The total dissolved solids (TDS), often referred to as the “amount of coffee” in the coffee, was a bit too high, but as Reyna noted, this can be improved by adjusting the amount and coarseness of the coffee grind.
Finally, we swapped the large basket for a smaller one and brewed a smaller batch of 4 cups. Reyna stuck to the 1:17 ratio of coffee to water she had been using all day, with a medium grind. The four-minute brew cycle produced a cup with a TDS of 1.35, which is the Olympia sweet spot for this coffee, and prompted Sam to declare, “This is really delicious,” which Reyna and I realized was the highest praise he had ever given a cup in all the tests we had done together. We had similar success with the 2-cup size.
One thing that has become clear is that you’ll be rewarded for experimenting with coffee amounts and grinds beyond what the manual suggests, and if that doesn’t work for you, you can lower your standards and look for something a little simpler.
Photo: OXO
We found a few flaws, mostly related to the smaller brewing basket, but nothing major. The post-brew dripping I encountered with the small insert was still annoying and messy, especially since it’s a flaw that can literally be turned off with an 8-cup machine. We also agreed that the No. 2 filter used for smaller batches is really too small to brew 4 cups of coffee without making a mess. In my kitchen, I regularly ended up with grounds on the shower head and sides of the basket, which could have been avoided by using a slightly larger insert with a larger No. 4 filter. Finally, while the small insert fits neatly inside the larger basket in the 8-cup model, it doesn’t in the 12-cup model, which means you have to find a place for one basket when using the other, and you can’t store both together.
He himself wasn’t a huge fan of Oxo’s appearance. “So much thought and intention, and then this,” he lamented. “There are definitely uglier breweries out there, but there’s so much stainless steel. Can we support that a little bit?”
I was hoping that combining the best parts of my two favorite models might result in me writing my first review with a perfect score, but that didn’t happen. Alas! Still, the quality of the machine and the coffee it makes in all three serving sizes easily outweighs these flaws.
Since it’s a 12 cup coffee maker, large but not ridiculously large, we consulted on who it was for, and the range ran from multi-generational families, as Sam put it, “offices with people who care,” to semi-commercial use, to people who just drink a lot of coffee. I really appreciated the fact that you could start your day with a pot, then reduce to a cup or two in the afternoon without sacrificing quality, a rare bird in the coffee world.
If you are one of those people who doesn’t mind making a good cup or twelve cups of coffee, this coffee machine might be just for you.
