Love this little wonder. My cheapo 12 cup coffee maker bit the dust and I thought my only option for a single brew was the rather pricey Keurig (and other companies similar) until I was researching my options and read a review singing the praises of the Bunn MyCafe. I loved the versatility of being able to use K cups if I wanted, but also use it for tea bags, and my own coffee grounds. This makes a much better cup of coffee than my last machine, and once you play around with the amount of water you add and the amount of grounds you use, you can get a customized cup of coffee just for you pretty consistently. It also has a pulse option if you want a stronger brew, but I haven't tried that yet. Brew Performance I love the coffee I get from this machine. Bunn says it hold the brewing water at 200 degrees, which I read is the optimal temperature for extracting the flavor from the beans. Who knew? I do know I like this coffee. And I really like not paying for K cups. Ease of Cleaning Let's face it, if you are not using a K-cup, the clean up is slightly more of a pain, but it is exactly why I like this better than the Keurig and others with cups and pods. I knock the grounds into a compost bucket and I'm not filling up a landfill with a single-use plastic product. That bothered me about the Keurig option--and the cost of the K cups as well. It becomes as easy as a K cup machine if you choose to use that tray. Scale removal is the same as any other coffee maker. However, you CANNOT get into the water reservoir to clean out that area. If that bothers you I would choose a different machine. Or if your machine will sit for periods of time without brewing (days or weeks). The water reservoir is always full of water and you cannot drain it. I have tried just to see if I could. If mine sits for over a day, I just run a water cycle through it first and then brew to clean out the stale water. Ease of Use Pretty cut and dry. Add the amount of water you want to brew, add the coffee grounds, push the button to make it go. If you are turning on the machine (I don't leave mine plugged in overnight or if I'm done with coffee for the day) it will take under 2 minutes to heat up. If you leave it plugged in it stays ready for a couple of hours before going into sleep mode and will need to heat up again. Design I like the look of it on my counter. It also allows me to brew directly into my travel mug (6.75" high) if I remove the drip tray and cover (very easy to do--literally just lift them up and move them to the side). Durability I give the durability a ten based on the Bunn reputation and my hopes for the durability of this machine! I've had it for 4-5 months now.

Kristen71

USA