Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This product doesn't do anything you couldn't do on your own with a blender and a coffee machine, but the combination of the two makes the frappe-making process much more convenient. In the few weeks I've owned it, I've found myself just making my own frappes instead of running to the local coffee shop. The accompanying recipe book offers some great ideas, including tea frappes. As a warning to those who don't keep paper coffee filters around the house, the package doesn't even include a sample filter, so you'll need to purchase four-cup size filters before you can try out the product. The process is simple. Set up the coffee brewer by placing a filter, 3-6 scoops of ground coffee, and water in the machine. In the blending pitcher, add ice cubes and other ingredients (e.g. ice cream, milk, flavor syrup, alcohol, etc.). Turn it on, and the coffee (or tea) brews directly into the pitcher, which then automatically starts a pulsed blending cycle. There is a separate "blend" button that can be used if you find the drink requires further blending once the automatic cycle is complete. The machine has worked great for me, but there are a few reasons I'm not giving it a full five stars. The coffee flavor is a bit weak, so I sometimes also add my own shot of espresso in the blending pitcher, which sort of defeats the purpose of the product (though I'm someone who prefers the darkest straight espresso shots, so I realize others might find the by-the-book frappes fine as is). Ideally, the product would have a built-in coffee grinder so I wouldn't also have a grinder to clean, but that would obviously increase its cost. In regards to cleaning, it's worth mentioning that the components of the machine aren't dishwasher safe. If you're like me and tend to keep a collection of gimmicky small kitchen appliances to inspire you to make things you might not otherwise think to make, this is a great item to have around. It operates well, and some of the little details like the automatic pulsed blending as well as the option to perform extra blending as needed render it truly functional.