-Bonavita 8 Cup Coffee Maker, One-Touch Pour Over Brewing with Thermal Carafe, SCA Certified, Stainless Steel (BV1900TS)

This is my 6/7/2020 updated review. My earlier reviews are set forth below. I have a Chinese friend who was born to Chinese parents in China in 1968. In America in 2003, she told me that her father who still lives in China refuses to buy prescription drugs; he relies on herbs. I asked why. She said her father doesn't trust the authenticity or purity of prescription drugs or any health-related product in China. The world now knows about the coronavirus pandemic. I no longer buy any food, vitamin, food storage product, or cooking utensil made in China. I discarded my Bonavita and replaced it with a Technivorm. I find it less easy to use and more finicky, but here's the thing. Once I mastered the Technivorm (which was not easy, and did result in a couple of spills at the beginning), the spills and difficulty ended, and II found the coffee is even better-tasting and hotter than from Bonavita. And, most importantly, I'm not concerned about any health risk.This is my 3/25/2017 updated review. My original review is set forth below.My Capresso coffee bean grinder broke a couple of days ago. I replaced it with a De'Longhi Dedica Burr Grinder. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how much better the De'Longhi is in every possible way. Its burrs look much sturdier and much sharper. It sounds and feels much more solid. It produces grinds that are much more consistent. It offers much more control over the choice of grind output. It outputs the grinds into a well-sealed container (or portafilter), without any messiness; my Capresso required daily cleanup. My coffee tastes better. It's much more expensive than my Capresso, but to me it's well worth it - especially if it lasts a long time before breaking. There really is a very big difference between the two.My original review is set forth below.This is one of those rare products that is a game changer. It doesn't just make excellent coffee. It also enhances your life. (By comparison, you can see my review of the Technivorm Moccamaster KBGT 10-cup Coffee Brewer with Thermal Carafe that I bought from Amazon.)My wife and I enjoyed the $100.00 12-cup Cuisinart coffee maker with glass carafe for years. It still works fine. We bought the Moccamaster to try to find something even better. We disliked it very much, and returned it. We bought this 8-cup Bonavita, based on its reviews on the CNET website, the Amazon website, and other websites. We love it.We initially chose the Moccamaster over the Bonita, because it says it is 10-cups and Bonavita says its coffee maker is only 8 cups. We since have learned that both coffee makers are 40-ounce machines. The difference is that Moccamaster calls a cup 4 ounces, and Bonita calls a cup 5 ounces. There's no difference between the amounts of coffee they make.We very much prefer the Bonavita metal carafe to the Cuisinart glass carafe. The coffee in the Bonavita carafe never burns. The Bonavita carafe is excellent at keeping the coffee very hot throughout breakfast and long after. This means we can begin the brew process at any time, instead of waiting until just before we begin to eat. The brew process is very fast (about 5 minutes), and the brew light turns off to signal when it's finished. When the brew process is finished, the coffee maker shuts itself off. (I always have trouble hearing the "beep" that the Cuisinart coffee maker makes to signal the end of the brew process.) We bring the carafe to the table, and when we want a refill, we don't have to get up from the table and go back to the glass carafe on the coffee maker's hot plate to get another cup of coffee. The bottom of the metal carafe is smooth and cool to the touch, so we can put in on our wood-top kitchen table without a trivet. The metal carafe is dishwasher-safe. The Moccamaster carafe is not as cool to the touch, is not entirely stainless steel (it has a plastic bottom attached), and is not dishwasher-safe.The Bonavita is extremely simple and easy to use. I cannot imagine a more simple or easy design. There are no parts to fidget with, adjust, or move. All it requires is filling the easy-to-fill water reservoir (clearly marked, and non-removable), putting the sturdy plastic basket on top of the metal carafe (with zero difficulty), putting a filter into the basket, adding coffee grounds, and placing the carafe (with the basket on top of it) beneath the brew spout (with zero difficulty). There are no moving parts, and no removable