I bought a Breville Grind Control in December 2021 for $300, and gave it away for free it on Marketplace ~August 2023. I probably stopped using it sometime in mid-2022, and it just sat around. I had written down some of the things I liked and didn't like about it back then and am publishing that today, because, why not.

The TL;DR is that I would not buy this again. Since mid-2022, I've been using a Mr. Coffee from Target and like it much more even though it lacks all the fancy features.

Review

Like

• Easy to use, didn't ned to pore over the manual
• Saves time from making pour overs
• Built in grinder is convenient, and the main reason I wanted to get this
• Easy-ish to clean. Will be even easier once we have paper filters? cleaning the gold tone filter after every single serve is a pain.
• Stays hot for a long enough time

Dislike

• Coffee is weak, even with 8 (highest strength). no way to control brew time or anything else, so can't fix this problem.
• Pot is bad. Have to make at least 8 cups of coffee for it to pour easily, otherwise, coffee doesn't come up.
• Coffee is sitting at the bottom of the cup (maybe because of gold tone filter). noticed it more with single serve, but probably happens with pot too (just can't actually pour all the way to the bottom of the cup).
• When making "number of cups", can't use a different pot (large beaker, e.g.) because the drip seems to come from multiple places, not directly into the beaker like with single serve.

Buying

Before buying this machine, I didn't know anything about coffee maker machines, so I did some research. These are the notes I took (also found in my Notes app with no date attached).

• Technivorm Moccamaster

  • KBGV Select: 10 cups, $349. Too big, too expensive
  • KB: 10 cups, $319. Too big, too expensive

• Breville

  • https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/coffee/bdc400.html ($279)
    • 12.4" x 6.7" x 15.7"
    • 60oz / 12 cup
  • https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/coffee/bdc650.html ($299)

• OXO

  • 9 Cup: https://www.oxo.com/barista-brain-9-cup-coffee-maker.html
  • 8 cup: https://www.oxo.com/categories/coffee-tea/brew/coffee-makers/8-cup-coffee-maker.html
  • Too big

• Chemex Ottomatic 2.0

  • 8 cups, no grinding, no timer

• Sage Precision Brewer (same as Breville. same company in UK)

• Behmor Brazen 3: https://behmor.com/brazen-plus/

• Ratio Six: https://ratiocoffee.com/products/ratio-six

  • no grinder, no timer
  • Carafe looks bad

• Tchibo Coffee Machine: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097S66K5C

  • espresso / americano, not drip
  • loud

During this process, I learned that there's an organization that publishes the standards for coffee called the SCAA: Specialies of Coffee Association of America¹. According to SCAA, the golden cup ratio is 9-11 grams of ground coffee for every 6 ounces of water.

Footnotes

1. Appears that SCAA is now just SCA?