BOOM Baby!! Dat'sa Good Cuppa Coffee

Author's Rating:

Pros: Compact, attractive design; makes a helluva good cup of coffee

Cons: Lightweight plastic casing feels a little cheap; switches easily flipped on by accident

The Bottom Line: 
If you're a coffee drinker, you know you've always wanted one of these. Krups makes a fine addition to my countertop arsenal.

Author's Review
I've been wanting one of these for years. And finally, with an extra $100 in my pocket, I said enough's enough... and I got one.

Me and coffee:

I love the stuff. It's a bad habit, I know. But there are so few vices left in my life (good wine being one of the few others). I've been drinking coffee since I was 13 and once pumped myself up to a pot-and-a-half a day habit.

Lemme tell ya - after peeling me off the ceiling, you could actually hear the high pitched hum of the caffeine.

So, I've cut back substantially since my days of working the drive-thru at the neighborhood Burger King (I won't tell you what we actually did to the burgers of people who were rude BEFORE they got their food; or, what we did on the bun racks after the place closed at 2:00 in the morning - ahhh youth... wasted on the young).

Before getting the Krups combo unit, I've had all kinds of coffee makers and espresso machines, too. From the perk-pot we had in the Army (the one that we heated on the radiator of the 5-ton truck), to the more civilized Bunn with lots of different brands in between... if it makes coffee in someone's home, I've at least tried it.

The Krups replaces: a Mr. Coffee 12-cup w/and automatic off switch after two hours; and a Mr. Coffee espresso machine. Both of them free-standing, countertop units The fact that they're both Mr. Coffee machines is a coincidence - one we bought and the other we got at Christmas three years ago. To their credit, both got the job done (still can, too) and gave very little, if any trouble.

But, I really wanted to clean up the countertop, so out with the old and in with the new. I've had it for a month now, so the opinion here will be updated if anything changes... you know, like if it explodes fresh espresso grounds all over the place in some freak, coffee induced fiasco.

The Krups on coffee:

This little bugger does a great thing: it brews good coffee and you get it measuring what you are supposed to measure. Let me decode that for you -

After years with Mr. Coffee, I've learned that, in order to make that perfect cup for me and my wife, I use 3 scoops (chok full o'nuts or freshly ground) to 7 cups of water. Yeah, that's more water than they want you to use for that number of scoops. Twelve cups (max coffee for over the holidays or when family visits) needs 5 and 1/4 scoops of coffee and not a pinch more.

Not so with the Krups. Two cups water/1 scoop coffee; 4 cups/2 scoops; 6 cups... you get the picture. No more guessing.

Drawbacks on the Coffee side: Okay, there are really only two. I like the plastic filter of my Mr. Coffee and other coffee makers than the paper, disposable filter I have to use with the Krups.

It hasn't happened yet, but I'm not all that fond of crunchies at the bottom of the cup. It's never an issue with the plastic filter, because it never flops over on itself. Sure, you have to wash the filter every day (no, really, you do... :-). But, dumping the whole pot and starting over because of a flopping paper filter almost brings a caffinated tear to my eye.

The other draw back is that the thing will only make 8 cups at a time. Sure, we don't need to brew more than that unless we have company or it's the holidays, but still. Coming down from a unit that made 50% more at a time is a little bit of a bummer.

Krups on Cappuccino/Espresso:

There are only a few things you need to concern yourself with to grade how well the cappuccino/espresso half of the machine works: How hot it comes out; how well it froths milk; and how easy it is to clean up afterwards.

I'm struck by how good the espresso is from this thing. Comparing the final product (a frothy, vanilla cappuccino w/skim milk and a dash of cinnamon) from the Krups to the Mr. Coffee - same fresh ground beans, same milk, same Turani french vanilla; the Krups makes a richer, hotter cup of 'fancy-boy' coffee.

I'm still working on my appreciation for espresso with a shot of ameretto... but, it's still tasty stuff.

The frother thing is something else. The Krups really blasts the steam and is easier to clean up afterwards than poor ol' Mr. C. The hotter Krups cappo can be attributed (at least in part) to the fact that the steamed milk is damned near boiled. There's a warning in there - keep an eye on the frother or you'll be sorry and your milk shot.

One added plus to the Krups is that they give you the attachment to brew espresso straight to two cups at once (a splitter of sorts, plastic attachment that goes on and comes off easy). It's nice to know they're thinking ahead.

Beyond the easier clean-up of the frother/steamer, they all pretty much clean up the same way.

The Krups in General:

I'm very happy with the purchase. Overall, it's doing what I want it to do. But, there are a couple of things in general that I don't like (besides the paper filter and the limited number of cups of coffee you can brew at once).

First, I don't like that it's made with a relatively lightweight plastic casing. I remember thinking, "ewww, cheapie" (in a manly voice, of course) when I pulled it out of the box. I wonder how well this thing would hold up if I dropped it on the floor by accident. And, with 5 kids, that's going to happen sooner or later.

Second, the switches located in the front of the machine flip on and off too easily. It's fine if you don't have to endure the rummagings of teen and pre-teen children. You don't really have to worry about someone accidentally flipping the espresso machine on when they come down for a glass of water in the middle of the night. Me?? I gotta check it before bed.

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Leaving it on all night, by the way, hasn't done any visible harm - but it's a practice I wouldn't recommend.
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Overall it has a clean, simple design... It fits better on my counter and you can brew from one, the other, or both coffee and espresso at the same time.

The holidays are coming and combo units like the Krups will start to pop up in department stores all over the place. May Company department stores already have them on special for under $100.

So, my advice: if you're looking to replace one or both of your beverage brewers or always wanted the "Starbucks experience" (minus the taste of burnt espresso that you get from what is little more than a coffee shop at the airport, of course), find one of these doubled-duty combo units on special and give it a try.

One disclaimer:

This review is written after only a month of ownership. I can't say how durable the Krups II Caffee Doumo really is yet. If anything bad happens, though, I'll let you know.


UPDATE:

It's been some time now since I wrote the original review - about 8 - 10 months since I bought it. Not much has changed. It still brews a nice cup of coffee, still looks like it would shatter in a million pieces if I dropped it, and still looks pretty good on my kitchen counter.

Here's what has changed:

1. I thought I could get used to the 8-cup pot. Day-to-day, it's fine. But when relatives visit (and just as I suspected), I miss the old, 10-cup Mr. Coffee.

2. Okay - I'll be picky here. The Krups coffee pot has a wide-mouth pouring spout. I've come to learn that with such a wide, flat mouth, I can rarely pour a cup of coffee without spilling some on the counter. If you're in the market, look for a coffee maker with a longer, narrower spout. Granted it's not a lot of coffee, just more than a few drops most times. But, hey, it's a fault and something you should know before buying your own.

That's it. Enjoy!