Breville BDC600XL YouBrew Drip Coffee Maker

The Apple of Small Appliances
The more I look at their products, the more I think Breville is trying to be the Apple of small appliances. They clearly research how products are actually used, and then try to improve. The YouBrew has some innovations that I really like - and then I must ask: why are they the only ones who seem to care.

Here are the features I like best:

#1: Useful LCD display. Every other coffee machine I have tried has - at best - a couple of flashing lights and a simple clock display. The Breville has an backlit LCD display that actually tells me something beyond a flashing '12:00' !!! At first, the display seems overly complicated. You quickly discover that the information is useful and logically presented. I personally would have programmed the buttons a bit more consistently and would have used the up and down buttons with more functions (like setting carafe size) Self-clean mode could also be easier to set. With that said, the Breville's user interface is still...

Talk about the Wow! Factor
I read every review on this and other combination Grinder/Brewers. This one had what I was looking for - a burr grinder (instead of the inferior blade), and decent reviews. Although the YouBrew is almost twice the price of some of the competition, I saw a recurring theme across all the reviews - You get what you pay for.

So I took the leap, and spent more on this coffee maker than I have spent on all my previous coffee makers and grinders combined,times about 4. And I'm glad I did.

Here are my thoughts after using it for a couple weeks:

Cons:
It is big. It is a beast. It weighs a ton. But it is sure a conversation starter sitting there on my counter top.
The stainless steel does show fingerprints. So I wipe it down to keep it looking nice. We'll see how long that lasts...

Previous reviews talk about how loud the grinder is - and they aren't kidding. It sounds like I did something terrible when I push the start button and this very...

Well engineered, but not without faults. 3.5 - 4 Stars
We can all agree on what's really lousy coffee (from army mess to a couple of high-end places where servers are called "baristas"), but what's really a great cup of coffee is a matter of conjecture, the qualioty of the beans, and what we're accustomed to. I'm no connoisseur: I know what I like; rich, a little strong, and with cream.

The Breville You Brew is nicely designed, takes a little thought, and makes a decent cup of coffee, but nothing comparable to that really good coffee one gets at a FINE restaurant (the Ritz-Carlton comes to mind). After playing with it and making everything from one cup to a travel mug to a full carafe, the end product is no better than what my Cuisinart and *premium* [Dillanos]coffee puts out.

I think what this boils down to - to use a very appropriate phrase - is the coffee. My wife and I think Caribou and Starbucks are bitter even though the pres. of Starbucks says that there's no bitterness in coffee, period. Still, I think it's...

Click to Editorial Reviews