Feeding my addiction - Melitta Mill & Brew
Written: Mar 04 '03 (Updated Apr 23 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The smell of fresh ground/brewed coffee in the morning. Adjustable grind settings.
Cons: Filter housing difficult to clean. Sometimes the grinder, not the aroma, wakes you up!
The Bottom Line: Superb and economical. Makes great coffee with similar performance to much more expensive units. Somewhat difficult to clean.
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| pilotpat's Full Review: Salton MEMB1B 10-Cup Coffee Maker |
I admit it... I have a problem. I'm addicted to coffee. It's genetic. Growing up, we would often fill a thermos to have with us on a short trip to the grocery store. Alaska was awesome - if the line to the Sleepy Dog coffee shop was too long, there were plenty of drive-up coffee stands in on the way to work. But I'm no longer there... I've been stationed in a place without so much as a Starbucks nearby to feed my addiction.
But now I've got the Mill & Brew, and things are OK once again.
The Mill & Brew comes in a box with the main unit, a 10-cup carafe, and a combination stainless-steel mesh permanent filter/grinder unit.
The filter/grinder unit has enough room for about 1 cup of coffee beans (way more than even I will use for a thick cup of joe). At the bottom is a 2-bladed grinding mechanism. Instead of a hard-to-maintain bushing/seal to keep this blade spinning and keep coffee out of the motor below, it uses an ingeniously simple design that does a pretty good job.
The base unit uses a standard water-heater design top force hot water to the top of the filter housing, where it drips through the coffee and is routed to the carafe. The housing incorporates a plunger mechanism that will allow us impatient types to sneak a cup of coffee before the brewing is complete without spilling coffee on the heating plate (I prefer to save this excess coffee to spill on my lap later).
The base has a red LED clock readout, which is simple to set using the "HR" and "MIN" buttons. The brew setting is equally easy to set. A green LED next to the clock tells you that the timer is set for automatic milling/brewing.
Below is a grind selector window and button. Pressing the button changes the grind selection from 1 to 7, 4 being the default (about 15 secs) and 7 being about 45 seconds. I like very thick, flavorful coffee, and find that 5 or 6 works great.
Below this are two buttons. One is the manual start button. If you want to mill, but not brew, you can hit this button, and then press it again after the milling stops. Depressing the other, marked "Mill," turns on an amber LED and turns the grinder off, allowing you to use pre-ground coffee.
A "ID-10T-resistant" design keeps you from either starting a mill/brew cycle or setting it to do so later without all the parts in place.
Coffee quality is excellent, and the filter is fine enough to keep the majority of grounds out of the pot, even at a "7" level grind. Cleanup involves cleaning the carafe (just like most drip coffeemakers), and then popping the whole filter/grind unit off to clean the 3 pieces.
The filter and filter cover are easy enough to clean. The housing itself has nooks and crannies that are hard to clean fully. The manual says not to attempt further disassembly to clean this better, and to accept the small amount of coffee staining that will remain. Fine with me.
The grinder itself is on the loud side - about as loud as most home coffee grinders. I guess if I was to design the perfect version of this, it would include a thicker housing with some sound insulation. It is a comforting sound for me to wake up to, but not so much for my kids. I've learned to set it to start about the time I'll be in the shower, which drowns out the noise. If I'm awaking at ridiculous hours and wish to keep the family sleeping as much as possible, I will grind the coffee the night prior and set it just to brew the next morning.
Overall, for this picky coffee drinker, it performs just as well as many similar units costing significantly more ($150-200!). It's only real down side is the difficulty in cleaning, but that is minor.
Recommended:
Yes
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pilotpat
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Member: Pat
Location: World Traveler
Reviews written: 96
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About Me:
"Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now."
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