Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

WARNING - THIS IS AN IN DEPTH REVIEW FOR THOSE INTERESTING IN MAKING A SERIOUS BUYING DECISION. If you prefer a summary, see section marked THE BOTTOM LINE -------------------------------------- When I sent for this, I had no idea how much fun we were going to have with this. There are only a handful of things in any given year that make me THIS excited, so I must control myself from gushing too much. Let's see what our experience has been with this unit! WHAT IS THIS LIKE? This unit is not too large, but nor is it small. It takes up some room on the counter, but it is compact considering what it does! MEASUREMENT 15 high by 9 1/2 deep by 10 wide is approximately what you need as a minimum area to place this unit on. In order to run all of it, however, you need about 8 inches of clearance minimum on each side to run the frother on one side and replace the water container on the other comfortably. SET UP The set up is well thought out. You put about a half gallon or so of water in the tank on the right side of the unit. There is a thermal carafe that you can use with it that is stainless steel of you want a pot of coffee or tea. The screen on the front is dark until you push the power button and it lights up. You use the top dial to choose what you want to make and what strength, and then you can opt for tea and those settings as well. MILK FROTHER The milk frother is on a retractable arm which you can put warmed or cold milk in a cup on the side and power it up to froth the milk. It works decently and does foam up. You can remove the unit for cleaning. MEASURE CUP The measure cup has coffee settings on one side and tea on the flip side. There is a large and small cup on each end. This fits onto the side of the unit out of the way when not in use. TEA OR COFFEE FILTERS These clue the machine into which you are making. It is easy to put on and tuck into the unit. RECIPE BOOK Again well laid out and thought out- this is inspirational and gets the creative juices flowing on what you can do with this great machine. HOW DOES IT PERFORM? I will break down each of the creations we have made with this: COLD BREW COFFEE We have done cold brew coffee several ways from Kyoto method to the Gourmia machine which uses a fountain to run the cold water through for up to 40 min to have cold brew ready. We have used other methods as well. This method is what I would call a slightly lukewarm method. The water is barely warmed and sprayed through the coffee. It is done from 15 to 25 minutes depending on how much is made. The measurements given for all recipes are WAY too strong for us- we cut them in half and they taste better. When cut in half, the coffee is smooth, not bitter, and does taste good hot or cold. TEA We have made oolong, black tea, decaf tea, many herbal teas, white tea, and green tea with this unit. ALL OF THEM HAVE BEEN FANTASTIC. The only problem we had was that it calls for WAY TOO MUCH TEA. When cut in half, the tea tastes really nice. HOT BREW Even the hot brew coffee has been wonderful. We are not big hot brew fans of coffee, but this is a good option if that is what you like. WHAT IS THE CARAFE LIKE? OMG this is amazing. We made a pot of tea and up to two hours later, it is still HOT. Same with coffee. This is a really amazing unit. It does not have a heating plate under it- does not need one. This baby stays hot a long while. CAUTION IF YOU HAVE WELL WATER THIS SAYS IN THE INSTRUCTIONS THAT IT WILL NOT WORK WITH WELL WATER. This does say it works with FILTERED water, and we have used a blend of filtered and distilled water just to be sure to keep it clear. CLEANING We have not had to deep clean yet, but if you avoid using tap or well water and opt for filtered or a blend of filtered and distilled water, it will not need cleaning as often. The filters are easy to clean and fast too. If it needs to be descaled, there is a recipe for using vinegar (white) to clean the unit. SIZES USED Another feature I forgot to mention is that there is a little shelf that flips down so you can make a mug of tea or coffee. You can also make a travel mug direction under the machine even up to XL size. Then if you want to make the carafe you can flip up the shelf and put the carafe in there. THE BOTTOM LINE This truly is a machine that does almost anything we could want for coffee or tea. It is a wonderful unit and we love the ability to make plain or frothy drinks. The recipes are inspiring, and the layout of this unit was well thought out. Use caution if you have well water. MY RATING Five stars. I just LOVE this thing. We use it all of the time and each of us loves exploring new ways to make tea and coffee that we never thought of before. This would make a spectacular Christmas, Wedding, Birthday, Graduation, or Special Occasion, etc present to someone you know who loves coffee and/or tea.