Lowest Price Zojirushi EC-BD15 Fresh Brew Thermal Carafe Coffee Maker

This was a great find, thanks Amazon!

When we bought our first one a couple of years ago, I picked it because it was one of the few carafe coffee makers with a timer function. I'm now buying a second one because my parents liked it and were disappointed with the similar unit they got from Krups.

The basics:

1) The carafe approach to keeping warm coffee available is definitely the way to go. The "burner plate" approach is aptly named. Continually cooking your coffee to keep it warm just burns off all the good flavors and leaves you an acrid swill that you've got to be desperate for "something like coffee" to drink.

2) The timer function is the way to go for a morning cup. Set it to go off with your alarm clock, and you have the sound and aroma of fresh brewing coffee to help get you up out of bed.

The Specifics to this unit:

The upside:

1) The carafe works wonderfully. My parents first tried a Gevalia unit and then a Krups. The Gevalia carafe leaked (badly) within a month. Dad likes his coffee hot, and Krups carafe cools off the hot coffee too much. I guess he could warm the carafe with hot water before brewing his coffee, but then what's the point of having an automatic timer? Also, the Krups carafe has a very wide spout which spills a lot. Their Krups works like new, but they asked me to buy them one like mine because they are fed up with these issues.

2) The pause and serve mechanism works very well, and gives every indication of extreme longevity. Mine is a couple of years old and no problems yet.

3) 10 cup capacity and "bubble sight column" is very easy to read, if you want fewer cups.

4) Oh, back to the carafe, it does NOT cool the coffee down a lot (a common complaint with carafes) and yet it keeps coffee warm for a long time.

The downside: These are not nearly enough to knock a star off the score, especially after seeing the "competitive" units other brands offer.

1) The brewing basket isn't exactly suited to a size 4 filter. I used to buy size 4 and trim the whole batch when I got them home. Now I don't even bother. I just make sure the bottom of a no. 4 filter is pushed firmly down into the bottom of the basket before adding the coffee grounds. The top of the no. 4 filter is about a quarter of an inch too long, but so what? I just close the top which folds/bends the excess filter down a little bit. This does not prevent the top from closing properly and does not affect the brewing whatsoever. Don't overreact to this "problem" and it's not a problem.

2) The pour spout pours a little slow. Make sure the dot on the lid is aligned with the dot on the spout (would be nice if the dots were another color than black, as it took my wife a few weeks to even notice there WERE dots...) and you'll get your coffee plenty fast.

3) The narrow neck on the carafe makes it difficult to clean out the inside. You'll need a long bottle brush or something to scrub the inside.

That's all I can think of on the downside. Minor details, if you ask me. I really recommend this coffee maker. If ours breaks, I'll be back to buy a third one!Get more detail about Zojirushi EC-BD15 Fresh Brew Thermal Carafe Coffee Maker.