues. I also noticed that a new pot is around $10 so if it does break down the road, I can probably replace it easily. Some said that it tastes like plastic, I haven’t experienced this. Some said that it leaks after 3 months – I’ll try to update this review later but so far so good – no leaks. Others say it takes too long to brew. I think it takes about as long to make coffee as every other coffeepot that I have owned and if you set it up the night before, you won’t have to wait for it. It can be ready for you whenever you tell it to be ready. I even read that some people were annoyed that they had to slide the coffee pot out from under a counter in order to add water to the top of the coffee maker. I once added felt pads to the bottom of a coffee maker to make this process easier. Without a dedicated water line and a commercial coffee apparatus, I’m not sure how the manufacturer would avoid this overly burdensome task. You have to add water somehow; that’s how coffee works. I have not had any negative issues at all with this coffee maker and I’ve been using it daily for over 1 month. It’s easy to use, it’s easy to program and I like that I can make a full pot or single cup depending on my needs. I definitely recommend this unit.

Ross BatemanCanada

PRICE, CONVENIENCE, AND FLAVOUR, AS GOOD AS IT GETS

For many years, the best-tasting and most flavourful coffee we ever made has been with our Drip-O-Lator, made by Enterprise Aluminum in Macon Georgia. We bought this for cottage-use a long time ago--when they were still being made--at Robinson's General Store in Dorset Ontario. Later, we bought another, and then, they disappeared from the market. It was very cheap to buy and is simple to use: Measure the amount of cups you want into the middle of three graduated marked canisters; pour the required amount of boiling water into the upper marked canister, and wait a bit until it dribbled through into the bottom part of the coffee pot. Later, we had it dribble directly into a thermos butler, rather than into the pot on the wood stove. When we could get it, we used fresh spring water gushing from a woodsy hillside outcrop. That is a perfect coffee, always, fresh-ground or pre-ground---either way. When our Cuisinart maker with the built-in grinder stared leaking all over the counter at home, I research all available options for a new one. We took a chance on this Hamilton Beach, with mostly(not all) good ratings noting its low price. This machine, in its first days of use, rivals the Drip-O-Lator in flavour and even in simplicity of use. I can't fathom the truthfulness of the critical reviews. The single-serve side is not messy, and the flavour is first rate. We bought the crinkly made-in-Canada basket for the multi-cup side, and the results are just the same on both sides, using Nabob Bold Full City Dark. This water is from a well, hydrogen peroxide treated and softened, but judging by the results, that seems perfectly fine. The Cuisinart never made compelling coffee, even in fresh-grind mode. The pre-heated urn never kept things warm and it was messy to pour in its necessarily upside-down position. The Hamilton Beach is very economical, seeming to deliver the same volume of brewed of coffee as the water that is poured in. Access to the water tank is convenient, and the graduated lines are very visible. The single-serve side takes a tiny bit of coffee grounds in the bottom of the stainless mesh basket, and then the amount of coffee you want to drink is poured into the upper chamber from the cup you'll be drinking it from. Finally, the machine has a name that's easy to pronounce and spell---this Chinese make (I guess) does not have a pretentious European name, like the other Chinese machines. The Cuisinart , even in fresh-grind mode, never made compelling coffee. At home, our Cuisinart coffee maker with

JordanUnited States

Great machine for the price

I was between a 4 and a 5 star for the review, but did go with 5 because of the price point. Coming from a Ninja 10-cup carafe, with all the little fun options of being able to brew a single cup all the way to the full pot (with every option in between) this was a bit of a change. Pros: - 12-cup carafe does the trick for the 4 adults who use it - no making extra coffee - Warmer actually stays warm for the prescribed 2+ hours - Easy to clean carafe and grounds "bucket" - Setting up the program time is easy to use, works very well - Water capacity is as advertised - filled to the 12 line, you will get 12 cups worth of coffee - No leaking once fully brewed Cons: - Needed to purchase regular (non-cone shape) filters - didn't see that clearly identified when purchasing - Brew options button is just Bold or non-Bold coffee - no fancy creations if you're into that - Brew time is excruciatingly long - Water capacity is for how much you want to brew - the single pour switch is only to redirect where the coffee is going to brew. If you filled the reservoir up, you will have coffee everywhere. No way to switch once the reservoir is full Overall, once you get used to the way this machine operates, it is an excellent product and great value for the money.

Donna W.United States

Absolutely Wonderful Coffee Maker

I’ve been drinking coffee now for the past 50 years and I’ve had many different kinds of coffee makers. The best one prior to this purchase was the percolator from Grandma and after that died I purchased one just like it .:. Then I thought I would go fancy and buy a barista type coffee maker. I’ll tell ya what I’ve had cheap, I’ve had super expensive and none of them compare to this one. My husband has been drinking the same coffee for over 20 years … I like to mix it up(I’m on a New Orleans kind right now).. he uses the single serve side and I use the kettle side. I have never had a coffee maker make coffee this hot before. And it stays hot. It’s super easy to use and the brew time is fast compared to all my past coffee makers. As far as noise level I don’t ever hear brewing and it is super reliable. I did read in the reviews that other people have had issues with leakage I think that had to do with shipping but mine doesn’t leak. I absolutely love love love my coffee maker price is fantastic size of the whole machine is perfect I have nothing negative to say.