Posted Fri Feb 15, 2013, 11:44am Subject: Re: Breville YouBrew
I received a YouBrew for Valentine's Day?!
So far we've made maybe a handful of brews with it. Still in the experimental stage. Overall the machine tends to make overly strong coffee by our tastes. Right now all we have to test with is a city+ Colombian Supremo batch. Reading other reviews I really have to wonder if Breville has tweaked the machine from when it was first released or if we just have an "aggressive" version, or it could just be the fresh beans.
To my surprise Brewing a full carafe self grinds a full 8-12 cup sized filter of coffee regardless of the "strength" setting. When brewing a full carafe only the steep time is controllable. So for me carafe brewing will probably mean using my Rocky to grind the beans and setting the Breville to the pre-ground setting so I can better control the result.
On the other hand, single serve brews are great with this machine! The settings allow you to control the size of the brew, from 7.5 oz to 21 oz in a 9 step increments. Then once you set the size you can control the amount of coffee ground for the batch, then also the steep time for the brewing. So with the single serve there's a lot of customization available which is great.
From power cycle to power cycle it remembers your settings for carafe and single serve brewing which is nice once you get it dialed in to your liking.
Overall somewhat disappointed with the carafe brewing but it's easy enough to "work around", single serves are great.
twm Senior Member Joined: 15 Feb 2013 Posts: 3 Location: S. FL Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Fri Feb 15, 2013, 4:55pm Subject: Re: Breville YouBrew
Just joined CG due to all the great reviews and helpful info I have read. Our old capresso mt 500under went a fatality after many yrs under extreme conditions - my wife 1-2x per yr would forget to insert the carafe under machine or would maybe every other month would eyeball the coffee in the filter and fill it to the normal height after fully bloomed thus causing overflow - we'd have a major mess as well as eventual leakage through nooks and crannies that I suspect did not help the longevity of the electronics.
Anyway, hate to rain on this love fest but our You Brew is going back tomorrow... wanting a thermal carafe and looking for the programability (my wife gets up early and has no desire to fuss - I grind her beans at night - I know, I know!!!) and no electronics on lower base were initial criteria - the You Brew looked like a good replacement, plus fresh ground beans - well, not really, they have to sit in the hopper overnight and some remaining for next day depending on how well you measure to pre-fill hopper. After a week and about 1-1/2lbs of coffee trying to tweak this thing out - we find it is inconsistent, uses more coffee than necessary and has a propensity to over saturate or over steep creating an undrinkable brew - it tastes plasticy or chemically tainted, but after as much rinsing and pots we've made, with two different brands of coffee, it has to be over-extraction (as best as I can determine from all my reading).
My wife likes strong dark roast coffee and got hooked on Starbucks dark roasts - Ok, Ok - I might be pushing retirement but I'm a newbie with upping our coffee IQ! Consider she is from Ontario where Tim Horton's is king of the coffee shops. Anyway, the Capresso always made a rather consistently decent pot, or half pot. So, we were expecting better from the Breville. There is no saturation adjustment like the single cups and doing a single cup I could only get a drinkable brew if the flavor setting was at minimum. Apparently the strength setting is supposed to adjust the amount of grounds for the amt of water, thus the 12 cup becomes a 9 cup for bold - but again, we found bold tasted "off" - found filter basket nearly overflowing with wetted grounds. Next pot was down to strong at 10 cups - used same amt of coffee, again to the hairy edge of overfilled after the bloom - but result was rather decent - smooth, no odd taste, maybe just a bit weaker than we got from the Capresso. So left settings for next pot - same beans, same water, same filter basket - the one provided - absolutely horrible - undrinkable due the strong plasticy, chemical taste - and I'm a chemical engineer - if anyone can handle odd chemical tasting stuff, its me! Tried paper filters too - actually seemed worse.
