Specialty Drip Coffee Maker 10-Cup Glass Carafe, Hot or Iced, SCA

UPDATE: DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY ON THIS. THREE days receiving this and putting it in the auto broom mode I woke up to an empty carafe. Thought maybe it lost Wi-Fi signal so I tried to do a manual brew. When I would press the button it would ask how many cups I would say three cups and hit brew again and it would pump out less than one cup of coffee/water. I tried this three times. Each time resulting in the same thing. I called Amazon support and they basically had no answer other than cleaning the output of the water. I could hear the pumpkick on for maybe 15 seconds or 10 seconds and then would cut out then it might pump for another 5 seconds after that and then cut out. So for the price point of this machine I was very upset. This is a G.E. company so they should have much better quality than this. But come on ! 3 days of use of only one time of three cups per day? Absolutely ridiculous that it failed so quickly. The unit has a clean design. The water reservoir is too small. The mesh coffee grounds basket is a pain to remove the used grounds and get clean. Instructions say items are NOT dishwasher safe. The face has 3 buttons to do various programming. The problem being, they aren't back lit. So when it's on the counter and you are looking down at the machine, it's nearly impossible to read the words. The auto brew works well. It's a way to program the machine to turn on at your chosen time, amount of cups and strength of brew. This is where they failed. You download the app which is somewhat easy to use but there are no clear instructions either with the app or with the machine. Without the app, you push the brew button and it comes on. You push it again and begins to brew. My question the first time using the app was, do I need to push the button once so that the blue light around the brew button is lit so it can communicate with the app? (by the way, pairing with the app and devices was a breeze) Does it automatically power up? When using the Autobrew in the app it says, brewer is Off. So it makes you think, how is it going to brew in the morning even though I have the app programmed? Since I was unsure I called customer support. 45 minutes of a call to not get an answer of which was the correct way to run it. First the first rep was just a general rep. Nice but this was beyond her knowledge. She said, I will transfer you to out Smart Electronics team. They didn't know. They transfered me to a third guy. He didn't know. All 3 said they were aware and have complained that their own owner's manual was terrible yet the company has not made any changes. I also asked, how do I turn off the autobrew programming on the unit if I set the app to a different time so it doesn't accidentally run twice? No answer. This is actually a GE company so you would think they would do better with customer support knowledge and with owner's manual content. I ended up running the first Autobrew directly off of the machine. It worked great. I accidentally found out, DON'T leave the glass carafe on the hot plate after you pour your coffee. It stays hot enough while cooling down that it burns the liquid coffee to the bottom of the carafe. Apparently this isn't true with the outrageously more expensive insulated carafe that will only keep the coffee warm an additional 2 hours. So to setup the next day, to eliminate the AutoBrew programming in the actual unit, I unplugged it to clear it of programming. Then I set it up with enough water (there is no way to empty the reservoir if you needed to) added my coffee grounds and made sure the glass carafe was placed under the outlet correctly. The instructions say if it's not, the coffee will overflow the grounds basket. I then entered the app, made sure my programming was correct. At the top it says brewer off. At the bottom of the next page for autobrew, you do all the progamming and at the bottom it's misleading. It has a button that says, Start Brewing. Which to me meant it would brew immediately. Nope, that allows the autobrew program to run. Well that's stupid designing. The last thing I'll say is, there is supposedly an ideal temp to brew coffee beans at. So if you want a piping hot cup of coffee, this won't do it. Maximum temperature allowed is 205 F which is warm but not piping hot. At that temp...it doesn't take long for a standard cup of coffee to cool right off to luke warm. For this price point and if you choose the Thermal Carafe being nearly an extra $50 bucks for the upgrade....it's a miss for me...I would think twice if I was in the market again.

I'm thoroughly impressed with the Café Specialty Drip Coffee Maker! Here's why it's become my go-to for brewing a superior cup of coffee: 1. Consistent Flavor: The Café Specialty Drip Coffee Maker excels at extracting rich, flavorful coffee every time. Whether I'm using store-bought grounds or grinding my own beans, the result is consistently delicious. 2. Precise Brewing: This coffee maker allows for precise control over brewing variables such as temperature and brewing time. It ensures that every cup is brewed to perfection, unlocking the full potential of my favorite coffee beans. 3. Customizable Settings: I appreciate the customizable settings that cater to my specific preferences. Whether I prefer a bold, strong brew or a smoother, milder cup, I can easily adjust the strength and intensity to suit my taste. 4. Sleek Aesthetics: Not only does it brew exceptional coffee, but it also looks great on my countertop. The sleek design and modern aesthetics add a touch of elegance to my kitchen. Overall, the Café Specialty Drip Coffee Maker has exceeded my expectations in terms of performance, convenience, and aesthetics. It consistently delivers a superior cup of coffee that satisfies my taste buds every time. I highly recommend it to any coffee enthusiast looking to elevate their brewing experience.