parts. The carafe sits on a base plate, which does not have a heating element and only serves to unify the beautiful simplicity of operation and design of the Bonavita. The Bonavita is low enough to fit beneath our kitchen cabinets, even with the reservoir's top open (which allows it to air-dry easily. The only operator control is the on-off switch (the only exception being that, if you want pre-infusion for freshly-roasted-and-ground coffee beans, you have to hold the on-off switch for a short while when you begin the brew process). Cleaning is exceptionally easily; you only have to rinse the carafe and the coffee basket (made of sturdy plastic, with no moving parts). When I say "no moving parts", I am being literal; there are no switches or levers to stop the brew process when you remove the carafe during the brewing process There is no need to ever remove the carafe during the brewing process, because it lasts only about 5 minutes. The lid for the carafe is solidly made, very easy to use, and keeps the coffee very hot. The base plate is integrated in the construction, and does not require any fidgeting or adjustment; it is not removable. The Bonavita does not provide 2 carafe lids, it's lid is perfect and seals well, and the carafe pours easily and neatly. The Moccamaster provides 2 lids, one to use during brewing, and one to keep the coffee hot longer.The Bonavita sprays the heated water over the coffee grounds through a large round stationary spray-head with a dozen holes. The Moccamaster spray-head covers a much smaller area rectangular in shape, and has fewer than half as many holes for the hot water to drip out onto the coffee grounds; it also rotates, is removable, and sits on a soft plastic gasket that may or may not last very long.The Bonavita's power cord can be positioned to exit the bottom of the coffee maker from the front, side, or rear. The Moccamaster's cord exits only from one location. We are happy about the Bonavita's choices, because it allows us to avoid having the power cord be a nuisance and a distraction.The entire design of the Bonavita makes life easier, prevents having a pot-full of coffee spill all over our kitchen countertop, and allow us to sit and chat together at breakfast - enjoying our coffee maker rather than being controlled by it.At the end of all this, however, is the question of how the coffee tastes. This question is critical. The answer is that it tastes excellent. It is very robust, very tasty, and extremely hot. Taste is "a matter of taste", but for us it's everything we had hoped for. However, I would like to note one thing. Bonavita's instructions are to use 2 tablespoons of coffee grounds for every cup. We prefer much less. We've used the Bonavita twice so far. The first time, we made 6 cups and used 4-1/2 tablespoons of coffee grounds; we liked that. The second time, we made 6 cups and used 5-1/4 tablespoons of coffee grounds; we like that too, but not as much. We'll continue to experiment, but the point is this -- with a slight adjustment in the amount of coffee grounds we use, we are able to easily and noticeably change the flavor and intensity of the coffee. In both instances, we used Peet's coffee (Sumatra blend -- we used ground coffee, but soon will try coffee beans that we grind) and the brewed coffee tasted very smooth.Other than increasing the Bonavita's size from 8 cups to 10 or 12 cups, there is one issue for which I'd suggest improvement. The stainless steel carafe is tipped by a plastic rim (with integrated plastic handle). The plastic is smooth and sturdy, but inside the carafe it has a "lip". The result is that the carafe does not entirely "drip dry" after sitting in a dish drainer. It's not a big problem; it only means that I have to dry the inside of the "lip" with a kitchen towel. However, it would be nice if it had no "lip" and totally dripped dry.Updated Review (August 22, 2015):My wife and I bought the Capresso 565.05 Infinity Conical Burr Grinder (Stainless Steel), and are using Allegro coffee beans from Whole Foods (we are trying different beans, to see what we like best). We never considered ourselves coffee snobs, but the combination of Bonavita, Capresso, and whole beans yields better coffee than we imagined possible. The most significant feature is that our coffee is absolutely free of bitterness and acidity. We also bought Planetary Design Airspace chrome containers to hold our coffee beans, and we bought Espresso Grinder Brush (Heavy Wood Handle with natural bristles) to clean our grinder -- we like them both very much.