Moreover, it is a pain to have to clean every nook and cranny inside this thing - daily caked up coffee grounds on the stainless grounds tunnel cover plate and checking inside the grounds tunnel requires a headlamp or flashlight. The filter basket is a pain to rinse with the hinged cover and two thin gaskets to be gentile with... Plus the grinder is loud, mine is too, but I don't use it before the alarm goes off for my wife, and it is non-adjustable and seems a tad coarse maybe. Probably sized for using the included metal filter. We lived in Oslo for a year and had a nice coffee shop nearby where I would get beans ground for our built-in espresso machine. But it didn't satisfy my wife's desire for volume so we got the least expensive coffee maker available know it was going to get left behind - it was a Philips grind and brew type - cheap plastic but it did have a bit of grind adjustment and actually made a nice cup using beans from the local shop. It was loud though! Anyway, thought this would be even better than a $60 machine - it isn't. That said, reading other reviews, I am lead to believe there is maybe a less than high standard for the manufacture of these - they are from China and have also seen first hand the variability of Chinese manufacturers - not all make Apple level goods and even Apple has a fair amount of duds. So, it could well be we got the dud and there are many good consistent machines out there. Seattle Coffee, among others, seems to find them excellent machines.
Anyway, not one to rush into a first generation product, we skipped the Behmor and went for the Technivorm - local Sur la Table has them and when I showed them some of the online deals they gave me an equal deal plus the ability to return it if not satisfied. I could wait for morning so just rinsed it and did a half pot using the oldest open pre-ground starbucks italian roast I could find in the house - perfect! - ok, it is definitely stale, but no over extraction of nasty chemical tastes - was smooth and clean tasting. Can't wait for morning to grind some fresher beans for it - just can't handle caffeine after dinner time...
cuznvin Senior Member Joined: 6 Oct 2011 Posts: 412 Location: NY Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Fri Feb 15, 2013, 5:00pm Subject: Re: Breville YouBrew
twm Said:
Just joined CG due to all the great reviews and helpful info I have read. Our old capresso mt 500under went a fatality after many yrs under extreme conditions - my wife 1-2x per yr would forget to insert the carafe under machine or would maybe every other month would eyeball the coffee in the filter and fill it to the normal height after fully bloomed thus causing overflow - we'd have a major mess as well as eventual leakage through nooks and crannies that I suspect did not help the longevity of the electronics.
Anyway, hate to rain on this love fest but our You Brew is going back tomorrow... wanting a thermal carafe and looking for the programability (my wife gets up early and has no desire to fuss - I grind her beans at night - I know, I know!!!) and no electronics on lower base were initial criteria - the You Brew looked like a good replacement, plus fresh ground beans - well, not really, they have to sit in the hopper overnight and some remaining for next day depending on how well you measure to pre-fill hopper. After a week and about 1-1/2lbs of coffee trying to tweak this thing out - we find it is inconsistent, uses more coffee than necessary and has a propensity to over saturate or over steep creating an undrinkable brew - it tastes plasticy or chemically tainted, but after as much rinsing and pots we've made, with two different brands of coffee, it has to be over-extraction (as best as I can determine from all my reading).
My wife likes strong dark roast coffee and got hooked on Starbucks dark roasts - Ok, Ok - I might be pushing retirement but I'm a newbie with upping our coffee IQ! Consider she is from Ontario where Tim Horton's is king of the coffee shops. Anyway, the Capresso always made a rather consistently decent pot, or half pot. So, we were expecting better from the Breville. There is no saturation adjustment like the single cups and doing a single cup I could only get a drinkable brew if the flavor setting was at minimum. Apparently the strength setting is supposed to adjust the amount of grounds for the amt of water, thus the 12 cup becomes a 9 cup for bold - but again, we found bold tasted "off" - found filter basket nearly overflowing with wetted grounds. Next pot was down to strong at 10 cups - used same amt of coffee, again to the hairy edge of overfilled after the bloom - but result was rather decent - smooth, no odd taste, maybe just a bit weaker than we got from the Capresso. So left settings for next pot - same beans, same water, same filter basket - the one provided - absolutely horrible - undrinkable due the strong plasticy, chemical taste - and I'm a chemical engineer - if anyone can handle odd chemical tasting stuff, its me! Tried paper filters too - actually seemed worse.
