Coffee & Espresso Makers Tips

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For someone who doesn’t mind cutting a few corners on coffee temperature and taste, the Black & Decker Brew ‘N Go is a respectable one-cup coffeemaker.

No one should purchase the Black & Decker Brew ‘N Go expecting finely brewed coffee, but when I saw the Brew ‘N Go on sale at Walmart a year or so ago, I figured, “what the heck,” I wanted a quick and easy way to brew coffee and I had already been through any number of basic coffeemakers. Plus my boyfriend had one of these in college and always liked it (it was before my days as a coffee drinker and he had gotten rid of it after college).

So I purchased it and set it up – which is about as easy as you can get for a coffeemaker. The Brew ‘N Go has two main parts – the coffeemaker and the travel mug that it brews into. The mug holds is an oversize travel mug, it holds 15 ounces, which is about 2 regular cups of coffee. There’s also a reusable filter in the coffeemaker itself so you don’t need to bother with paper filters.

This model, and the one I purchased, come with a “bonus” mug which is a handy feature if you’re lazy like me. You won’t have to wash the mug every day in order to have coffee daily if you’re alternating between mugs.

In general only the Black & Decker mug will work in this coffeemaker, I’ve yet to find another travel mug that will fit.

Machine basics…

There is the reusable filter for coffee grinds which is easy to clean and means you don’t need to be hassled with paper filters. It fits into a pre-made slot that holds it and you put the ground coffee directly into the reusable filter.

Fill the travel mug up with water and while you’ve got the top open to put in the ground coffee, fill up the coffeemaker with the water from the mug – though I’d suggest you leave some space in there to fit your cream and coffee. It appears on an average brew, you don’t lose that much water to steam – so the coffee mug will be filled much as you had it when you put the water into the Brew ‘N Go.

There’s only one switch and one setting to worry about on the Brew ‘N Go. There’s a slider switch which starts it and when it’s done brewing, it will automatically shut itself off. There’s no outside heating element, as the coffee goes into the travel mug.

How’s it work & Do I get a cup of mud?

I wouldn’t say it’s mud…

The first thing I noticed with my first cup of coffee was that it wasn’t very hot. I don’t like scalding hot coffee, but I like it to still be hot after I put my cream in it. With the Brew ‘N Go, it was lukewarm at best – and by the time I got out to my car and started driving to work – it was on the cold side of lukewarm.

I also discovered that it will take a few tries to figure out exactly how much coffee you need to put into the filter. I usually go for a tablespoon per cup on my coffee – and since the Brew ‘N Go is two regular cups, I put in two tablespoons. It didn’t come out like my regular coffee. After fiddling around with amounts each morning, I discovered I needed about 2 ½ tablespoons to 3 tablespoons to get the strength that I liked. I guess because the water isn’t heated as much – the strength of the coffee isn’t as much as with coffeemakers with hotter water temperatures.

The coffee isn’t bad from the Brew ‘N Go, it’s just not great. I’ve never really been a coffee snob, so as long as it’s hot and I can get it down without getting sick, I’ve never really had a problem (hell, I don’t even mind instant sometimes!). The Brew ‘N Go gives me that cup of coffee, but it took a while to find the strength I liked and I never did get a cup that was hot enough for my liking.

However the Brew ‘N Go makes coffee incredibly convenient and easy. I mean where else can you quickly and easily brew a single cup of coffee without any mess and not much clean-up? Just dump out the filter, rinse it – and you’ve cleaned up your machine. When you’re finished with the mug – just clean that and you’re good to go for another cup of coffee.

What happened…?

The Brew ‘N Go eventually ended up in the basement of no return for household goods, replaced by a standard run-of-the-mill 10-cup coffee maker (which was then replaced by Cusinart’s Grind and Brew coffeemaker). I grew tired of the unpredictable coffee strength and the lukewarm temperature. I don’t want to get halfway to work and have my coffee go cold on me.

It’s not that I didn’t love the ease of making a single cup of coffee, I just never grew all that fond of the coffee that it did make.

While making a cup or two of coffee out of a standard coffeemaker might not be as easy, for me, I am willing to sacrifice those few minutes saved with the Brew ‘N Go for the better tasting coffee you’ll get out of a standard coffeemaker.

I’m sure others won’t be so picky – coffee is coffee for them (and I thought I was that way!) and whether it’s not quite the right strength or cools off two quickly will be second to the fact that the Brew ‘N Go is really easy and quick to use.

Final Thoughts

If you don’t mind somewhat cooler than average coffee and coffee with a somewhat unpredictable strength, you probably won’t mind the Brew ‘N Go. Nothing can beat its ease for brewing a single cup, I just wish Black & Decker would work on making that single cup taste better.

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