Coffee & Espresso Makers Tips

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I got the Black and Decker Thermal Select as a wedding gift, in addition to the Hamilton Beach basic coffee maker I registered for. Though I loved the HB, it was cream coloured and soon got Dingy looking, so I switched to the BD.

The Black and Decker Thermal Select is a gorgeous looking machine. It is all black with a very shiny chrome Carafe. It has very basic features-basket filter, pause and serve, graded water reservoir. The big difference between this and other coffee makers is that it has a thermal carafe-that means instead of the coffee staying hot because of the hot plate, it stays hot because it is brewed directly into a Thermal carafe that is meant to keep the coffee warm for 4 hours. Sounds good…looks good…I was excited to try it out! I was not happy that there was no programmable timer, but that was my only concern before using the coffee maker… and not a big concern at that…

And then I tried it…

I put 8 cups of water in, and 8 scoops of coffee (Maxwell house-my usual) from my coffee tin-it was the same amount of coffee and water I always use-1 to 1 ratio. I turned it on and waited. After about 5 minutes the machine popped off-signalling the coffee was ready and would stay warm in the carafe. When I poured the coffee I thought it looked a little clear, and after I added the milk-it looked like water and milk. It tasted the same…and was cool to boot.

After A LOT of experimentation, I discovered that if I used an extra 2 scoops of coffee AND rinsed the carafe with hot water before brewing AND used hot water to make the coffee AND made sure the lid was on the carafe very very tight, I got drinkable coffee-but it never stayed hot for long or was really hot enough to begin with (and I don’t really even like VERY hot coffee)…and was usually either too strong or too weak.

For just drinkable coffee, really far too much work! Especially because, if there is no timer, I at least want to be able to prepare my coffee maker the night before so I only have to pop it on to get going in the morning. This was no longer possible.

As well, I had 2 of those coffee ground-water messes that all coffee makers have occasionally if everything is not lined up perfectly. Occasionally is fine, but 2 times in 2 weeks?? That tells me something is wrong with the machine if it is not lining up properly that often….

Also, I often found grounds of coffee in the bottom of the pot.

Also, the counter in front of the machine was always wet, even when there was no visible leak.

Anything good

It looks very nice. It cleans easily with a sponge outside and a soapy rinse of the carafe and filter. Water reservoir is roomy and easy to pour into. Easy to use-1 button turns it on, turns off automatically.

So?

I got rid of this baby, and bought the Delonghi Caffe Elite 12 cup.

This review was brought to you buy the Write Your Butt Off Write Off , for more info see maggsmomm’s profile”

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