Coffee & Espresso Makers Tips

Cuisinart DCC 2000 Coffee Maker Cuisinart DCC 2000 12 Cup Coffee Maker I have been using the Cuisinart DCC-2000 twelve cup coffee maker for about six months now. It brews great coffee ...

Cuisinart DCC-2000 12-Cup Coffee Maker Product Technical DetailsDCC-2000 Key FeaturesTypeCoffee MakerBuilt-in Water Filte...

Released From Our Prison of Pickiness By Thoughtful Friends

My husband and I did not own a coffee maker. Because he has a truly educated palate for coffee and I am a snob, we could not find a machine that suited us. The only options we considered viable were these:

Buy a 700 dollar coffee machine.

Only buy coffee by the cup from the superb little coffee shop in our town.

Brew coffee with a thermos, a percolator, and a kettle of boiling water - the recommendation of Alton Brown of Good Eats.

We survived five years of marriage quite happily with option three. In fact, we felt smugly superior to others who devoted unnecessary cash and counter space to mid-priced coffee makers. But we also envied them sometimes, because to brew coffee without a machine takes more time and attention in the morning, when there is little to spare.

Our closest friends, who were puzzled by our lack of a coffee maker and searching for a gift idea for our anniversary, generously purchased this Cuisinart for us. I’m ashamed to admit that we struggled to hide our lack of interest in the gift. I’m even more ashamed that we privately wondered if our friends would mind if we returned it. Fortunately, one of us decided to grow up and make some coffee.

Surprise, Surprise.

To our pleasant surprise, this machine makes great tasting coffee. With the attention my husband gives to selecting and storing our beans, nothing was going to make bad coffee, but the way coffee is stored in this Cuisinart prevents the brew from being wrecked by the machine. Coffee gets ruined when it stews on a heating element in a carafe for too long, and this machine stores it in a reservoir inside the stainless steel body. You dispense coffee by placing your mug under the body of the machine and pressing a pedal to let it out. As your mug fills, a round gauge on the front of the machine shows how much coffee is left in the reservoir.

Although we didn’t have a coffee maker at home, I brewed coffee very often at my job. I disliked the traditional coffee makers there not only because the coffee burned, but because I had bad luck with carafes. My employer had to buy new coffee makers twice when I dropped carafes and shattered them. Some brands sell replacements, but I managed to break the ones that didn’t. Also, they tended to get messy as they aged. Although most had a feature that would stop the drip when you took the carafe off, most of them got less sensitive as they got older and would drip on the heating element, which would burn the spilled coffee and smell bad. The carafes would get discolored from being full of coffee all the time and look unappealing. The Cuisinart eliminated all these problems, making it a much more pleasant type of coffee maker to own and display.

Did I Say Display? I Meant Show Off.

The Cuisinart is great looking. The stainless steel, unique design, and elegant control panel make this look like a much more expensive machine than it actually is. It would look great in a kitchen with other stainless steel appliances. Because the brewing and storage all happens in one place and the coffee pours from a little spout straight into your mug, it doesn’t get all messy when you fill it or remove the grounds. I get many compliments on this unusual and attractive appliance.

Easy Enough For Me to Use - And I’m So Retarded, I Break Carafes

To brew coffee, spoon your grounds into the included gold-tone filter and add the water directly into the machine. A gauge on the side of the machine shows how much water you’ve added. Close the lid on top of the machine and turn it on. If you’re brewing between one and four cups of coffee, there is a 1-4 button you can press. This will keep a smaller amount of liquid hot. You can also program the Cuisinart to brew the next morning. The control panel is very low tech, all simple stainless steel buttons and black dials, a needle gauge to show how much coffee is in the reservoir, and a very small digital clock. Not only is this pretty cool looking, but it’s very straightforward for a luddite like me to program.

2 Cups? Coming Right Up.

This appliance is particularly good at making a small amount of coffee very quickly. If I set it to make between one and four cups, which is all I ought to have when I am brewing in solitude, there is enough coffee in the reservoir within about a minute to pour my first cup. On the 1-4 setting, small amounts of coffee are brewed hotter and tastier than in other machines I have used.

Not Necessarily Good to the Last Drop

What this appliance is worst at is holding a whole pot of coffee for one person to drink over the course of a three or four hours, which is not a good plan for me but something I do nevertheless. Although the coffee tastes fresh because of not stewing in a carafe, the last two or three cups out of 12 will usually be lukewarm. The heat stays on for about two hours after the coffee brews, but once the liquid gets low, it begins to cool down. After the heat turns off, whatever is left quickly gets unappetizingly cool. I don’t think microwaving a cup of coffee spoils the taste, but it’s a pain to do. This is a shame - the machine is well designed for preserving the fresh taste of coffee, but what good is a fresh-tasting cold cuppa? I have taken to only brewing two or three cups at a time on the 1-4 setting, which keeps the small amounts of liquid hotter, and brewing again when it is gone.

Despite the Flaws, Still a Great Gift

I’ve been spoiled by the coffee maker. These little workhorse appliances never last forever, and in a few more years this model is likely to give out. We will definitely not go back to Alton Brown’s recipe for perfect coffee unless we’re camping. If this model stays on the market, I would not hesitate to buy it for myself. Thank you, my friends, for such a great gift!

I am not demanding, but I like Cuisinart’s Coffee On Demand! Cuisinart DCC 2000 12 Cup Coffee Maker Cuisinart Coffee on Demand DCC-2000 12-Cup Coffee Maker Let me start by saying I have a wonderful Jura Capres...

I just want a cup of coffee… Cuisinart DCC 100 10 Cup Coffee Maker I bought this coffee maker after my Black and Decker gave up the ghost. I had been through 4 coffee makers within ...

Machine dies too soon and is irreparable Cuisinart DCC 2000 12 Cup Coffee Maker Great design, nice dispenser, good coffee--unfortunately when it breaks your are screwed--not able to get repair p...

My favorite appliance is this Cuisinart machine! Cuisinart DCC 2000 12 Cup Coffee Maker I have had this machine for over a year now, and have no complaints whatsoever! One day, my trusty machine just st...

Very disappointed with this coffeemaker Cuisinart DCC 1000 12 Cup Coffee Maker I paid 79.99 for the coffee maker at my local Lowe's store (and looking at websites, it appears that I overpaid), ...

Nuova Simonelli Mac 2000 Espresso Machine Product Technical DetailsMac 2000 Key FeaturesTypeEspresso MachineOperation Source...

A great coffee maker Cuisinart DCC 1000 12 Cup Coffee Maker

Love this coffee maker. Cuisinart DCC 2000 12 Cup Coffee Maker