Cuisinart Single Serve Coffee Maker Review: Eco Filter Coffee

Price When Reviewed

$149.95

Best Prices Today: Cuisinart Single Serve Coffee Maker + Coffee Grinder

If you’re in the US, this coffee machine is called the Cuisinart Single Serve Coffee Maker & Coffee Grinder. Its UK name is the Cuisinart One Cup Grind and Brew Coffee Maker. It’s the same appliance – but as you’ll see, its US price makes it a much more attractive purchase.

Espresso isn’t for everyone: many like their coffee long, hot and fuss-free. However, if you live solo or are the only one in a household who drinks it, making a whole pot of filter coffee can be at best, a chore, and at worst, wasteful. Enter this Cuisinart: a filter coffee machine that makes a single cup at a time, with a pair of washable, reusable filters (so no need for paper filters), and a choice of three cup sizes. Even better, it includes its own grinder, so you can make the freshest cup possible straight from the bean.

Design & Build

• 100g bean hopper
• Stainless steel conical burr grinder
• 1.35 litre water tank

If space on your worktop is at a premium, there’s good news: the Cuisinart One Cup Grind and Brew Coffee Maker won’t take up too much of it. It’s a slim 18.4 x 28 x 32.2cm (11.02 x 7.28 x 12.67in), meaning that it can tuck into a corner or at the back, below units, and at 3.6kg (7.9lbs), it’s easily moved around.

Effectively, it’s a machine of two halves. The left side of the machine deals with the grinding, featuring a 100g/3.5oz coffee bean hopper equipped with a stainless-steel conical burr grinder that twists in at the bottom. Below that is a holder for one of the two reusable filter pods, so ground coffee can be dispensed directly into them.

The right side handles the brewing: once a reusable filter pod is filled with ground coffee up to 15-20g, it’s simply sealed and popped into the brewing head. This means that you can use it just as a grinder, or bypass the grinding altogether: there’s a scoop included (with a brush at one end for cleaning the machine) so you can fill a filter pod with pre-ground coffee.

At the back, there’s a generous 1.35-litre water tank. This can handle up to 4-5 cups of coffee, and can be removed for filling or filled in-situ – great if you’re running out of water mid-cup. There are some clever features that are less obvious too, including that the drip tray can be removed to accommodate taller vessels, such as travel cups, and concealed storage at the side for the filter pod that isn’t in use.

Performance & Features

• Limited options for tailoring coffee
• Three cup sizes: 120ml, 210ml and 300ml
• Can be messy, especially with smaller cups

While the Cuisinart One Cup Grind and Brew Coffee Maker packs in more flexibility than your average drip coffee maker, its controls are basic compared to a typical pod machine. They’re limited to just five buttons: on/off, grind and three cup sizes: 120ml, 210ml and 300ml.

Notably, you can’t alter any of these. There’s no option for increasing the medium cup size by 20ml for example, adding more water after brewing, or altering the amount of coffee that’s ground – the same amount is dispensed whether you’re making the 120ml cup or the 300ml one. If that proves to be too much ground coffee, you can take some out before brewing but it would make more sense not to grind that much in the first place.

In addition, the bean hopper is fixed to the machine, so if you fancy a change, you’ll have to grind your way through what’s in there or awkwardly scoop out what you can, rather than being able to tip the beans out. Removing the burr grinder is another option but beans will cascade out.

Limitations aside, the Cuisinart One Cup Grind and Brew Coffee Maker makes reliably good coffee. I used it in place of my usual espresso machine for a couple of weeks, and filled it with the same beans. The coffee it made with them was distinctly milder, but retained a similar flavour, especially when brewed as a 120ml cup size. It was dispensed at a fairly consistent 80°C/176°F. Most importantly, there was no bitterness, which can occur with some filter coffee, and no residue at the bottom of the cup.

I liked that the drip tray made space for taller cups, but there isn’t the option to raise it for smaller cups, and the brew head can’t be lowered. This meant that when brewing into low cups, there would always be splashes left behind on the worktop. These joined the grounds left by coffee grinding: however hard I tried, there was always some mess, although most of it ended up on the drip tray.

It was also faster to brew than drip coffee machines. While it took a few seconds to start brewing, even the largest cup size finished in less than 30 seconds. Plus, everything that can be removed is dishwasher safe except for the grinder, and there’s a three-year guarantee.

Price & Availability

In the US, the Cuisinart Single Serve Coffee Maker and Coffee Grinder is available for $149.95, from Amazon and for $154.95 from Walmart. It’s not cheap but it’s a considerably better price than in the UK, where it costs £248.95 from Amazon, among other retailers.

This makes it an extremely pricey option where filter coffee makers are concerned. But it doesn’t aim to be a budget-friendly buy and if you’re after a high quality machine for long coffees, it might just suit you. For more coffee machine options, have a look at our round-up of the best coffee machines we’ve tested, and for quick and easy coffee making, check out our recommended pod coffee machines.

Should you buy the Cuisinart Single Serve/ One Cup Coffee Maker?

Make no mistake, the Cuisinart Single Serve/One Cup Grind and Brew Coffee Maker is not for the latte lovers of this world. Instead, it’s aimed squarely at those who prize a good cup of filter coffee, free from bitterness, and without the commitment to keep buying single-use filter papers. There’s plenty that’s been well thought-out – a good-sized water tank, ease of cleaning the reusable pods, and even storage.

However, what’s been overlooked is the option to have your coffee just the way you like it: at this price point, the ability to add more water, grind less for smaller cups, or adjust the dispensed size should be there. If you don’t mind that amounts are set in stone, and all that’s required is hot, black and smooth, with a lower eco impact, this one-cup wonder should work for you.