22 out of 22 people found this review helpful.
Best Cup of Coffee I've Ever Brewed at Home
Date of Review: Mar 8, 2009
The Bottom Line: A little patience while the Aroma feature works its magic will yield a very, very, very good cup of coffee.
Background:
After having used the free coffee pots that came with a short-lived Gevalia subscription and a Krups coffee/espresso maker, it was finally time for a new coffee pot, when my wife and I became tired of the lame coffee we were turning out at home.
Our search on the Internet took nearly 4 hours to complete, at the end of which time we had decided to purchase this coffee pot. Seems not one company makes a coffee/espresso combo unit that anyone rates consistently highly. There are some DeLonghi combo models that were rated to make delicious coffee, but came with warnings from 95% of owners that the pots leaked water.
So, it was with trepidation that we purchased this DeLonghi model. Sure, it came highly rated and was not one of the units reported to leak. Ordered from Amazon, and about 2 days later, arrived the unit.
Unpacking and Setup:
Setup was a snap. After removal of a little amount of packaging (mostly recyclable cardboard) and a couple of runs of pure water through the machine, we were ready to brew coffee.
Features:
The unit is black plastic in a stainless steel chassis. It looks nice on the counter, especially with stainless appliances. The black plastic is much easier to keep clean than was our former white pot (which showed every little splatter and drop of coffee from the brewing process).
Our unit came with a charcoal filter that supposedly cleans chlorine from the water. We use filtered water from the front of the 'fridge, so it's a bit difficult to tell of this makes a difference or not.
The pot is glass, with black plastic handles and pouring spout. Very easy to our from without mess.
The heater plate is non-stick and keeps the coffee very hot. There is a countdown timer that lights every fifteen minutes to tell you how old the coffee is. There is also a built-in clock and timer that allows you to automatically start the coffee unattended.
Best of all features, is the aroma function that slows the brewing time considerably, but makes amazing coffee. This feature is suggested as "best for 4 cups or less" but we find that it really makes amazing coffee in any amount. The feature works by pumping hot water over the coffee grounds every thirty seconds or so, instead of continuously. This feature is intended to better saturate the grounds, extracting most flavor. We've compared our old coffee pot's output so this pot's using exactly the same amount of coffee and water. Not only is the DeLonghi's coffee stronger, it is curiously less bitter. Amazing!
Design:
The design of the unit is rather square, with everything- coffee, filter, and water- all covered by one lid. This is one feature that warrants some review. Once you've brewed the coffee and removed the grounds, cleaned the gold filter, etc., the inside of the pot will be quite wet. The lid will stay open if left all the way open; it will not stay open in any angle less than 90 degrees. This leads to a problem- leaving the pot open all day to dry out. Dust, small objects could fall into the machine. It's too tall for the lid to stay completely up and be placed under the upper cabinets. It won't dry out if the lid is not propped up or the coffee pot moved out from under the upper cabinets to the leading edge of the countertop. Small nuisance, but a consideration if you're tight on space.
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