Black & Decker DCM18S Brew 'n Go Personal Coffeemaker with Travel Mug
by Black & Decker
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List Price: Our Price: $17.39 You Save: $2.60 (13%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $17.31 (click here) Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Black & Decker DCM18S Brew 'n Go Personal Coffeemaker with Travel Mug
Customer Review: An Amazing Quick and Affordable Coffeemaker!
Summary: 5 Stars
My sister gave me this coffee maker as a present and I've been using it now for a few weeks. I simply love it!
It is just designed really well. This is a perfect Coffeemaker for college students or single professionals who just want to brew a fast cup of coffee and do not need to brew a whole pot. Here are a few things that makes this thing so great.
Pros:
-Brews fast (about 2 to 3 minutes!) I think the water gets super-heated through a coil or something because it's amazing how fast it turns room temperature into hot steam!
-Re-usable filter means no more buying paper filters. This saves time and money. The filter is also dishwasher safe!
-You can control how much coffee to brew because however much water you put into the reservoir, that much water will be brewed into coffee! So, I usually just measure it out with my mug and pour it in.
-You can use this as a hot water dispenser for Tea too! Just put water in and 'brew' it without coffee in the filter! Hot boiling water in about 2-3 minutes!
-Affordable. For how great this thing works, this thing is well worth price!
Cons:
-Nada. I can't think of anything negative to say. Which is rare.
Conclusion:
This thing is a wonderful and affordable coffee maker. It gets the job done fast and efficiently without costing you an arm and a leg. Also, if you want to save even more money, this coffeemaker is also sold with a plastic mug instead of a 'stainless' steel one, which is a few bucks cheaper. Just look up the model number DCM18. This one is the DCM18S... I'm guessing the 'S' stands for 'stainless steel' edition! lol.
Customer Review: An RV Essential !
Summary: 5 Stars
Bought for my travel trailer... liked it so much I now use it every morning. Real space saver for the travel trailer, or a great cup of coffee for the ride to work. Simple to use and easy to keep clean. Particularly like the fact you need no paper filters. Perfect for the person who only wants one mug of coffee in the morning.Customer Review: As Advertised
Summary: 4 Stars
This little guy is perfect for my classroom. It makes a pretty quick, decent cup of coffee. It can be a little bit messy as you're not careful, but that is pretty much true of all coffee makers. It is also just a tad bit noisier than I'd prefer.Customer Review: As advertised
Summary: 5 Stars
Makes a cup of coffee. Nothing more, nothing less. Extremely convenient. Extremely easy to clean. I spent a month researching this vs. single brew cups (like k-cups). Decided on this, so my wife could have a cup of coffee whenever she felt like one. She loves it, and now I use it too.Customer Review: As advertised - more or less.
Summary: 3 Stars
I've only been using this product about twice a day for a couple weeks, so I can't speak to its longevity in craftmanship. Aside from the travel mug, all parts appear to be very light-weight plastic. I'll be sure to amend my comments, if I have any problems down the road. It's been a decent little coffee maker so far and much handier than our 10-12 cup pot, when making coffee just for myself. I just wanted to chime in with a couple early observations some prospective buyers might be interested in:
While it does hold a full 15 ounces, as advertised, this is the smallest travel mug I've seen, personally. I've got dozens of travel mugs and none are short enough to be substituted in its place. Nor will your typical, but taller ceramic coffee mugs or paper cups fit in the machine. Not that either is a deal breaker, I just expected something that would work for a larger variety of the containers I commonly drink coffee from, short and tall; that's one of the reasons I opted for this unit over the less expensive short mug models, and I feel it's a design oversight of Black & Decker, not accomodating taller containers in what is essentially a 2-cup design. It's not that I wouldn't still choose this model over the even shorter single cup versions again, but just another 1/2 inch would have made this unit so much more versatile and useful. I'm just saying... It's not like taller coffee mugs are at all uncommon; they've virtually become the norm.
My only other criticism is with the permanent filter letting through some of the grinds. It's not a lot, but it's enough to disway you from taking that last sip or two. I find it still necessary to use paper filters, which likely will need to be cut down from a larger size, unless your nearest grocery has a deeper selection of filter sizes than mine.
As for the coffee itself, I find the manufacturer's 2.5 tbsp recommendation to be the minimum ratio for the accompanying mug. Even using freshly ground beans, only 2 tbsp per 15 ounce mug produced a weak and rather bitter result. I think I've settled on 3 tbsp per 15 ounce serving. It's a bit strong for my taste, but there's no trace of bitterness and it's better to weaken coffee by adding more water after percolating, rather than using less grind or more water prior to percolating.
Regarding how hot this machine heats the water: I honestly, don't know how anyone could drink their coffee any hotter than this, and, with the lid on, the travel mug traps the heat very well, as you'd expect. I usually add some cold water, if I want to weaken the coffee, or a few ice cubes, if I don't, just so I can begin drinking sooner. I'm not one who likes my coffee scalding, but if I were, this machine seems capable of making coffee just that hot - hot enough to burn my tongue anyway.