Coffee & Espresso Makers Tips

Black & Decker Brew N Go DCM18 1.88-Cup Coffee Maker Key FeaturesTypeCoffee MakerCapacity1.88 CupOperation SourceElectric Technical Feat...

Smart Brew Plus Does not last Black & Decker Brew N Go DCM18 1.88 Cup Coffee Maker I had this coffee maker for less than a year, had trouble getting it to work a couple of times, and then it stoppe...

If you don’t mind cutting a few corners on coffee temperature and taste, then you might consider the Black & Decker Brew ‘N Go a respectable one-cup coffeemaker.

No one should purchase the Black & Decker Brew ‘N Go expecting the world’s finest brewed coffee, but when I saw the Brew ‘N Go on sale, I figured, “what the heck.” I was looking for something that was a quick and easy and I had already been through any number of basic coffeemakers for that task.

So I got the Brew ‘N Go 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 the coffee into. The mug is an oversize travel mug that holds 15 ounces, which is about 2 regular cups of coffee in a regular coffee mug. There is also a reusable coffee filter in the coffeemaker itself so you don’t need to bother with paper filters when you are brewing your cup of coffee.

In general I’ve found that only the Black & Decker mug will work in this coffeemaker. I’ve tried other travel mugs that I have, but none seem to fit quite right into the coffeemaker.

Does it work & Do I get a cup of mud?

I wouldn’t say it’s mud…but it’s not fine coffee either.

The first thing I noticed when I started drinking coffee from the Brew ‘N Go was that the coffee wasn’t very hot. Now I’m not fan of scalding hot coffee, but I like it to still be hot (or at least hotter than lukewarm) after I put my cream in it. With the Brew ‘N Go, it seems to me that almost every cup is lukewarm at best – and by the time you go anywhere with that mug, the coffee is literally on the cold side of lukewarm.

I’ve also found that it will take a few tries to figure out exactly how much ground coffee you need to put into the filter for your cup of coffee. On a regular coffee machine, I usually go for about a tablespoon per cup on my coffee – and since the Brew ‘N Go brews two regular cups, I put in two tablespoons at first. The coffee didn’t come out like my regular coffee and after some fiddling with amounts each morning, I discovered I needed about 2 ½ tablespoons to 3 tablespoons (usually closer to 3) to get the strength of coffee that I liked. I guess this is because the water isn’t heated as much and thus the strength of the coffee isn’t as much as with coffeemakers with hotter water temperatures.

Really (even after all this), the coffee isn’t that bad from the Brew ‘N Go, it’s just not great. The Brew ‘N Go gives me a decent cup of coffee, but it took a while to find the strength I liked and I have never gotten a cup that was hot enough for my liking.

However, a giant plus for the Brew ‘N Go is the fact that it makes brewing coffee incredibly convenient and easy. I mean where else can you brew a single cup of coffee without any mess and not much clean up? Just dump out the filter in the trash, 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.

Coffee Machine basics

As if anyone really needs instructions on a coffeemaker this simple…

Like I’ve said, there is the reusable filter for the coffee, which is easy to clean and means you don’t need to be hassled with paper coffee filters each time you want to brew coffee. The filter fits into a slot that holds it steady and you put the ground coffee directly into the reusable filter.

Then you 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. I’d suggest that you give yourself a bit of space in the cup though, you need some space to fit in your cream and sugar. It’s always appeared to me, that 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.

In a few minutes after having turned the Brew ‘N Go on, your cup of coffee will have been brewed and you’ll be ready to travel with that coffee.

Do I still use it?

The Brew ‘N Go eventually ended up in the basement of no return for household appliances, replaced by a standard run-of-the-mill 10-cup coffee maker (which was then replaced by Cusinart’s Grind and Brew coffeemaker). In reality, I grew tired of the unpredictable coffee strength and the lukewarm temperature of the coffee. I guess I turned into a coffee snob.

It’s not that I don’t love making a single cup of coffee so conveniently, I just never grew all that fond of the coffee that it brewed.

For now, while making a cup or two of coffee out of a standard coffeemaker might not be as easy as it was in the Brew ‘N Go, for me I am willing to sacrifice those few minutes saved for the better tasting coffee.

Final Thoughts

If you don’t mind coffee that’s not that hot and has a somewhat unpredictable strength, you probably won’t mind using the Brew ‘N Go for your morning cup of coffee. Nothing I’ve found can beat its simplicity for brewing a single cup of coffee. Personally though, I just wish Black & Decker would work on making that single cup taste better.

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