Mr. Coffee all-in- one occasions specialty pods coffee maker reviews

I love this. The closest I’ve ever gotten to a luxury coffeemaker was a K-pod brewer that made plastic-tasting coffee and cost almost as much as this one. It was at a friend’s house. I had to tell her I didn’t like the coffee, when she prefaced the question with, “Come on, now, tell the truth”. Truth was, it was terrible. After I said that, her husband chimed in and agreed, so back it went and back to the counter-top went the trusty old Mr. Coffee twelve-cup. I too have used a large capacity Mr. Coffee for years, alongside a small capacity Cuisinart at work, as my go-to coffeemakers for those two purposes. Until now….

This thing has so many features I don’t yet understand them all. What interests me are three key features. First, make me a cup of coffee that doesn’t taste as though it has burned or been overheated. Check. I’m not sure how but the temperature on this thing appears to be a little lower, such that the coffee is not as burned in flavor. Second, make an espresso when someone asks for one, which they have a tendency to do about four or five times a year. Check. Espresso was actually incredibly easy to make, just by following the instructions. It was the first thing we made. Third, froth milk so I can mix it into things. That’s it. Just froth it. I won’t be using it for cappuccino. I will be adding a bit of sweetener to it and making something to go into hot chocolate or sit on top of regular coffee, because I’m a little peculiar when it comes to coffee drinks. Check. It froths milk, milk and sweetener, milk and sweetener and vanilla, and does a great job.

Of course, we’ve just gotten this, so I will continue to evaluate it over time, but, as to my initial impressions, this is the exact coffeemaker I have been looking for. There is one bonus feature, for the risk averse among us. It doesn’t turn on by itself, which means it can’t malfunction and turn on by itself, nor can it turn on at a time when we’ve forgotten it is on and left the house already. Some of us have elderly people in our homes who like to fiddle with kitchen appliances. That’s fine, as long as they are supervised, but, we have had an elderly relative set a coffeemaker on a timer, when we were all going out. It turned on when we were out and it was smoldering when we got home.

To be clear, this can be turned on by an elderly relative or a child, of course, but it can only be activated “right now”, while they are standing in front of it. And if they have access to the kitchen, and you are anything like me, you are home to monitor them and standing in the kitchen with them. The kitchen in our home locks. No one can set this when I’m cooking, such that it looks off, when I look at it, but is actually on, making it a ticking time bomb just waiting to catch fire. I love that about this machine. It puts safety first.

As to the design, I don’t love a removable water carafe. I’d rather pour water in, from another container, pouring that water directly into a water container that is part of the unit, permanently. This is my only real complaint, so far. Certainly it isn’t the end of the world but, I do prefer a more solid construction, such that it would be impossible for me to knock the water container off of the machine, when I don’t want it to be removed. The size is also slightly larger than we like. We’d prefer it to be a little smaller, shorter with a smaller footprint on the counter. Given everything that comes with it, I’m not sure they could get it much smaller, but, if at all possible, they should make it a bit smaller. It is huge. We love it, don’t get me wrong, but, again, it’s huge.

Overall, I highly recommend this model. I can’t say I’ve tested any like it. Because of that, you should be aware that I am incredibly impressed in part because I’ve never had a home-use machine that could actually make a good espresso and correctly froth milk.

Good luck in finding what will work for you and for your family. For me, this is just perfect, even given how large it is. It is intuitive to use, as to our primary uses, and makes great coffee, of the type we have come to expect from Mr. Coffee. Everyone is impressed with how not-burned the coffee tastes, which makes me wonder if my old coffeemaker may have been overdue to be replaced. Either way, this is a keeper.