I’m going to try and keep this post reasonably short, but that’s going to be hard, because when you’re talking about grind and brew coffee makers there are a lot of options available out there. I’m personally becoming a huge fan of these bean to cup coffee machines. Just think about it for a minute. The coffee maker does all of the work for you! Just add whole beans and water and voila you have the freshest cup of coffee you’ve ever tasted in your life. Disclaimer, don’t add the beans and water together 🙂
Another benefit of these grind and brew coffee machines is that you don’t have to worry about the price. If you’re in the market for a good quality coffee maker anyway, then you’ll find that many of these coffee machines will fit your budget. The key word here is “good”. So long as you’re in the market for quality you’ll do fine.
The wide varieties of grind and brew coffee makers
Most of the well known coffee maker manufacturers are making varieties of these grind to brew coffee makers. You have Krups grind and brew coffee makers, Cuisinart grind and brew coffee makers, Melitta grind and brew coffee makers and the Capresso grind and brew coffee makers. This is not by any means an exhaustive list, but it is probably some of the more popular bean to brew coffee machines that are out there and it should give you a good starting point from which to choose. For all of the coffee brewers just mentioned you should expect to pay anywhere from around a hundred bucks to two hundred bucks.
In my mind, the coffee from the Cuisinart grind & brew coffee makers for example is likely going to be fresher than the coffee you’ll get from your coffee pods and probably as fresh as the espresso you’ll get from your cappuccino machine. But when we speak of bean to brew coffee makers we’re not talking about the commercial espresso machines or even home espresso machines like the DeLonghi espresso machine. These are strictly coffee makers, ‘cept they grind the beans for you.
Let’s take a quick overview of the best selling brands of grind & brew coffee machines. Starting with the Cuisinart bean to cup coffee machines. Most of these machines have programmable timers as you’d expect in this price range. A couple of additional features I’d look for in a grind to brew coffee maker is that it have a burr grinder. These grind more evenly and last longer, so you get more consistent flavor extraction from your coffee. I’d also like a thermal coffee carafe ideally. The Cuisinart burr grind & brew thermal 12 cup automatic coffee maker fits the bill.
Krups grind and brew coffee makers
The Krups pro grinder brewer has a conical burr grinder with automatic clock as well as 5 setting for grind fineness and 3 strength setting for coffee flavor extraction. This is a great coffee bean to cup coffee machine except that it only comes with a glass coffee carafe. Not a deal breaker by any means, it just means that you’ll want to drink your coffee more quickly or brew small quantities at a time. To help with that, the Krups has an aroma function which helps to adjust the strength and grind fineness for smaller quantities of coffee.
The Capresso CoffeeTEAM TS 10 cup digital coffee maker is an excellent choice amongst these grind and brew coffee makers. I’m a big fan of the Capresso coffee makers generally. I think I’ve written about them elsewhere. In fact, you can see my review of one of their fine coffee machines at Capresso MT500 coffee maker. The Capresso CoffeeTEAM TS coffee maker boasts that it is the most compact grind and brew coffee maker on the market today, and I’d have to agree just looking at the machine.
Not only that, but this Capresso coffee machine fulfills my wish list for all things I could ask for in a bean to cup coffee maker. It uses stainless steel conical burr grinders and allows for 4 grind settings for the quantity of coffee you want to enjoy and 3 strength settings. You can also use up your pre-ground coffee that you already have as it allows for the brewing of ground coffee beans. A great machine, and probably the one I’d get.
The last one I’d like to talk about very briefly is the Melitta mill and brew coffee maker. Though no longer available at the time of this writing, this was another cheaper option. It had a programmable clock but only came with a glass carafe. It offered 7 grind settings and a permanent stainless steel filter into which you poured your whole bean coffee. A neat grind and brew coffee machine but as mentioned earlier not available at this time.
So there you have the brief tour of what are in my opinion the best grind and brew coffee makers available at the moment. My choice which should have been quite plain, is the Capresso coffee maker. Elegant, stylish and good quality. Just how I like my coffee! Now you know the best amongst the grind and brew coffee makers.