Cuisinart Burr Grind & Brew 12-Cup Coffeemaker

This combined burr grinder and brewer is a wonderful one-step device for me as a user and consumer. While it does not allow me to select the grind size, the manual points out that grind size should be set for the type of brewing. And it is also does not allow me to fine-tune the amount of beans to be pulled down for each batch. But I simple spoon the amount of beans to be brewed each night and set it for “strong” and slightly more cups (6) than I actually have (4 1/2). In my case I like to use a 1/3 normal beans and 2/3 decaffeinated. I put into the hopper two overflowing scoops of decaf and one such of regular coffee. The hopper empties fully (with seemingly the same amount of grounds as if I fill the hopper, given my settings). It produces a robust coffee with similar quality that I get when I use highest-end coffee shops in airports around the world. It has become a great experience every morning for me.

I have had the blade grinder Cuisinart coffee maker for many years but when it died, I didn’t want to replace it since it required a lot of cleaning after every use. This machine not only grinds the coffee better (burr grinder), it also requires less work to operate. All said, it’s a better machine and is worth the extra cost.