Coffee & Espresso Makers Tips

Somewhat disappointed Farberware FAC400C 10 Cup Coffee Maker The raison d'etre for a new coffee maker was to be able to keep the coffee hot a while after brewing. So I looked ...

Farberware K117158 36-Cup Coffee Maker Key FeaturesTypeCoffee MakerCapacity36 CupOperation SourceElectricMax. Power1150 Watts ...

Lead-In

Ignoring my normally logical and rational tendencies, I decided to buy a new coffee maker. Not that there was anything wrong with my basic $19 General Electric 12-cup unit. It had served me without a hiccup for more than two years and made decent coffee to boot. Although it was white when it began life, the basket and carafe lid had acquired a good bit of yellowish brown coffee stain. Admittedly, shopping is an avocation for me, so the stain was the only excuse I needed to hit the bricks for a new one.

I really didn’t want to pay $100 for a coffee maker. I know, that’s only 30 or so “Grande’s” at Starbucks, but that wasn’t the point. My miserly instincts simply wouldn’t allow me to spend that much and still sleep well. I did want one that was a bit more contemporary looking than my old one. GE describes it as “Classic.” I describe it as so very ordinary that it looks like a . . . umm . . . coffee maker. I also wanted one with a thermal carafe. I nurse a pot each morning for maybe three hours, and toward the end it gets pretty foul. Sure, I could brew a pot, and then pour it up into a separate thermal carafe. But I figured, if it’s gonna end up in one, I may as well save a step and brew it in one, too. Plus, transferring a full pot of coffee from one container to another before I’ve had my first caffeine fix is a task better left to clearer heads than I.

I had been eyeing a thermal carafe Krups at one of the “big box” stores for a few days, but a little research dampened my enthusiasm about it. The drip-stop feature seemed trouble-prone, and the carafe reportedly dribbled badly, didn’t keep coffee hot, and typically broke after just a few weeks of use. I decided that $69 was way too much to pay for something that had so many strikes against it.

While browsing one of the major off-price stores, I spotted a Farberware FAC400CB. For the record, the “B” denotes that the coffee maker is black. There is also a red version that uses the same model number, minus the “B”. The black one suited me just fine, though. It wouldn’t show stains like the white one I had, and it actually would look better setting out in my kitchen. At $39, the price was certainly right, and I liked its styling, as well. 30 minutes later, it was unpacked and on my countertop.

General Impressions

My first reaction was - this thing really is good looking! The main body was matte black plastic and had very smooth lines - all simple curves and arcs. Sort of stork-like in appearance, with its long, graceful neck and bowl shaped basket enclosure. Reminded me of the venerable, pastel green Waring milk shake makers used decades ago at the soda fountain in the corner drug store.

The tall carafe was brushed, double-walled stainless, and had a black plastic handle, rim and screw-on cap. The only thing that seemed a little incongruous was the removable water tank. It was relatively large, somewhat oval in shape, but with a perfectly flat top. Fortunately, it was unobtrusive because it was made of a translucent plastic. Thoughtfully, a set of fill markings was imprinted on EACH side of the tank.

Everything appeared to be in good condition, so I did a quick once-over of the user manual. Pretty straightforward, and certainly comprehensive enough. I mean, it’s just a coffee maker, and a very simple one at that. There just isn’t much about it that would require a lot of study - no timers, dials, buttons, lights, geegaws, bells or whistles. Just a simple on-off toggle switch on the side and a removable basket that takes #4 cone style filters. The basket enclosure, by the way, is similar to the one on a Braun KF580 that I used for a couple of years. Press a button on top of the unit, and it swings out to the side. Very handy.

Time for a test run! I rinsed everything thoroughly, wiped it down well and went to work.

Particulars

I quickly figured out the advantage of the removable tank. It is much easier to fill than attempting to pour a carafe of water into a fixed tank before my eyes really begin to work. Just open the tank lid, yank it off by the concealed handle, stick it under the faucet, pour in the water, hang it back on and close the lid. The engineers got that part right!

