A-Squared: How To Buy a Coffee Maker

On Monday morning, our coffee maker went out. It sounded like it was brewing, but there wasn't any coffee in the pot and all the water was still in the water basin. Alex's goal when he arrived home was to clean it out and see if he could unclog the pump (because I was sure that was the source of the problem). Well, the pump was just plain broken. I guess that's what happens when you purchase a Mr. Coffee coffee maker from Wal-Mart for $29.99. When I bought this maker in July 2008, I remember thinking it was a great price for a quality coffeemaker. (Side note: Coffee maker can be written as two separate words or as one word; I will use both). Who knows, maybe it was a quality coffeemaker since we used it almost everyday.

Anyway, goodbye old coffeemaker! Off to Bed, Bath & Beyond to get another one. Oh, but which one to get? We must have stared at the different kinds for 45 minutes. Did we want a Keurig (single-brew) or a traditional coffee maker? I played Devil's Advocate a little bit with Alex. He has wanted a Keurig for some time now, and it always seemed a little uneconomical to me. However, during this trip he was hot on the traditional coffeemaker. While we were talking over the pros and cons, one of the sales associates stopped by and gave us a little tutorial on the different brands of the single serve makers. There's the Keurig, Tassimo, Breville, etc. And most of these come in a "mini" size. We were interested, but not enough to buy one.

We settled on the Mr. Coffee Thermal Coffeemaker. It was $90 and had a gold filter (yeah, no more paper filters). We had a 20% off coupon and a $50 giftcard, so we only paid around $25. We thought that was a pretty good deal! At home, Al cleaned it and got it ready to brew the next day. One thing that sucked right off the bat was that there was no warmer (with it being a thermal), so Al would have to pour the coffee back in, set the delay and re-brew it for me (he gets up about 3 hours before me). Oh well, if that's the only thing that's wrong, it's not so bad. As we got in bed, Al began looking at various reviews online and could not really find a good one. Now we have it in our head and are looking for proof for it to be a terrible coffeemaker. Well, it was. The coffee was watery, which we assume is from it brewing quickly (something to do with the gold filter maybe?), and it was only lukewarm. We decide to give it another try and use a paper filter the next day. Nope, still watery! And still not very warm for me...way to go thermal!

On Wednesday night, we pop in BBB after dinner with my fam. This trip was a little different because we had done our research prior to arriving. I know, research for a coffeemaker seems a little ridiculous, but Al put it best when he said it was like buying a car. Too many different gadgets and whatnot. We decided that the Cuisinart DC1200 would be the one. We look it over and ponder about the KitchenAid model, but decide to go with the Cuisinart ($80). As we're walking toward the check out, we see a sign that says $50 mail-in rebate on Tassimos. We ask someone to explain the differences between the various models, but decide it might be a little bit too much and maybe we should ask for one next Christmas.

Bright idea! We can get a cheap-o coffee maker and get this one for fun. We'll spend a little bit more, but not too much (giftcard and rebate). Wow, we're an easy sell. We run back, get a cheap-o coffee maker, grab a Tassimo, select some T-disc flavors, and nab a quick gift for my sister. The grand total (including rebate and giftcard) came to about $100! We got one coffeemaker, one Tassimo, three bags of T-discs, and a birthday gift for one hundred bucks...FANTASTIC! To give you an idea, the Tassimo was $169 to start with.

We are so stoked from our fab deal when we get home. Oh but we're about to be taken down a notch. Al starts to take out the coffeemaker and notices that it's taped up with scotch tape. That's not right. Then, water poured out of it when he took it out of the box, and there were grounds caked on the filter basket. Of course, we picked up a return that wasn't properly checked! We call BBB, and they have one waiting for me when I get there. This one is in it's original packaging and doesn't have scotch tape on the bottom of the box. It's good to go! Take it home, set it up, clean it, and delay brew it.

The next morning, the coffee tasted great and reached our expectations. We also tried out the Tassimo, which was good, but not the best thing in the world. For Al, it tended to make the drink too strong, and for me it was too milky. Both of those things can be adjusted, so we're going to keep it! It will be good for single brews, lattes, and entertaining our fancy friends. :)

All in all, I say go for the cheap-o coffeemaker. Happy brewing!

--Am