Review
For coffee that’s as fresh as the neighborhood coffee shop, but served at home, try Cuisinart’s Automatic Grind and Brew coffeemaker. It makes it easy to enjoy fresh coffee with the utmost convenience–ground whole-bean coffee pours directly into the filter basket at a pre-set time for instant brewing. The maker does all the thinking, with a range of programmable features: set the machine to grind and brew at exactly the right time, predetermine the coffee’s temperature, and program the machine to turn off a half-hour later.Other features take the guess work out of coffeemaking as well: the flavor setting ensures the optimal amount of water is used for a rich, aromatic taste and no acidity or bitterness, and the larg [Read More...]
Buy Cuisinart DGB-300 Automatic Grind and Brew 10-Cup Coffeemaker at Amazon
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November 29th, 2009 at 3:42 am
Frankly, I’m a little surprised at the wide range of reviews here for this coffeemaker.
Yes, the coffeemaker does have to be cleaned after every brewing. No, it doesn’t make bad coffee. No, you can’t just dump coffee beans or ground coffee into the coffeemaker and make good coffee automatically.
The Coffee Bar, as Cuisinart likes to call it, does have several internal parts which must all be in place before you can brew coffee. You can use ground coffee, but you’re defeating the purpose of the Coffee Bar by doing so. The grinder compartment can hold enough beans to make 10 strong 6-oz cups of coffee which is what “10-cup” usually means with appliances. I like my coffee very strong and I’ve been able to load more than enough beans into the coffeemaker to get the strength of coffee I want.
Between the grinder and the attached drain basket is an attached screen through which the ground beans goes through and an inserted gold basket filter which must be in place in order to make coffee. On top of all of this is a cover which fits over the basket into which hot water is pumped up over the grounds and then drips down into your fresh grounds.
On this cover, there is a dial setting which you must set each and ever time depending on the amount (and what I’ve discovered — strength) of the coffee you want to have. Finally, this entire assembly is covered by a lid attached to the rear of the coffeemaker and latches in front.
The entire internal assembly MUST be cleaned after each and every brewing. So, yes, if you make multiple pots, you need to clean it each time. (However, is this any different than any other coffee appliance?)
There are additional settings on the front of the coffeemaker that also affect the quality of the coffee; so, basically, the coffeemaker is NOT intuitive and you have to read the instruction manual before you start brewing coffee with this appliance.
All of that said, this coffeemaker makes EXCELLENT coffee. I own two of them, because I originally purchased the version in white, because it was all that was available. When the version in black became available, I bought a second one. Both are still in excellent working condition and I haven’t had any problem with either.
The Cuisinart Coffee Bar is a little pricey, but it does make great coffee and I heartily recommend it.
November 29th, 2009 at 4:29 am
I bought a Cuisinart Grind N’ Brew (DGB-300BK) for my wife for Xmas. We are thoroughly disapponted with it. It has two basic design flaws. First, it is a pain to clean. There are four parts that get caked with wet coffee grounds every-time you use the machine. They need to be cleaned after every usage. Much worse, they must be cleaned and thoroughly dried before you can make a second pot. Therefore you can’t simply brew a second pot without first doing the dishes. Secondly, it makes…[bad] coffee. There is a small knob inside that you can turn to adjust the brew strength. It goes from watery to ridiculously watery. Maybe our particular unit is flawed. For Cuisinart’s sake I hope so. I even wrote to the company complaining about this thing and so far have recieved no serious reply from them only a form letter. I’ve gone back to my old coffee maker and a “hand” electric mill. It’s much better, even if the grounds sit in the basket overnight before brewing. Save your money and don’t buy the Cuisinart.