De'Longhi TrueBrew Drip Coffee Maker, Built in Grinder, Single Serve, 8 oz to 24 oz with 40 oz Carafe, Hot or Iced Coffee, Stainless,CAM51035M, Silver/Black

I guess I’m a coffee snob. I’ve roasted my own beans for 10 years, have owned many fancy coffee makers including the Ninja coffee bar, three Nespresso makers that use the capsules, Keurigs, three Chemex, Aeropress, French press and multiple pour over units. But my every day go to was the Bunn and has been for 20 years in which I owned four. But lately, no matter how dark I roast my beans or how many grounds I used, my Bunn coffee was weak. My daughter has the De’Longhi and I spent a week at her house drinking this coffee which was rich and wonderful no matter what bean she used. Even the “light” setting produced a cup that was so full of flavor, clean yet bold. I promptly came home and ordered one for myself as a Christmas present. I was reluctant given the many negative reviews. And even though this is not the most expensive coffee machine I’ve ever purchased, I was nervous and wondered if I would get the same great coffee as my daughters, she uses bottled water and I use well water. My fears all unfounded as this coffee is absolutely perfect every cup every time! It’s like an espresso machine that makes coffee as there is always a little crema on top which is amazing! I add honey and half and half and sometimes a little heavy whipping cream and feel like I’ve just been to a cafe!Pros: I like the one cup at a time. No coffee in the pot sitting on the warmer getting stale and burnt like a truck stop restaurant at 2 in the morning! A fresh cup every time! I’m actually drinking less coffee and using less beans which is great! Two cups every morning and I’m good! Not drinking more just because there’s more in the pot and I don’t want to waste it! Win!No paper filters to buy! It extracts the coffee using an infuser so you get all the rich goodness of the fresh ground coffee! There is nothing better than fresh ground coffee!The array of cup sizes are great! In the morning I make two 12 oz and in the afternoon an 8 oz. There is no need to buy the one with the carafe, it’s way more expensive and just not necessary. My daughter has the one with the carafe and she has never used it! Even if you have company and everyone gives it a workout, it can handle it and your company will enjoy a hot fresh cup every time!Cons: To me there are none! Yeah it’s a little noisy, but that noise means I’m getting ready to have a great cup of coffee!The clean up for me is no more than I did in the Bunn, dumping the filtered grounds in the trash and rinsing the pot. With the De’Longhi, I dump the grounds in the compost bucket and dump the rinse water, no big deal. Occasionally there are grounds inside and under the infuser, again, not a big deal for the quality of the coffee you get. I think the mess people talk about is when you don’t do this often enough and the rinse water container overflows. I do it every afternoon after our coffee drinking is over for the day so I start the next morning with everything empty. I also fill the water tank then too. I just use a pitcher so I’m not taking off the tank every time. This only takes a few minutes.And that’s it! I am so happy with this machine I want to buy another one just to have a back up! This is the coffee I’ve always wanted to have at home but could only get it at a cafe or coffee house. The Bunn was good for a fast pot of coffee but it has been retired, permanently!

First lets start with the good. The packaging looks great and the QR Code on the top of the device sends you to very helpful unboxing and preparation videos. And setting the time on the unit wasn't as confusing as a typical 90's appliance.I've been looking forward all week to getting this coffee maker. The appeal of a truly automated coffee making experience is something I got really excited about. I unboxed everything, and I read the getting started guide and watched the videos before turning getting started with the coffee maker.Once I had the equipment in the right place I added water and started the priming process. That worked without a hitch. Next I added coffee beans to the hopper and got excited for my first cup of coffee. I selected 12oz and pressed brew. The grinder started grinding, then there were some sounds that sounded like an espresso machine. My excitement grew as I knew the first coffee was coming out. Finally! Water started coming out into my mug. Yes, water. Not coffee. To be fair the water had a slightly yellow color that it didn't have in the reservoir. So I knew something was happening.Not to despair I had watched the video and knew that it took several "waste" cups of coffee to fully get the machine ready to make the perfect cup it promises. So I went ahead and brewed a second cup. I got more yellow water. The video guide showed them making 4 cups of waste coffee. So I assumed maybe it needed more. This time I decide to switch to "bold" for coffee strength thinking maybe the coffee maker needed a little more bean to be ground up. So cup 3 is set to bold at 16oz. And you guessed it, more yellow water. But at least in the video it was only 4 cups of waste coffee (albeit they actually looked like coffee in the video). So I set my final test coffee to 16oz of bold coffee. Again, yellow water. At this point I look inside the coffee maker to clean it out and notice there is not even a single serving worth of coffee grounds in the ground waste bin.Fortunately I know at this point the coffee maker is primed and ready to make the perfect coffee. So I go all in and place a carafe in it and select 24oz of bold coffee. The grinder spins for a second then starts making coffee. Again, yellow water. Not even 24oz of yellow water. I got 16oz of yellow water.At this point I'm scouring the website, checking every inch of the manual and checking reviews to no avail. There is no assistance for this issue. So I decide to try using preground coffee hoping it's just an issue with the grinder. I setup the machine for preground coffee, put in 3 scoops of preground coffee that I freshly ground in a cuisinart coffee burr grinder that has worked perfectly for years, then pressed brew. It makes a sound but nothing comes out. So I try again, with 3 more scoops of preground coffee down the preground chute. Still nothing. Not even yellow water this time. So I open the coffee maker and there are grounds everywhere. They're covering the infuser, at the bottom of the unit and in both waste bins.I cleaned it out and followed the monthly cleaning guide for the infuser and tried again hoping that would solve the problem. And finally I got more yellow water. There is literally not a single piece of this equipment that worked as expected except for setting the time. So if you're looking for a really expensive clock that you have to set manually and takes up too much counter space then this is the unit for you. Guaranteed to give you buyers remorse for spending way too much money on unfulfilled promises.I guess the good news is I can return it and never purchase another De'Longhi product again. Thank you De'Longhi for failing me before we even started this coffee journey together. Typically it takes a long time to sort out a coffee relationship with new equipment but you showed your true colors up front and I truly appreciate that I only wasted one evening of my time trying to sort out our issues.