A:AnswerHello Catman - Thank you for your question; we are glad to assist. There is a finger hole at the front of the brew basket to aid with removal. The basket is snapped in to keep it tight to prevent it from shifting when the carafe is removed. Thanks for checking. Olga@Café
A:AnswerYes, I received the same response from Cafe when calling them yesterday. They did agree to send me one carbon filter free. Although the item shows out of stock on the website, they actually do have a large supply of on hand. You just can't purchase them. Further, the price they want to charge for the replacement carbon filter is $5 each which is really excessive. On other coffee pots I've owned, specifically Cuisinart, the brand name carbon filters are more like $7-8 for a 12 pack with free 2-day delivery through Amazon. This was quite disappointing to discover. Problem is, the filters for this coffee maker are not a standard size. I certainly hope they resolve this issue.
Other than that, the coffee pot is amazing! It brews the best coffee!
A:AnswerYes. And I’m very concerned about plastics. If you were still considering the coffee maker this is what I would suggest. There are three main points of concern: the water reservoir, internals, and the carafe lid which on the thermal carafe has a plastic straw that extends down into the coffee.
Reservoir and Internals—When I make 10 cups of coffee each morning I fill the reservoir, hit brew, and the water is out of the reservoir and through any/all internal plastic elements in 5 minutes. It’s usually done before I’ve done the other things in my routine and am there with my warm mug of milk, doctored up. So the water doesn’t have any time to sit in the reservoir and leach anything if you aren’t pre-setting it.
However, the Straw Lid— that is a problem sitting right in the acidic coffee. It doesn’t look like the glass carafe has the feature. So there’s a possible solution. Or you can decant into a large thermos so it isn’t sitting.
The variables which matter with plastic are temperature (high temperature can cause chemicals to leach out), acidity (likewise acidity may cause chemicals to leach, juices, sodas, etc), length of exposure (5 second rule, jk, but sort of), and age or other degradation of the plastic (apart from age, being put in the dishwasher everyday can age plastic or being left outside, altering its structure and potentially making it more susceptible to leaching chemicals).
Coffee makers are problematic. The safest bet is always all glass or metal. They exist (French press, cold brew systems, old school percolators) but they aren’t electric. Personally I haven’t come across an electric coffee maker that doesn’t have plastics touching what will be consumed. At least not a decent one that’s worth that sacrifice without just going to a French press, or percolator, which I’ve used for years and they work well.
Hope that helps :)
A:AnswerThe Café Smart Drip 10-Cup Coffee Maker with WiFi by GE uses generic carbon water filters available at big box/major online retailers and some grocery stores. When my machine arrived I saw the water filter in that fancy looking plastic cage and thought they’d be a pain and an expense to replace, as well as terrible for the environment… all the plastic for a water filter?! But you don’t throw out the plastic. It only houses the little water filter which you replace. You can easily lift it out with your fingers, or as the manual suggests, gently use a teaspoon. Open the plastic cage. Pull out the spent filter. Plop in the new one. And drop the whole thing back home.
I’ve included a photo of the filter removed from the plastic cage. It’s about 2” across at the top. I saw a pack of 12 on Amazon for $8. We have a three-stage reverse osmosis system so I may just stop using it though.
Hope that help!
A:AnswerI also wanted to get an extra carafe. I found it easiest to go to www.geapplianceparts.com. I might have started at geappliances.com/parts. But at any rate I put the model number for our machine in the search bar and up it came. It said there were no accessories available but I clicked on the diagram-like picture below and there were all the parts in the correct colour for our coffee maker. Huzzah!
Carafe- WC02X20414
Matte black carafe lid- WC12X20420
Brew basket- WC02X20405
Gold filter- WC02X20407
Matte black shower head- WC02X20413
Activated carbon holder- WC02X20403
Carbon filter- WC02X20412
Hope that helps!
