Braun BrewSense Drip Coffee Maker, White

First off: the flavour of coffee is amazing from this maker and just as good as a pour-over. The mouth-feel of the coffee is completely different using the gold toned filter: smooth and rich.

One slight negative is that the gold tone filter makes a mess in the sink after cleaning. After shaking the used grounds into the compost, there is still a lot of residue that ends up in the sink after washing out.
Also the lid of the pot is a little delicate; it comes off accidentally sometimes and needs to be snapped back in.

One design oversight: the led clock display is not backlit which makes it impossible to read if you’re looking down on it, i.e. most of the time.

This brewed what is possibly the third best cup of coffee I’ve ever had. The two best cups of black coffee I ever had both came from Bunn thermally regulated machines (big bucks). This is the first non-regulated machine that almost made a cup of coffee without burning any of the oil. The burning of the coffee oil was minimal, I don’t think many people would detect it besides the few of us that enjoy black coffee and can tell when the oil is burnt.
Overall it’s a really nice machine, it is compact, easy to operate, the carafe doesn’t dribble and seems to brew a really good cup of coffee. Although it is 2 to 4 times less expensive than all the other coffee makers I’ve ever owned, it out brews all of them except one (a Bunn). However at this price and simplicity you can’t go wrong.
I have found that I get a nearly perfect cup of coffee if I refrigerate the carafe of water overnight before brewing. The only gripe I really have about the coffee maker is that the clock is difficult to read because it is not backlit and with the lighting in my kitchen there is a glare on the plastic covering the clock making it difficult to read.
So forget the clock, forget setting it to turn on in the morning, and don’t think it’s going to make a chime to let you know it’s done. All those features don’t work or are impossible to see or don’t exist. Just enjoy a great cup of coffee from a quality $40 machine.
On a side note, you should leave the top open when you are done brewing to let the moisture out and if by some chance, you pull the carafe out while brewing for too long the brew chamber can overfill with water and back up the coffee grounds into your sprayer. If this happens and you have a spray hose at your sink, turn it upside down, and wash it out. You may get some grounds circulated up through the sprayer for a while, but your coffee filter will keep them from going into your carafe.
For those of you that want to taste a cup of coffee exactly like what you had in your favorite restaurant you can drop about $900 to fully outfit a Bunn 12950.
To update, it is now April 2024 and the little coffee maker is still going strong, so I bought another one, because if you live in California It is against state law for manufacturers to sell replacement parts for small (residential appliances) so since I’ve had this unit unit since 2019 I figured I should buy another one before it is discontinued or heaven forbid, it possibly breaks.
I discovered this obscure state law when my (Bunn) coffee makers heating element went out. I called the manufacture to purchase a replacement element, and they informed me as to California law and why they could not sell me the replacement part, they stated to me that appliances listed as (Commercial) can have replacement parts but not household.

The simple facts: So, I purchased this Braun BrewSense drip coffee maker in September of 2021. I’ve used it nearly every single day since then, sometimes more than once a day. I brew ground medium strength coffee in it.

The great: It’s been my favorite coffee maker I’ve ever purchased. It brews delicious coffee (for my palate, I fill the water to 12, and use 11 scoops of coffee to get my “just right” flavor), it brews at average speed, and keeps it at perfect temp. The top lid opens widely for easy loading of water into the reservoir, and the reusable filter basket has held up over the years and is easy to clean.

The recent not so great: Today after brewing a full sized pot as usual to start my day, I went about cleaning and noticed a strong burning odor coming from my kitchen. Upon investigation, the unit was smoking/smoldering, producing cackling sounds I’ve never heard before, and displayed an error code saying “E02”. I immediately turned off the unit, removed the carafe from the hot plate, and unplugged the unit. It continued to smoke for a few minutes and the cackling sound persisted as well. I moved the unit outside to my porch to be safe in case of it producing flames.

Currently: I’ve submitted a warranty request to Braun/their parent company who oversees these things (DēLonghi) since their warranty covers 3 years from the date of purchase, luckily placing me within eligible warranty timeframe. When I looked in the manual for what the E02 code means, it only states to contact them “for repair”. My assumption is that it is due to an electrical fault that can result in a fire that can lead to death. I’m glad I caught it quickly and will be eager to read Braun’s response to remedy it. It’s a great coffee maker that I’ve never had issues with until today, so my hope is that it will get repaired or replaced and I can continue enjoying the product’s coffee making magic again soon. 🙂 I will update when things have been addressed and hopefully remedied.

good drip maker