I am having a similar problem as Keith in that a dark roast bean does not fall by gravity. Capresso told me to leave the beans out overnight. I am reluctant to grin finger guard as I do not believe it will grind enough for a full 10 cups of strong coffee--the bean cup seems too small. I am tempted to return and get grinder and maker. The problem is that I then will not have fresh coffee when I wake up. Andy great solutions?? Andy
Grinner Senior Member Joined: 2 Dec 2007 Posts: 1 Location: MI Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Dec 2, 2007, 12:40pm Subject: Re: Capresso CoffeeTEAM Therm
I've been using grind/brew systems for decades, my first being the Toshiba (which I really liked). I'm not the aficionado that some are, for instance I prefer medium strength coffee. So I can make a full pot of coffee with this product without thinking it too weak. I do like the conical grinder and have notice the difference between it and the other systems. In general I really like this system but have seen some of the problems others have written about. I've had this system since May (07) and have had 2 experiences with the coffee all over the counter issue. In both cases it was my fault. The first time I forgot to put the carafe in the system. Yeah, I know... The second I forgot the filter (I am using the mesh filter that came with the system). I had the other components but not the filter. That wasn't quite as big of a mess since a reasonable amount of water made it into the carafe. It would be nice if there were some kind of sensor to determine overflow.
I've found that the carafe does not pour well unless you have the "dot" right in the middle of the spout. In addition if you tilt the carafe too far forward during the pour some can come out the top hole and possibly spill. These are little items but perhaps worth noting. For a while after getting the system I had problems with the first pour. I finally noticed that the carafe was almost overflowing after I brewed a 10 cup pot. I then discovered that the graduations on the water reservoir did not match the carafe size. I guess with plastic you could expect that but I'd never run into this issue with other systems.
One thing I like about this system is that it's fairly easy to make second pots. That's something I hated about the Cusinart products. You had to make sure that every component was absolutely dry or it wouldn't work. And the pause and serve works relatively well (unlike the Melittas that for some reason have the entire brew/serve portion open so that if even with the spring loaded lock, if you remove the carafe for more then a couple seconds, it spills over). Hopefully this unit won't prove as brittle as the Melittas. It's been good for half a year though I'm worried about the spring losing tension and thus not kicking into place.
A couple other quick notes. First after brewing I almost always find some water that has run down the side of the carafe into the base. I assume this is condensation from the top. The other is that while the carafe works very well in keeping the coffee warm (hot) it has the same problem as all metal/plastic carafes that I've seen. I.e. liquid can easily get between the metal and plastic and will then leak out during pours, etc. This makes them more difficult to clean then should be the case.
After reading all of the similar design problems reported both here and from reviews at Amazon.com I decided not to but this machine. It's a shame because on the surface it sounds really good. I must have read 5 different people describe that coffee spilling problem and for this kind of money I'm going to keep looking.
This is the type of machine that I would buy, if money were no object, I think that the coffee out of a gourmet coffee maker is a lot better than the coffee out of a standard machine.
I have gotten a taste of this when I got my new coffee maker for Christmas, however, there is more promise out there if there were more money that I could put on the table.
However, I like my new machine, and I would not trade it for the world.
From the 3rd paragraph: "This machine has the potential to have it all - from a well designed thermal carafe, to a built in conical burr grinder (there’s only two conical burr coffee machine / grinder combinations on the market today, and Capresso makes both), to a very unique and stylistic design, it’s possible this could be the ultimate espresso machine."
I'm new here - haven't seen a followup and was wondering if at this later date you still thought it was possibly the "ultimate espresso machine."
PBC Senior Member Joined: 31 Dec 2002 Posts: 51 Location: Great White North Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Gaggia Espresso Grinder: Gaggia MDF
Posted Sun Aug 24, 2008, 2:03pm Subject: Re: Capresso CoffeeTEAM Therm
So, was a more formal review of this machine ever completed? I can't find it? Also, what is the height of this machine? Need something that will be no greater than 15" unfortunately (which rules out the Cuisinart 900 series).
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