Moreover, it is a pain to have to clean every nook and cranny inside this thing - daily caked up coffee grounds on the stainless grounds tunnel cover plate and checking inside the grounds tunnel requires a headlamp or flashlight. The filter basket is a pain to rinse with the hinged cover and two thin gaskets to be gentile with... Plus the grinder is loud, mine is too, but I don't use it before the alarm goes off for my wife, and it is non-adjustable and seems a tad coarse maybe. Probably sized for using the included metal filter. We lived in Oslo for a year and had a nice coffee shop nearby where I would get beans ground for our built-in espresso machine. But it didn't satisfy my wife's desire for volume so we got the least expensive coffee maker available know it was going to get left behind - it was a Philips grind and brew type - cheap plastic but it did have a bit of grind adjustment and actually made a nice cup using beans from the local shop. It was loud though! Anyway, thought this would be even better than a $60 machine - it isn't. That said, reading other reviews, I am lead to believe there is maybe a less than high standard for the manufacture of these - they are from China and have also seen first hand the variability of Chinese manufacturers - not all make Apple level goods and even Apple has a fair amount of duds. So, it could well be we got the dud and there are many good consistent machines out there. Seattle Coffee, among others, seems to find them excellent machines.
Anyway, not one to rush into a first generation product, we skipped the Behmor and went for the Technivorm - local Sur la Table has them and when I showed them some of the online deals they gave me an equal deal plus the ability to return it if not satisfied. I could wait for morning so just rinsed it and did a half pot using the oldest open pre-ground starbucks italian roast I could find in the house - perfect! - ok, it is definitely stale, but no over extraction of nasty chemical tastes - was smooth and clean tasting. Can't wait for morning to grind some fresher beans for it - just can't handle caffeine after dinner time...
I have had my YouBrew for almost a year. LOVE it. I hardly ever have to clean the metal grinds cover. Works great. AMAZING Coffee. I use paper filters. Show me a grinder that isnt loud...
Posted Sat Feb 16, 2013, 9:46am Subject: Re: Breville YouBrew
I started with a Cusinart "grind and brew" and the best thing I did was get rid of it, inferior blade grinder, hard to clean, and unacceptable brew temps.
twm Senior Member Joined: 15 Feb 2013 Posts: 3 Location: S. FL Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Wed Feb 20, 2013, 2:28pm Subject: Re: Breville YouBrew
like I said - maybe we got a dud... same coffee, similar paper filters, same water - using technivorm taste is excellent. Better than the capresso as well - I can finally forgo the half and half and go black again! The Breville was horrid - only decent pot was one that was lite on the grounds to water ratio and came out on the weak side. All others tasted plasticy/chemical-ish. For a week and friggin around with 1.5 lbs of coffee with all types of settings and both paper and metal filters and getting only one decent pot was unacceptable - the real kicker was leaving the settings after the good pot and getting two vastly different pots after that one - the machine was just not consistent. Yes, I know all grinders are loud - I don't grind beans at 6am for my wife - I do hers at night before bedtime... not kosher per the coffee geek, I know, but satisfies her need for a quick pot first thing in the morning.
darkow Senior Member Joined: 31 Dec 2012 Posts: 105 Location: Wisconsin Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: NS Oscar Grinder: Vario W Drip: Breville YouBrew
Posted Thu Mar 7, 2013, 5:21pm Subject: Re: Breville YouBrew
cuznvin Said:
I have had my YouBrew for almost a year. LOVE it. I hardly ever have to clean the metal grinds cover. Works great. AMAZING Coffee. I use paper filters. Show me a grinder that isnt loud...
I've had the Breville YouBrew glass version for a few months now. I love it, but I do have 2 issues.
1) There isn't much difference between the lightest strength and the darkest strength. I know people have complained about it being too light so they bumped it up, and now some people complain about it being too dark. Breville, you should make it a wider range, the lighter setting should be lighter, and the darker setting should be darker!
Anyways I found a "fix" for making a lighter cup. My wife prefers her coffee a bit lighter than this machine will make it. This fix will only work on carafe mode. Let say you want and 8 cup carafe fill. So I setup the machine with 6 cups of water in the tank. I hit the Start button. THEN while it is grinding (or shortly after) I pour additional water into the tank. It will grind for 6 cups, but use all 8 cups of water, making a slightly lighter pot.
To do the reverse you need extra grinds (be careful you don't want to overflow the basket). Simply start the grinder (probably for a smaller cup/size than you want, lets say 3 cups in this example). When it is done grinding. Turn off the power and turn it back on, "pretend" to empty the basket. Add the rest of the water, then hit start again, it will again grind beans for your new brew. Be careful not to overflow the basket. This may take some practice to get just the right amount for you.
2) There is no way to manually clean out the water holder, it would be nice of I could clean out the holder to get rid of debris that has built up from the heavy water I have, I worry it will eventually give out. Running vinegar only does a small amount of help.
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