Cuisinart Grind and Brew Coffee Maker (Open Box)

This coffee maker makes the best coffee, as long as you use the best beans! I use fresh, high quality beans, keep them in the freezer, and only take out the amount I'm going to use. I don't use the water filter that comes with this machine, as I only use cold, reverse osmosis water for my coffee. In addition, I drink my coffee black, so I'm picky how my coffee tastes, and this machine brews it just right. For my taste I use one level coffee scoop per 6 ounces of water, but you'll need to experiment with it until you get it just right for you. One other note, this machine does require more cleaning and prep than a machine without a grinder. After brewing one needs to remove the two pieces of the grinder,( just open the top and lift up), then they just pull apart and rinse them and wipe them dry. The next part os to swing open the ground basket, remove it, dump the grounds, rinse the parts and wipe them dry with a towel. The prep is to take the beans out of the freezer, put them in the grinder, put the grinder back in the machine, put water in, close the lid and push the start button. That's it, that's all the "extra work" necessary to have a premium cup of coffee in the morning. Starbucks just doesn't make a cup of coffee anywhere near the quality I can make with this machine. There is a schedule option that will make your coffee for you at the programed time if you wish. For me, it also acts as a backup alarm as it does make enough noise grinding the beans to wake me up most days. The only negative on this machine: is an alarm that beeps if you don't have it set up correctly, but the beep won't go off until all the parts are put back in correctly, or unplug the machine. They should have a switch on it to turn off the beep, which could come back on if you push the start button again without having the machine set up correctly. When I unintentionally hit the brew button when I'm taking it apart to clean it, the beeper starts and won't stop until reassemble it or I unplug it. I hate beepers I can't turn off when I want to, and when you unplug it you have to reset the time if you're going to use the program function.