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Even cheap coffee tastes great!
Pros
attractive, high quality appliance, brews 8 cups in under 3 minutes
Cons
expensive, stays on all the time, needs replacing after 5 years
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
No gadgets but a solid appliance worth its price. After 5 years mine needs replacing and I'll replace it with a Bunn!
Background:
I fell in love with this coffee maker when I was visiting my uncle. I had never seen such a "professional" looking coffee maker in someone's home. It's black and brushed chrome and is not like any other coffee maker I have ever seen for home use.
Prior to the Bunn, every coffee maker I had ever owned came from Gevalia Caffee. That's the place that sends you a free coffee maker when you sign up for their coffee home delivery service. I have joined and cancelled this service numerous times to get free coffee makers. With this history, it was a real leap of faith for me to spend $100 on a coffee maker. After all, $100 will buy a lot of coffee!
The machine:
The Bunn works like a hot water heater. It keeps a supply of water heated in a tank, when you pour water into it, the already heated water is forced out, allowing you to brew an eight-cup pot of coffee in under 3 minutes. The coffee starts coming out before you're even done pouring the water in (don't worry, they give you a measuring pitcher AND a carafe).
It's also convenient for heating up water for tea, instant soup, hot cocoa and oatmeal.
The experience:
I didn't realize before I bought the machine that I would have to leave it plugged in all the time. It makes perfect sense now that I think about it, but I'm generally not comfortable leaving appliances plugged in or on when I'm not home. There is a master on/off switch that controls the "boiler" and another switch that turns the warming plate on and off. It cycles on a regular basis to keep the water warm and ready for when the coffee whim strikes.
Making coffee with this machine is just like any other. You place a filter in a basket, put the coffee in the filter, slide the basket back onto the machine and add water. A door on the top of the machine flips up and the water is poured in through there, before I'm done pouring the water into the machine, my coffee is brewing.
This machine uses Bunn filters which are taller than regular filters. Because the coffee is brewed with a high pressure spray, the grounds will spill into the pot of coffee if regular short basket style filters are used. Bunn filters are the same price as other filters. I buy mine at Wal-Mart, $.97 for 100.
I clean the machine with straight vinegar every 3 months. I buy a gallon jug of white vinegar and cycle it through the machine several times. The machine comes with a de-liming tool that is used to remove protein deposits from the spray mechanism. It's amazing how many deposits build up in 3 months.
Bunn claims that this machine brews coffee so quickly that it tastes better than drip brewed coffee. Drip coffee brews slowly, allowing bitter oils to ruin the taste of the coffee. Because of the brew speed of the Bunn, the oils don't get a chance to become part of the final beverage. I didn't really believe this when I bought it, but there must be some truth to it because even cheap coffee like Chase & Sanborn tastes good when it's brewed in a Bunn.
The verdict:
This is definitely a high-end coffee maker, but for the price it doesn't have any convenience features other than its speed. There isn't a clock, timer, grinder or anything else that you might expect to see on a $100 coffee maker. This is simply a commercial quality machine classically styled for home use. I like that it's not a cheap machine with lots of "bells" on it. It's a solid appliance.
I've had my Bunn for 5 years and its life is coming to an end. We've had to replace a washer inside the reservoir several times and now it's leaking again and it looks like a seal has disintegrated and the only way to fix it will be with epoxy and I'm not sure how safe that is. It also seems not to brew as quickly as it used to.
This machine was well worth the $20/year investment. I will most definitely be replacing this machine with another of the same. I used this thing every day, sometimes twice a day for 5 years and it has held up like a champ. Amazingly enough I'm still using the original glass carafe. I wish I could buy another basket for it because I'd like to have one for coffee and one for hot water. The plastic holds the coffee scent and oils and they come out when I brew hot water. When I get my new one, I'll use the old basket for coffee and the new one for hot water.
If you have $100 to spend and you need a new coffee maker and can live without a timer, I don't think that you can to go wrong with a Bunn. I've given several for gifts, convinced friends to buy them and even got one for the office.
I fell in love with this coffee maker when I was visiting my uncle. I had never seen such a "professional" looking coffee maker in someone's home. It's black and brushed chrome and is not like any other coffee maker I have ever seen for home use.
Prior to the Bunn, every coffee maker I had ever owned came from Gevalia Caffee. That's the place that sends you a free coffee maker when you sign up for their coffee home delivery service. I have joined and cancelled this service numerous times to get free coffee makers. With this history, it was a real leap of faith for me to spend $100 on a coffee maker. After all, $100 will buy a lot of coffee!
The machine:
The Bunn works like a hot water heater. It keeps a supply of water heated in a tank, when you pour water into it, the already heated water is forced out, allowing you to brew an eight-cup pot of coffee in under 3 minutes. The coffee starts coming out before you're even done pouring the water in (don't worry, they give you a measuring pitcher AND a carafe).
It's also convenient for heating up water for tea, instant soup, hot cocoa and oatmeal.
The experience:
I didn't realize before I bought the machine that I would have to leave it plugged in all the time. It makes perfect sense now that I think about it, but I'm generally not comfortable leaving appliances plugged in or on when I'm not home. There is a master on/off switch that controls the "boiler" and another switch that turns the warming plate on and off. It cycles on a regular basis to keep the water warm and ready for when the coffee whim strikes.
Making coffee with this machine is just like any other. You place a filter in a basket, put the coffee in the filter, slide the basket back onto the machine and add water. A door on the top of the machine flips up and the water is poured in through there, before I'm done pouring the water into the machine, my coffee is brewing.
This machine uses Bunn filters which are taller than regular filters. Because the coffee is brewed with a high pressure spray, the grounds will spill into the pot of coffee if regular short basket style filters are used. Bunn filters are the same price as other filters. I buy mine at Wal-Mart, $.97 for 100.
I clean the machine with straight vinegar every 3 months. I buy a gallon jug of white vinegar and cycle it through the machine several times. The machine comes with a de-liming tool that is used to remove protein deposits from the spray mechanism. It's amazing how many deposits build up in 3 months.
Bunn claims that this machine brews coffee so quickly that it tastes better than drip brewed coffee. Drip coffee brews slowly, allowing bitter oils to ruin the taste of the coffee. Because of the brew speed of the Bunn, the oils don't get a chance to become part of the final beverage. I didn't really believe this when I bought it, but there must be some truth to it because even cheap coffee like Chase & Sanborn tastes good when it's brewed in a Bunn.
The verdict:
This is definitely a high-end coffee maker, but for the price it doesn't have any convenience features other than its speed. There isn't a clock, timer, grinder or anything else that you might expect to see on a $100 coffee maker. This is simply a commercial quality machine classically styled for home use. I like that it's not a cheap machine with lots of "bells" on it. It's a solid appliance.
I've had my Bunn for 5 years and its life is coming to an end. We've had to replace a washer inside the reservoir several times and now it's leaking again and it looks like a seal has disintegrated and the only way to fix it will be with epoxy and I'm not sure how safe that is. It also seems not to brew as quickly as it used to.
This machine was well worth the $20/year investment. I will most definitely be replacing this machine with another of the same. I used this thing every day, sometimes twice a day for 5 years and it has held up like a champ. Amazingly enough I'm still using the original glass carafe. I wish I could buy another basket for it because I'd like to have one for coffee and one for hot water. The plastic holds the coffee scent and oils and they come out when I brew hot water. When I get my new one, I'll use the old basket for coffee and the new one for hot water.
If you have $100 to spend and you need a new coffee maker and can live without a timer, I don't think that you can to go wrong with a Bunn. I've given several for gifts, convinced friends to buy them and even got one for the office.
