When my Senseo coffee maker recently bit the dust after nearly 4 years of use, I went into a panic. For me there's nothing worse than not having my morning cup of coffee. Even a dead battery in my car is trivial compared to not having my morning jolt of caffeine. So I immediately went to Linens N Things to see what I could find. I decided I was a bit tired of the single serve coffee maker, so my hope was to find a small programmable coffee maker. I came home with the Black & Decker 5-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker (DCM675 - available in either black or white).

Product Details

As the only coffee drinker in my house, I don't need a big coffee maker, so this 5-cup model sounded perfect for me. I loved the idea of a programmable coffeemaker as I don't like to wait around for my coffee to brew. Plus, due to its small size, it wouldn't take up a lot of counter space and could fit easily under my cabinets. (Dimensions: 11.5 inches high, 7.5 inches wide, and 9.5 inches deep). And, at $19.99, the price was certainly right.

The set-up was very easy and I didn't need to read an instruction manual to figure out how to set the digital clock or how to program my brewing time. I was pleased to see that it came with a gold filter in a removable basket, although it was the standard filter shape and not the cone shape that I preferred. The reservoir markings are visible from the outside and I found it easy to fill. The coffee maker also has a cord storage feature, although it requires a bit of effort to get the cord to retract.

This model comes with a glass carafe although another model features a stainless steel carafe. My experience with stainless steel thermal carafes hasn't been as good as I have found them harder to pour from when you only brew a couple cups, so I stuck with the glass carafe.

The burner doesn't have any temperature adjustments like higher end coffeemakers, but the unit does have an automatic shut-off feature which turns itself off after 2 hours.

Performance

After setting up my coffeemaker I poured a whole carafe of water into it, as instructed, to clean it out and prepare it for brewing coffee. Right away I noticed it didn't seem too hot. In fact, it was barely warm. I attributed this to the high elevation here in Colorado (water does take longer to boil here) but decided to give it a try the next morning anyhow.

I was pleased as punch to have my coffee ready and waiting for me the next morning. But I discovered that the coffee waiting for me wasn't anything I could get excited about. I normally drink my coffee with cream and this made it even worse as now my warm coffee was only lukewarm. The flavor was also off as well. Coffee water needs to be between 95 and 98 degrees to properly brew coffee. I was sure this wasn't even close. I grabbed a cooking thermometer and discovered the coffee before I put cream in it was only 92 degrees. Once I added cream it was even cooler.

Unwilling to admit defeat yet, I decided to brew a fresh pot and see if it came out any better. Perhaps, I wondered, it might be hotter if served immediately after brewing. That's when I discovered another fault with this Black & Decker model. It doesn't have a brew stop-and-serve function, so you can't pour a cup of coffee before the whole brewing cycle is complete. Even then I found it continued to drip and make a mess of the burner.

When I finally got a chance to test my freshly made coffee, I found the results to be the same as the coffee made by the programming function. It still only delivered warm, tasteless coffee.

Rating

I can't even manage two stars for this coffeemaker. It's a great disappointment and clearly a piece of junk. One star only for the Black & Decker 5-cup programmable coffee maker which went back to the store the very next day.


Recommended: No

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