meagandowney's Full Review: Bunn BTX 10-Cup Coffee Maker
My stepmother and my father are the ultimate practical couple. Their home is undoubtedly beautiful, but their home purchases still perplex me. I love buying fresh, rich foods from small markets. They love a good deal on bulk tuna fillets at Costco. I love Viva paper towels. They love a good deal on bulk paper towels from - well, Costco. By working hard and saving on the day-to-day luxuries, they have become far more financially secure than I could ever dream of being, but I still say potato in response to many of their potahtos - and will probably never be a homeowner because of it.
I didn't have high hopes when I saw the Bunn ThermoFresh Coffee Maker on their countertop a few years ago. I assumed that the next morning's coffee would taste utilitarian, sensible - practical. As is the case in many areas of my life, I was so, so wrong. Coffee at my Dad's house became the caffeination experience of my life. The Bunn set the bar high for the assorted Mr. Coffee machines that graced my countertop over the years. Imagine my delight then when a brand new Bunn ThermoFresh Coffee Maker arrived at my doorstep. Heaven!
Coffee is little stuff, but if I'm going to ingest it on a daily basis, I want it to be fresh, hot and good. Bunn accomplishes this by having a hot vat of water in reserve for the next brew, removing as much air as possible from the brewing process by brewing directly into an insulated pot and taking the burner out from the equation completely. This is particularly beneficial to a working mother who can barely remember to lock the door in the morning, much less turn off a coffee maker. I also tend to use less coffee with this machine and use cheaper brands without sacrificing taste. The brewing process makes even the dreaded Kirkland brand coffee (yes, I bought it at Costco) taste like I picked it up while running errands in Soho.
Set up is a bit tricky as you have to put in the water that will be warmed on reserve, but detailed instructions walk you through the set up process and it's very difficult to screw it up. Once you're up and running, you're really running! Aside from thinking about the coffee maker when I go on vacation (a red vacation switch allows you to easily turn the Bunn off), my mornings are so much less complicated. I use a small, flat filter to put in the coffee, fill up the pot and pour it in the resevoir. I flip the resevoir lid down and 3 minutes later - voila! Hours of fresh, hot coffee is at my fingertips.
If you don't have much countertop space, you probably won't like this monster, but the quality and speed of the machine more than makes up for any aesthetic flaws. I kind of like the fact that it's so cumbersome. It has become a talking point when guests enter my kitchen.
If a coffee maker sans the burner has you scratching your head, listen to this. This morning, the baby woke up at 5:30 a.m. I brewed the coffee while fixing her bottle and drank steaming coffee into well into the 9:00 hour. Sure, I could try to do that with my old, delapitated Mr. Coffee, but the coffee would have turned into acidic sludge.
Cleaning, maintenance and deliming are all very easy to do and again, detailed instructions accompany the machine. Since the coffee stays hot throughout and the canister is opaque (stainless steel, to be exact), you don't have to worry about burned rings of coffee at the bottom of the pot. What's more, you don't have to feel like a social outcast if you have unexpected company and didn't empty the canister. What lies inside my Bunn is between my Bunn and me.
You can buy special Bunn filters for the maker just as you can buy SimpleHuman garbage bags for your stainless steel garbage can, but you don't have to. The machine will function just fine with small, flat filters from the grocery store. I also don't own a grinder, and my coffee tastes excellent. My stepmother always grinds her coffee and her coffee is probably more excellent because of it, but I don't miss a thing using ground.
I've owned my Bunn for a month now and I still haven't had coffee grinds in my pot. Honestly, I probably made a pot with grinds 2 times out of 10 with my Mr. Coffees. The man of the house would probably up that figure to 4 out of 10, but I stand by my batting average. Not having to worry about grinds in the pot saves me all of the hooting and hollering in the morning while I'm chasing down a one year old.
Overall, I would highly recommend this coffee maker from Bunn in spite of the expense. I realize that that wasn't a factor for me because this was a gift, but still. I write this with you in mind. I had this thing on my wish list for a long time, and it will last me much longer than the best Mr. Coffee ever had to offer.
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