Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Finally a hot cup of coffee! We had been using the Cuisinart SS-700 k-cup brewer for just over 3 years now and really enjoyed the convenience of the single cup brew. It started becoming erratic in all the ways the k-cup machines do, but the last straw was when it would only make room temperature coffee and no amout of cleaning and fiddling would fix it. We had been using our own coffee with a reusable filter anyway, so I started the search for a reliable single cup brewer that would use my own grounds and produce a hot cup of coffee. I'm so glad I found this little machine! Pros: 1. Water in, water out. No large storage tank means the fresh filtered water that I dump in is the same water that makes my coffee. No large storage tank to clean, and the machine isn't heating water over and over in an internal tank to keep it hot. Also, no special charcoal filters to buy and remember to change. 2. Makes a decent, hot cup of coffee! Piping hot. Even after adding cream to the coffee it was burn your tongue hot. It took a few tries to figure out the right amount of coffee to water ratio, but once I got that right the coffee was as good as any drip coffee maker I've ever used, and better than the weak brew I would get using a reusable k-cup with the same coffee in my Cuisinart. 3. Smaller footprint and shorter height. Fits under my lowest kitchen cabinets and takes up less space on the counter. While it is a well built and a relatively rugged little coffee maker, it is small and without the big water tank it's light and easy to lift up one handed and clean under while wiping down the countertop. 4. Easier clean up between cups than reusable k-cups. Anyone who uses Ekobrew or Solofill reusable k-cup filters knows what a pain they are to clean the wet coffee grounds out between cups. They just don't rinse clean easily. I actually kept a toothbrush at my sink to scrub out the nooks and crannies on the insides as a rinse never got everything out. I was pleasantly surprised by the scoop coffee filter. The wet grounds tapped right out to almost clean and anything left behind rinsed out easily. The secondary filter was quick and easy to rinse too. I also like that the parts are dishwasher safe so they can be run through with the evening dishes for a deep cleaning. 5. It's old school. No bright glowing led screens/programmed selections/extra stuff. There is really no learning curve with this machine. You don't have to remember to select the correct brew size and there is nothing to re-program after a power outage. You won't overflow your cup if you use it to measure the water you dump in. And there is no annoying end of cycle beeping or low water flashing lights. It shuts itself off after the brew cycle and there is no heating plate to burn out or scorch the fingers of curious little ones exploring where they shouldn't be. 6. Speed. From shut off/cold to the first cup was around 2 minutes. The second cup was faster. The Cuisinart k-cup machine was a little faster both from cold/shut off and in standby, but also not as hot even when it was working properly. And let's be realistic here. Who can't wait two minutes for a cup of coffee? 7. Maintenance. The Scoop maintenance once a month is to run 1/2 cup of plain white vinegar and 1/2 cup of water through the brew cycle followed by two or three cycles of plain water and you are back in business, it takes maybe 5 or 6 minutes total. The Cuisinart required 50 oz of white vinegar run through the machine to the internal tank, then let it sit for a minimum of 4 hours. Then the rinsing. It took about 8 to 10 tanks of water to rinse the vinegar smell and taste out. This was an all day project, taking the coffee maker out of commission during this time, and if we didn't do this every six weeks at minimum, sometimes more often when the "de scale" sensor demanded it, the machine wouldn't work right. I don't know if all k-cup machines require this or if it was a Cuisinart thing, but this alone was enough of a reason to steer me away from this type of machine as a replacement when mine broke down. Cons: I only have one. The splashing! Not really the coffee makers fault, more my choice in coffee cup. My cups are too tall for the drip tray in the short cup position, and too short in the tall cup position so there was quite a bit of splattering on the coffee maker and the counter. A quick fix was to leave the drip tray in the position for tall cups, then take a mini rubbermaid take along container (the three ounce size) with the lid snapped on and sit it lid down on the drip tray. When my mug was placed on top of that, it left only about a quarter of an inch of space between the top of the mug and the bottom of the brewer. Leaving the lid on the little container made it strong enough to support the coffee mug safely even when full. This virtually eliminated any splashing. So far I am very happy with the performance of this coffee maker and recommend it to anyone looking for an alternative to a k-cup brewer.