Before you buy this highly problematic machine, read the 1- and 2-star reviews. 1. The coffee it makes is very good. Actually it's VERY very good. Great flavor and hot. 2. But the team of engineers who came up with this and who built it ought to either have their heads examined or get fired. The on-board interface is terrible. The app is a disaster. 3. The manual is useless. It could've been written by chimps locked in a room for a year. It really informs you of nothing. 4. The app: Well, it seems as if you can program your coffee-making from your phone, right? You just plug in the temp, the strength, how many cups, etc. and you're good to go. Nope. You're good to go nowhere. After trying over and over again to schedule brewing, I wrote the company. They told me something about having to unplug the coffee machine for a minute every time to do that. Well, jeez, if I'm actually AT THE COFFEE MACHINE, then I can schedule brewing that way, on the machine, and not through the app! 5. The warming plate. Well, it does stay on. For two hours. To turn it off, you have to press a button for 3 seconds. It's a huge pain. Why can't you program the plate to turn off? 6. There's a light on the machine that SLOWLY pulses on and off...when the machine isn't doing anything. 7. I wasn't going to write a review but this happened 30 minutes ago: The app sent me a notification that my coffee was finished getting brewed. Huh? We didn't make coffee, there was no water in the tank, no grinds in the filter. We never pressed the brew button! 8. I'm an idiot. I threw away the box it came in. If not, I'd return this thing. But yeah, it does make good coffee.

I have now owned this for two years. When I bought it there were plenty of negative reviews. For me this machine has been perfect. The coffee genuinely tastes great compared to my former drip machines. It's easy to use, it's sleek and doesn't stick out on the counter. It also drips 10 cups faster than any previous version I have owned. We brew every day and it has had no issues, no peeling of any trim etc. I would love to be able to have the option to keep the coffee hot for 4 hours. I assume 2 hours is the limit to keep it from tasting burned, but I'd like to be able to keep it warm longer. Perhaps that would be accomplished in the carafe version. Thought I'd review this now after so much use. Good machine.

When I bought this a wee but over a year ago for my birthday present to me, I thought I’d wait a year to see how it truly worked before writing a review. The packaging/boxing was beautiful. The coffee maker and carafe are truly the most attractive I’d seen. For the money, expensive to me, the features it provides are well worth it. We use the maker twice a day and always go for the “Gold” setting which truly does make the perfect cup of coffee. You have options for temperature, strength, cups, etc. I’ve been very pleased with the taste and ease of function. It does have a Bluetooth app to start your coffee from an app but honestly, you can just set the delay brew and do the same. You still have to add water and coffee either way. So I don’t really know why you’d need a Bluetooth app for it. I don’t own a dishwasher and always hand wash my dishes. It’s just two of us so no big deal. Having said that, I’m disappointed in the Rose Gold finish. It’s chipping away. I almost went with the silver Stainless Steel carafe and I wish I had but, it was my birthday present and I decided to go with something a bit more “luxe”, a bit different. Bad choice as you can see from the photos. The carafe is always hand washed and air dried. Maybe it was defective but, seems like it should’ve had a better sealant or something to retain the beautiful rose gold finish. I’m disappointed with the ascetics but not the taste. I just moved it somewhere out of sight. Sad. I’ll probably go with a different maker when this one goes out. I had read people said that it drips after brewing and you’ve taken the coffee filter out to clean and have to admit it does. Now I see what they meant. An empty machine will gather drips in the hot plate after use. We do open the water container and the coffee filter area after use and keep it open with chopsticks to avoid any mold gathering and so it can dry out properly. Other than that it’s been a good coffee maker. If the GE Cafe Series engineers could spend a bit less on the packaging and more investment into the paint on the handle and drip problem, they’d have a true winner!