A:AnswerHi Janika79! Thanks for your question! The bloom time is built-in; however, it cannot be changed. We apologize for any inconveniences that this may bring. We hope that this helps though! Stay safe. -Michael@GEA
A:AnswerHi - thanks for your patience as we were confirming the answer with our parts team. No, our Small Appliances products, including our coffee makers, are not compatible with Apple HomeKit. We hope this is helpful and encourage you to reach out if you have any other questions. Take care. Lauren@Café
A:AnswerWe hate to hear of the issues you are having brewing and that troubleshooting has not worked. If you continue to have problems, we recommend reviewing your warranty information found in your Owner's Manual on page 16. You can also initiate a warranty claim, by calling 1-800-430-1757. Please have your model number and serial number available when you call. We hope this helps, and should you have any additional concerns, please reach out to us.- Kianna@Café
A:AnswerHi - Thank you for having purchased this beautiful Café coffeemaker. The warming plate is designed to stay on for two hours and then turn off automatically. While the warming plate can be turned off before the two hours are up, it can't be extended or reset to stay on longer than two hours. We are glad you checked with us. Kind regards - Vikki@Café
A:AnswerHi there, and thanks for your interest in this beautiful coffee maker! We do recommend using the filter when you brew. This model comes with a mesh filter that can be used in the brew basket, though you can use a #4 paper cone filter instead if you wish; we don’t recommend using both at the same time, as this could cause overflowing or splashing. We hope this helps. If you have any other inquiries or concerns, we are glad to assist any time. Best wishes! -Sarah@Café
A:AnswerThe answers to this problem I’ve seen from the company and other users which seems best:
1)Are you at high altitude? If so the reason is that the water is boiling too hot and causing it to splash on the grounds. Do not us Gold setting, use Medium or Dark
2) Your coffee maker comes with a gold mesh basket filter in the brew basket insert. You can use a No. 4 paper filter instead, but using both the mesh filter and a paper filter will cause grounds to overflow into the basket insert or could splash coffee grinds and residue on the underside of the lid. 3) It’s recommended to use a medium-grind coffee, when possible. A finer grind is more likely to lead to an overflow of coffee grounds. 4) It’s also recommend to use the scoop that comes with your coffee maker, and use a flush level of grounds. Heaping scoops can lead to too much coffee grounds and can potentially cause overflows.
Personally I use a smaller scoop I had from before I got the coffee maker.
Hope that helps!
A:AnswerHi,
Good question! We're glad you're considering this Drip Coffee Maker and we'd like to help with an answer. If you'd only like to brew 10-12 oz. of coffee with this model, you can fill the water reservoir with only 10-12 oz. of water. This Coffee Maker also allows you to choose the number of cups you'd like. You can find more info here:
https://files.bbystatic.com/OBp33bUsk9y4yaYiDauG1A%3D%3D/Manual
Have a great day!
-Sylvia@Cafe
A:AnswerThis coffee maker doesn't have a warming plate, so it does not stay on after brewing. It keeps the coffee warm using an insulated carafe. So, in effect, it auto shuts off right after brewing.
A:AnswerIn doing research to find a good coffee maker I came across an article in CNET about the Café Smart by Brian Bennet which had the following to say, “ During the first minute of brewing, the average temperature inside the filter basket was 168.9 F (76 C), according to my thermocouple readings. That's not as fast as the Oxo 8-Cup (190.3 F, 87.9 C) but it's speedier than the Bonavita Connoisseur. The Connoisseur had a lower average temperature at the 1-minute mark (147.9 F, 64.4 C).
By the 2-minute mark, the temperature inside the Cafe's filter hit 198.9 F. After that, the Cafe really parked the temperature needle. Heat levels barely fluctuated, staying within 1.6 degrees for the rest of the brew cycle.” I hope that helps!
A:AnswerI make my 10-cup pot of coffee in this way every morning exactly because sometimes I’m up at 5, sometimes 6–it depends. But no worries. It’s super easy. Just hit “brew,” then the last number of cups you brewed will appear on the screen. Adjust that if needed. Then hit brew again! That’s it.
It will just use the settings for strength and temperature that you used last time you brewed coffee. But if you’re just making coffee at a different time you probably aren’t having to mess with the settings every day.
If you do want to change the strength or temperature settings you can do that anytime by hitting strength or temp, using the “brew/select” dial knob to toggle between the desired strength or temperature, depending on what you’re doing. Then hit the button on the knob to “select” and the next pot you brew will have those settings. If you want to do all that.
I haven’t messed with the temperature yet, pairing it with my phone or smart home system. I just leave it in Gold, and hit brew twice in the morning. Presto coffee….! Bliss :)
Hope that helps!