Well, so far, my new Bonavita BV1900TS Coffee Brewer is brewing beyond my expectations. The coffee is great, and so is the carafe, unlike some reviewers' statements here. After running three cycles of tap water, here are my results of the third cycle – after about a half an hour cool down period. I never pre-heated the carafe, and it was about room temp before the third cycle. I used two different digital thermometers which I had previously tested as accurate with boiling water, and ice water. All readings are in Fahrenheit.1. Placing the thermometer in the steady stream from the spray head showed 204 degrees.2. Inside carafe after brewing stopped (no coffee or filter in basket) showed 190 degrees.All seemed very well, so I went straight to a coffee test. I used freshly ground Haitian Blue beans from Fresh Roasted Coffee (See here). My usual routine is two 20oz cups initially, with about 16oz poured each time. So, I filled the brewer up to the 6-cup line (approximately 30oz – 887 grams if interested) with bottled spring water. I ground 40gms of the beans, and poured them into one of the provided paper filters (see my side note near the end of this review). I placed the basket on top of the room temperature carafe and placed the assembly on the brew plate. I seldom drink strong coffee, so my water/coffee ratio was about 22 to 1 instead of the 15 to 1 that many “experts” often recommend. But, as with my previous Bunn MCU single-cup (See here), I used the pre-infusion option. I turned it on, and here are my timings:0:00 to 00:40 - Initial water heating0:40 - Gurgling began and drops of water for pre-infusion began dripping1:05 - Water drops mostly stopped and pre-infusion soaking continued1:30 - Regular coffee brewing began - more gurgling4:45 - Water in reservoir was depleted and louder gurgling started5:00 - Gurgling stopped but some dripping continued5:15 - Auto-shutoff ended the brewing process5:20 - Removed assembly, and still had some water in basket, and slight dripping from it6:00 - Removed basket when water was gone, and measured coffee temp in carafe – 179 degreesPut the lid on the carafe, poured my first 16oz cup, and measured the cupped coffee at 173 degrees. Then, I proceeded to enjoy a wonderful cup of coffee! I restrained myself, and waited an hour before getting my second cup.After the hour was up (actually 1 hour and 10 minutes), I measured the temp of the coffee – in the carafe. 158 degrees. Perfectly acceptable to me.A day later, and probably my third or fourth brewing, I was called away from home right after I poured my first cup. I got home four hours later, and I measured the temp of the second cup still in the carafe. 121 degrees with the room at 66 degrees. Drinkable for me without even nuking it, but probably not for most diehard coffee drinkers though. But, I was still impressed with the 55 degree differential after four hours!So, overall, I have to rate the Bonavita BV1900TS and the carafe with a hearty 5 stars. Both the brewer and the carafe met or exceeded my expectations with everything that mattered as far as coffee brewing and heat retention was concerned. The spray head seemed to work perfectly and appeared to flow evenly from all holes, although the drips seemed to switch among different holes at times – a plus, in my opinion, if anything.As a side note, my Capresso 560.01 Infinity Conical Burr Grinder (See here) does grind the beans quite finely even at the coarsest setting, so the water on top of the grounds at the end of the brewing cycle could be attributed to that fact. Capresso did kindly offer to adjust my grinder, but I declined since it would entail packing, shipping, waiting, etc. Someday, I plan to upgrade to a higher-end grinder, but it all seems doable for now. My only complaint is, as some have noted, getting the last of the coffee poured from the carafe is a bit awkward, but not enough of an issue to reduce my 5-star rating.I hope my details help you when checking out various coffee brewers. At the moment, I feel that I made the right decision. Should my opinion change after using this brewer over a longer time, I will provide an update.Just to note for this review, I did NOT receive a discount (except for the $8.62 Amazon's BIGTHANKS discount that could have been applied to any purchase) or any other compensation for my purchase or my review. Also, please note that I have no connection to Bonavita except for being a very satisfied customer at this time. All opinions stated here are completely my own. Heck, I don't even have an Amazon affiliate code for the links.