No frills coffee maker that delivers a good taste

The Krups F199 is a coffee maker features a stew & brew cycle and no hot plate. It brews quickly and makes excellent coffee.

Basics
The Krups F199 is a simple coffee maker that uses a stainless steel carafe to keep the coffee hot. It accepts normal Melissa filters #4 and holds the coffee + hot water mix for a while before releasing the coffee into the carafe. It also features a clock and timer which you might want to use to make coffee at a certain time (breakfast comes to mind). Other than that, no knobs no other buttons; just plain coffee making.

Taste
I am a coffee-nut and cannot stand the typical weak broth often found in many hotels and companies. I easily drink a pot in the morning. For a long time I owned a coffee maker that used the typical hot plate. Problem with these hot plates is that fresh coffee is quickly turned into something that appears to have the consistency of tar and similar taste I imagine. With the Krups F199 the stainless steel carafe easily keeps the coffee at temperature for several hours without burning it. (Of course if you leave only a small amount of coffee and let that sit for hours it is going to be cold). The stew cycle, whereby the hot water is allowed to mix with the coffee grounds for a while, also seems to contribute to the final taste in a positive way. I, for one, absolutely love this simple coffee maker. The taste is without a doubt very good. Of course you need good coffee grounds to go along with it; I would recommend "La LLave Espresso" which is much much better than Folgers or any other brand which mixes their grounds with coconut filling.

Disapointements
I am disappointed with the difficulty to clean this machine. The carafe needs to be cleaned inside with something abrassive. My hands are too big to go through the opening so I have to ask someone else to do this. The filter holder isn't too easily cleaned either.

With most coffee makers, you may use the pot to measure the amount of water you need. With the Krups F199 you either have to eyeball it or get a separate cup to measure.