I own a coffee exporting company in Colombia, which means I have a lab with all the machines and equipment to analyze and brew coffee. I’m also a certified barista, cupper and roaster. But, despite all this, I wanted for my home an automatic machine with auto brew to make my mornings easy. However, a good cup of coffee and customizable settings are a MUST for me, being these the reasons why I bought this machine and paid the extra price. I couldn’t be more disappointed, there is no way to get the right extraction from this machine. Even using the bold mode and the max temperature of 205 F, there is a pre-extraction with water at low temperature and then it seems the machine does the extraction with hotter water (but clearly not at 205 F). The result? Warm coffee, under extracted, flavorless and cold 5 minutes later. Before writing this review, I even went to my office, roasted a coffee dark (being this a sin in the specialty coffee world) used an espresso grinder and went back home to try a new extraction. The result? Slightly better extraction but with the obvious burnt notes of a dark roasted coffee. Why do I need to do all this to get a mediocre cup of coffee from a $200 dollars machine? I can’t comprehend how a company can offer this machine in the market at this price and with such poor performance. Don’t waste your money, a $30 dollars brewer can do a better job than this.

Is the flavor good? Sure, but I can't enjoy it because every time I use this coffee maker I am filled with rage. A really simple function of the coffee maker is to be able to turn off the heating element. There's not a simple on/off switch like every other coffee maker. You have to hold down one of four buttons whose main function is something else. You have to hold the button while it counts down for 3 seconds. But not the whole three, it will click before that, then it's off. The other problem is that 80% of the time. The heat is still on! But you don't realize that because the little "heat" sign goes off for a moment. You think you've accomplished this simple task that is made bafflingly difficult in this machine. But you haven't. It will pop back on a second after you'd walked away, burning the leftover coffee to the bottom of your pot. Am I holding down the wrong button? Sometimes! But I don't know that, because the heat sign goes OFF and because the correct button is not labeled with it's MOST IMPORTANT FUNCTION. Also, most pots have a little light and a dedicated button - helping you remember that you need to, you know, turn it off. This one says "heat" or something in the same white as the clock & the wi-fi indicator. It's hard to notice and I often forget it. It brews quickly, so that's something. But even once it's chimed 3 times, the coffee continues to drip into the pot. So your coffee is "ready" but unless you want a mess burned all over the heat plate - you're going to have to wait for another couple minutes while it continues to drip. It's beautiful, I loved seeing it on the counter until the very sight of it filled me with rage & loathing. But it's REALLY hard to keep clean. The coffee splatters everywhere. Slight drips continue long, long after the pot is done brewing, so I'm rinsing off the pot & wiping down other elements 3-4 times after every brew just to keep it from looking 4 years old in the first week. I will eventually stop doing this & it will look like garbage, but right now the fact that it has a pretty design is the only thing I feel good about. You also have extra steps when brewing. The number 4 filters have to be FOLDED each time. Then you've got to wet the stupid things down. If you don't (because of course I forgot once already) then the coffee backs up into the shower head. And that massive scoop it comes with is a lot bigger than most coffee scoops, so you're going through more coffee in this process and it tastes... fine. There's not a mind-blowing difference between this and my 7 year old, $20 Mr. Coffee machine. I wanted to love this machine. Epicurious and various other blogs told me it was great. It's got the fancy coffee people seal of approval. It's beautiful. I spent much more than I normally would. But I hate it. And all I can hope is that I quickly learn to live with all it's little quirks and over complicated processes - but I won't buy another when this one dies.

We really like the coffee we make with this coffee maker. The programming system is pretty easy to use, although I’m not sure what features the wifi allows because I can’t get it to connect. There are two minor complaints. 1. We wish it came in a 14 cup version. If you have guests, you will be brewing more often. 2. The hot plate only stays on for two hours. You can’t just turn the machine back on to restart the hot plate, you have to actually run a coffee cycle. I end up putting a couple of cups of water in the reservoir, adding a scoop of coffee to the grounds an making a couple of extra cups, just to keep the hot plate on. My suggestion is to allow the hot plate time to be set through the programming interface. Maybe a firmware update could be pushed through the wifi feature (if I could get that to connect… LOL)…

Me encantó, haces un buen café y puedes programarlo por medio de una app para tener listo tu café a la hr que quieras. Se ve muy bonita en mi barra de la cocina y super moderna, sí vale la pena!!