Customer Ratings & Reviews

For six years I have been happily using the Ninja Coffee Bar I got from Best Buy to make single cups of coffee. It has served my needs well because I am the only coffee drinker in my house and I drink only one cup of coffee a day. The only disadvantage of the Coffee Bar is that there is no option to make an entire carafe of coffee, which is very inconvenient when we have company and several people want coffee. Enter the Braun MultiServe Coffee Maker. I can now continue to make my single cup of coffee but also now am able to make a carafe when I have several coffee drinkers in the house. Switching between single cup and carafe is simple. I just turn the selector knob to a particular size single cup or a half- or full-carafe. The heating plate turns on only when the carafe is chosen, and a fold-down cup holder places a mug at the right height for single cups. The heating plate turns off automatically after an hour. Unlike the Ninja, there is no water preheating. Just press the on/off button and then select the size of the cup or carafe and the brewing mode (light, gold, bold). In a very short amount of time the coffee is ready. It took me awhile to find the right amount of coffee to use with a particular brewing mode, and you will probably have to experiment to find the combination that works best for you. Unlike the Ninja, the Braun does not make a bolder cup of coffee by using less water. In honesty, I am not sure how the coffee maker creates the differences between light, gold, and bold, and I found the taste differences to be very subtle. I like my coffee stronger than most people, but I found that the recommended amount of coffee for a 12-ounce cup (3 small scoops) was too strong even for me. Also, because the coffee grounds retain some of the water, the amount of coffee did not reach the top of the cup. I found that selecting a 16-ounce cup size with 3 scoops filled the cup at a strength I like. The coffee was equally good with a paper filter or the provided gold-tone permanent filter. I also found that the Braun made an excellent cup of tea with the hot water mode selected at the highest temperature. The coffee maker has an altitude setting to make sure it works properly at higher altitudes. Pretty sophisticated. There are just two things about my Ninja that I will miss when using the Braun. The provided measuring spoon for the Ninja snaps into the coffee maker for convenient storage. The Braun spoon has no storage place, so it sits on the counter. Second, the basket on the Ninja swings forward, enabling easy access even though the machine is under a cabinet with little clearance. To access the Braun basket, I have to pull the entire unit out from under the cabinet to open the basket area from the top. These are very small concerns, and I am very happy with my new Braun coffee maker.

Almost every morning my wife and I will go through a pot of coffee. Our preference is to use the French Press but during the work week, time just doesn't permit. Our current coffee maker takes between 15 and 18 minutes to make 14 cups of coffee. It is also somewhat a pain to add water as the gauge is on the side and isn't easy to see. So we decided it was time to do a upgrade. We wanted something that could easily and quickly make a pot but also had the option for smaller amounts like a travel mug. This coffee pot fit the bill. It brews a pot of coffee fast, less than nine minutes. You have the ability to brew standard, bold or mild. My wife was excited about the fact it can also do a cold brew! Some of the conveniences include the ability to remove the water tank and fill it and place it back on the maker. So much easier that me spilling the water trying to fill the tank. You can also fill the tank and it will only use as much water as what you set it to brew. If you brew a cup, which you can, that's all the water it will use. You have the ability to auto brew as well. Set it for whatever time you want it to start, fill it with everything it needs and it's ready to go. The only downside I have found is I cannot change the time it stays on after it brews. It is set for two hours and can't be adjusted. Other than than it is a great coffee maker that makes a near French Press cup of coffee.

Too soon after purchase for 5 stars. But so far so good. It makes tasty coffee, and the hot water function is nice when we feel like tea. The question is longevity. If it lasts for several years and continues to work like it is currently it’s a 5 star model.

Out of the box, thing is impressive and has some size to it and may not fit under your cabinets on the counter. I’ve set mine up in a corner dedicated to coffee making coffee; “Barista Corner”. The reusable filter is a nice option, but prefer to use a standard (#4) cone filter to prevent coffee ground sediment from brewing. Depending on the size of your hand, you may need a brush to clean your coffee pot instead of being able to place your hand inside due to the shape of the pot. This is fully programmable to have it brew on a set time. The “Brew Choice Plus” is a nice feature to have, allowing you to change the coffee boldness or just gold (standard brew) and even to brew over ice (enjoying the over ice feature fairly well) and when selected, it starts the brew process. For the smaller cups of coffee, standard and below; there is a smaller shelf to support your cup that can be easily fold down for use and up when not in use. Make note, when brewing travel mug and below the heat plate for the coffee maker does not come on as a safety feature to prevent damage to travel mugs and cups. When requesting hot water from the machine, move the selector to “Hot Water”, select from the various temp settings on how hot you’d like the water, and press the “water” button to get the hot water. It does dispense from a separate port next to the coffee the drip, preventing any coffee taste in the hot water. Overall, this machine has a lot to offer and makes the coffee brewing a breeze amongst family and friends, or when hosting and need a full pot.

Overall I feel this is nothing special. If you are looking for a nice looking pot to stage your counter top this could qualify. It is nice to have options for how strongly to brew, but for the most part you can control that with how much coffee you put in. The measuring device is messy, there is no way to get between the two sides to clean it well. The amount of coffee the recommendations tell you to put in would have me broke in a week. It is basically a traditional old coffee pot with a filter in the water reservoir and options of how quickly you want the water to go through the beans. The clock is complicated to set, it is the first one in a decade that I had to pull the book out to for to figure it out. And for those that don’t know any cold brew pot I have seen is just having you pour twice as strong hot coffee over ice. It is nothing that can not be done with the coffee pot your grand mother had. It takes up a lot of room and you can not open the top hatch to add water while it is under your cabinet.