I’ve read that a “shower head” style water feed is preferable to the “single stream” type. Supposedly, it saturates the dry coffee more evenly, resulting in more thorough flavor extraction. I’ve had both types of coffee makers, but I honestly haven’t noticed much difference in the brews they produced. My old GE does the shower thing, and I have always been pleased with the coffee. Consequently, I was a bit apprehensive when I saw that this new Farberware had the single stream design. That was soon proven to be irrelevant, though.

There is no heated base plate for the carafe. None is needed, based on the presumption that the thermal carafe keeps coffee acceptably hot for a reasonable period of time (and this one did, ~3 hours, by my guesstimate). The oddity of this coffee maker is the absence of an auto-off feature. When brewing has ended, and owing to the thermal carafe, there is no need for further electrical power. Despite that, however, the switch must be manually turned off. Granted, that’s only a minor inconvenience, but other brands thoughtfully eliminated the need to do that.

Let’s see, what else . . . oh, yeah. The carafe’s screw-on cap must be correctly aligned in the “pour” position while brewing, else 10 cups of Joe end up on the floor. An arrow imprinted on the cap makes alignment relatively idiot-proof. Also, the cap has a spring-loaded plunger in the center. With the carafe in place, the plunger pushes upward against a spring-loaded button in the bottom of the filter basket. The resulting force of one against the other opens both, which allows the fresh brew to pour from the basket into the carafe. That also acts as a drip-stop, permitting a caffeine starved user to snatch the first cup of the day before the brew cycle has ended without dribbling coffee everywhere. And, it actually works well.

More about the carafe - it is irritatingly difficult to remove, owing to the slight interlock between its cap and the basket drip button. I suppose this is typical of thermal carafes, but having to jiggle the thing with one hand while holding onto the body of the unit with the other is not something I can deftly manage at 5:00 a.m. In fact, it’s a major accomplishment if I’m not still on all fours at that hour.

After running a tank of plain water through a complete brew cycle as recommended in the manual, I re-filled the tank, stuck a filter in the basket, added my fav grind and lit it up. I didn’t bother to time the brew cycle, as Momma always said that a watched pot never boils. Mom was kinda folksy Having said that, I would guess that it took only seven minutes or so to brew a full ten cups.

A lot of coffee-maker reviews contain comments on their noise level, so here’s my take. Each one I have owned has had its signature sound, but none could have been described as loud. This Farberware was just like the others - a few hisses and gurgles, but that’s about it. It did produce a noticeably hollow “tinkling” as the first cup dripped into the empty carafe. Beyond that, however, it sounded similar to any other drip coffee maker.

At the end of the brew cycle, a healthy cloud of steam billowed out of the closed filter basket. I don’t recall the steam being so pronounced with my old GE. In any event, I noticed that the filter basket housing did not align perfectly with the “head” of the unit. The resulting gap left between the two may have allowed more steam to escape, but I can’t say for certain. Regardless, I considered these poorly fitted parts indicative of inferior quality.

You might ask at this point, “So, Einstein, how’s the coffee?” The short answer - absolutely, unequivocally un-drinkable! The stuff tasted like it had been steeped for three days in an old tire, and the first sip literally brought tears to my eyes. It was even worse than the Paregoric that my Grandmother gave us kids when we had stomach aches. It was, arguably, the vilest, most acrid liquid I have ever swallowed, and that was with ground coffee from the same batch I had used the day before! Grandma often said of Paregoric, “If it tastes that bad, it must be good.” Trust me, that doesn’t apply to coffee!

Finale

As much as I wanted to like this piece, it IS about the coffee, after all. Absent that, and despite its unique styling, utter simplicity and thermal carafe advantage, the Farberware is back in the box, awaiting its return to the store. Ole Yeller (relevant only if you’re over 50) has been restored to active duty for now, and the search continues.

UPDATE 11-27-2005

I decided to give this coffee maker a second chance, thinking I possibly didn’t clean it sufficiently the first time around. This time, I used 8-cups of a half white vinegar / half water solution, followed by three 10-cup clear water rinses. I brewed another full pot of coffee and was dismayed that it was no better than the first. Totally tasteless and bitter.

It now sits once again on the store shelf.

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