From the manufacturer
Make the perfect cup for one with the Grind & Brew Single-Serve Brewer by Cuisinart®. Designed to brew the most flavorful coffee with ease and convenience, this compact coffeemaker grinds whole beans to the ideal consistency for optimal flavor using a conical burr grinder, then feeds them into the HomeBarista ® reusable filter cup to be brewed. The HomeBarista ® can also be filled with pre-ground coffee or you can use your favorite single-use coffee pod. With three ways to brew and three size options, crafting the perfect cup is easy, fast, and extra enjoyable!
Caite (verified owner) –
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent time saver, works well.
I like the fact that you can grind your beans and make your delish coffee with the same machine. Easy to use.
Tyler Miller (verified owner) –
5.0 out of 5 stars Best coffee maker I’ve had – but not perfect
Pros:
Very versatile. I like that it can take whole bean coffee, ground coffee, and k-cups. Produces good coffee when used correctly. I drink more coffee than ever before. The grinder dispenses almost the perfect amount (I usually add another 1-2 seconds of grinding to top it off).
Cons:
It is difficult to remove the used grounds from the reusable filter. Sometimes I use it, but I also buy K-Carafe sized individual paper filters. That way, you can simply remove and dispose of the filter. These work pretty well, but it overflows a tiny bit. It doesn’t cause a mess, it just drips out the side of the bottom funnel, into the cup.
Also, sometimes the machine makes a little bit of noise, even when turned off. If it bothers you, you have to unplug it.
Neutral:
Coffee from the reusable filter tastes a little different than coffee from paper filters and k-cups. If you don’t like it, you can buy k-carafe sized paper filters to use instead.
If you want to use pre-ground coffee, you have to be fairly exact about the amount. Just a bit too little and you’ll have a weak cup. A bit too much, and it will overflow a bit. You want to get it just so that you can barely see the top outline of the mesh filter. If you buy individual paper filters, it’s not as sensitive.
Summer Smith (verified owner) –
1.0 out of 5 stars Unusable within 8 months of purchase and customer service is no help!
Was extremely pleased at the function of this machine, but that changed quickly. Started to notice that the machine was only producing about 6 oz of coffee from time to time and would have to re-run the brew. The pod holder would slightly pop open during the brew cycle which would stop the machine from brewing. I used a large rubber band and would slide that over the outside pod holder and this stopped the problem ($200 machine with a rubber band holding it together is a bit ridiculous but ok), then it began having issues where the buttons would not register you pushing them. I found if you unplugged and plugged it back in a few times it would reset. I reached out to Cuisinart a total of 5 times with no remedy. On one call I was told to call another day because the rep was “swamped” (wish I was joking!), one rep told me he was having a system outage and would call me back (7 months and still awaiting his call), one rep said she would send me a return label and once they got the machine they would review to see if I DESERVED a replacement (never got the label), upon calling back in to get that label I was told they don’t do replacements and was disconnected, next rep again said they would send a label for return and to expect a replacement in 10-14 days once they received the unit (not sure how you make coffee for a month without a machine… but ok) but again the label never arrived by email, mail or carrier pigeon! I finally gave up!
In short: this coffee machine is great in the beginning, but not durable! Cuisinart customer service is not helpful or customer friendly. In my opinion; save yourself the hassle and pick another machine/brand!
Ken (verified owner) –
4.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a hybrid coffee maker that I am happy with
Over the years I have tried making coffee with various K cup machines including other Cuisinarts with pods and grind your own k cup dispensers (e.g. Java Jig), grind and drip using a caraffe, conventional drip coffee with paper filter etc to find a flavor that I was looking for and that was effortless and fast for a household solo coffee drinker. Lets face it k cup coffee lacks flavor and freshness that you get from a of a drip type maker or or drip cafaffe with your own beans. Well the cuisinart single serve is the best compromise I have seen. Grinding beans is easy and quick (and quite quiet compared to my stand alone grinder) and the custom grind housing is easy to insert/remove and clean – something I find extremely useful. Putting the holder in and out for the custom grind or k cup canister is simple and both are easy to clean – something that has always bothered me with other dual purpose k cup/grind machine. It makes good coffee with a pod or custom grind although I prefer grinding my own. The features are barebones – no timers/extra strong blend/clock features etc which actually is an asset.
Ok so the negatives – the grinder is a bit messy leaving ground coffee on the drip tray (the carriage holder for the grinder could be a bit more snug), the water dispenser is low capacity which is okay because I never left water standing in my makers preferring cold filtered water but the design of the water well is such that you have to be careful as you pour in water or you will get a spash from the water hitting the back wall of the reservoir which juts out into the water fill area. In SUMMARY for a hybrid machine (grind and k cup) it provides a good cup of coffee using EITHER method, has a small footprint with a nice ergonomic, functional design and makes this coffee snob quite happy.
Thankful (verified owner) –
5.0 out of 5 stars Great machine.
I’ve had mine for a year and a half. Works flawlessly. Sometimes grinds overflow when grinding beans. Fixed issued. Before grinding, lightly push the screens out from the center. Over time they stretch inwards, making the space smaller and fresh grinds over flow. Also I just replaced the filter after 3-5 cups a day for family use over 18 months. Love it GET THIS COFFE MAKER!!! Also can do k cups, but I like the freshly ground beans, makes a difference.
Amazon Customer (verified owner) –
5.0 out of 5 stars Great size for a perfect fresh cup of coffee
This is a great coffee pot to have. It is compact, very easy to use and brews the best cup of coffee I’ve had compared to all the other coffee makers I have owened. I’m pleased so far.
Melissa (verified owner) –
3.0 out of 5 stars Great use, not so great reliability
I love this product because I can grind my coffee ahead of time, it’s easy to clean the pods and its interchangeable with regular coffee pods for guests taste. But twice now, this machine has let me down in its ability to work properly. First time it leaked from the water tank and they replaced it quickly for me. But this time it won’t turn on with the power button. But sometimes it will if I lift the water tank up, press power, then put the tank back. What? I’ve descaled and kept the machine clean. I’ve used it properly. I wish it would just work consistently because I enjoy the features.
Appletini (verified owner) –
5.0 out of 5 stars It’s dirty because they test it
So the first thing is you open it and it looks like the grinder is all dirty, so read the little paper that tells you they test it and clean it as best they can and be glad they test it. And you ignore that and try and clean it and then figure out they cleaned it as best as they can.
The grinder works well and just fills the included reusable cup to the right amount in about 10 to 15 seconds.
Brewing is a little interesting because unlike some other brewers it takes a min to heat up even after it’s been turned on. It only heats the water right as you brew.
I ran into 1 problem with non standard k-cups that have a paper top. There’s something with the way this one punctures and does pressure in a ring around the puncture point that made it so any of the paper topped K-Cups failed and grinds went everywhere.
Proper K-Cups work fine. But honestly it’s just kind of nice to grind fresh beans but still have the option to use individual cups.
I think the downsides are that there’s not really a great way to put big tumblers even if you took the drip tray away and mounted it up on something there’s still the thing that holds the drip tray that’s in the way you can kind of lean a Tumblr up to it but that’s a thing to be aware of.
The water tank does not have LED lighting which is fine because it’s behind it but it’s something you get used to with some of the other ones.
The tank is pretty easy to lift up and pull it out so you can kind of take advantage of this being a smaller size Brewer and even the tank being in the back it’s still something that easily can be lifted out and around the side of it if it’s underneath a cabinet. It’s also easy to put it back on it index is pretty well as it’s sliding down and I’ve had no issues putting the tank back in and having to worry about it not being in right.
CMoxie (verified owner) –
4.0 out of 5 stars Super versatile for fresh grind or K-cup with only 1 thing that drives me nuts…
If you’re using the coffee grinder, be sure to “tap” your filter cup before you pull it out. Otherwise you’ll end up with a pile of grounds below the grinder. Unnecessarily messy. The grinder tends to overfill so you manually need to stop it (and tap it for good measure) before it fills completely up to the top. Otherwise, I love this coffee maker. My coffee drinking has definitely increased…
cbb (verified owner) –
4.0 out of 5 stars Does the job – nice machine
This is a fairly compact machine with a footprint equal to or smaller than most standard coffee makers. I like integrated grinder, water container, one-cup service and quick brew, as well as the option to use the insert for a pod (even if I never use it).
Unlike some reviews, so far I have not had grinding spillage around the base of the grinder. I like that I have water and beans ready to go each morning. Just grind, install grinding cup, brew. Overall, this is a neat little machine, which I enjoy using. I used a grinder and 12-cup coffee maker for years, then stopped when I didn’t want to grind and brew for just one or two cups – plus they both took up much-needed counter space.
Following are some points to consider before purchasing. These are why this is a 4-star and not a 5-star review. See photos, too.
Point 1: I discovered that my 12 oz mug will overflow if I use the 12 oz cup setting to brew (had to stop the brew cycle), so I use the 10 oz setting to fill this mug. This was a surprise, since the first-use cleaning only shot out 8 oz of water (running water only without grounds through at 10 oz setting per instructions). This is not necessarily a negative – I just had to adjust my thinking/choice depending on the mug I use.
Point 2: Grind is not controllable – no variety of settings. Sadly, I don’t find the coffee strong or flavorful enough, I assume this is due to the default grinding amount and grit. I have to add a bit of instant coffee (!) to strengthen it. I assume that a stronger coffee bean/darker roast will make a stronger cup, but will have to wait until I’ve used up the beans I have before testing this. I don’t use pods (expensive and strength can’t be determined with them). I prefer fresh ground coffee (and even like Taster’s Choice instant).
Point 3: Grounds cup storage. The cup into which the beans are ground fits nicely into the convenient side storage; HOWEVER, the optional pod insert is too large to store in the same place – the little door won’t shut. Since I don’t use that pod insert and only use the grinding cup insert, I want to store the pod neatly. This storage should have been sized appropriately to accommodate either. I keep the cleaned grinder cup stored under the grinder. Fortunately, I use an appliance cover, so it will keep out any dust.
I will update this review once I’ve tried other beans, or if anything changes in the future.