Review on Cuisinart DCC-T20 14-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker Touchscreen - Sleek Black Design for Convenient Brewing Experience by Jamie Simpson

When my Hamilton Beach coffee maker decided to stop working after 7 years of daily use, I looked at consumer reviews to see what they recommend and saw the Cuisinart DCC -T20 as one of the best. I ordered one from Revain that same day, along with a box of Melitta #4 Cone coffee filters. I've been using the same brand of coffee beans and grind (I have a burr grinder) for years, so I could easily compare the "cup quality". I can tell you without hesitation that the Cuisinart DCC-T20 coffee maker combined with Melitta #4 filters makes excellent coffee. The controls on this model are pressure-sensitive "buttons" hidden behind a glossy black bezel. A gentle press of the ever-visible "on/off button" lights up all the others. The options available are obvious, and I found the black bezel remarkably resistant to oily fingerprints. I drink black coffee and use dark roast beans and my grind is somewhere between espresso and drip (medium?). I prefer coffee bean flavors over cream and sugar (bleach), so I always hit the "Bold" setting. I also do 8 cups at a time so I never used the 1-4 cup setting. I once had to boil the pot very early in the morning and rely on a timer to start the machine at 4am. Thank goodness it worked perfectly! The coffee maker ships in about 30 seconds and requires assembly: a small water filter that looks like a small oval Keureg cup needs to be (unrolled and) pushed into the holder at the base of the plastic stick. . After that, the stick itself is inserted into an open corner, into which water is poured. The base of the stick fits snugly into the hole in the bottom of the water tank. You will need to run a few carafes of plain water through the brew cycle to clear the carbon dust from the filter element. Once you've done that, you're done. I've included a photo - immaculate and unashamedly showing it in all its morning glory - of what the cone filter looks like after I made my standard 8-cup pan. You can see that the coffee waste never reaches the top of the filter, so you won't find random coffee particles at the bottom of the cup. I cannot vouch for the same result if you use a different filter size/brand. My only complaint is minor: the angled opening through which water is poured into the reservoir is a bit small by design when using the carafe by itself. to fill the reservoir. On one side of the DCC is an opaque plastic window with a scale that perfectly matches the 14 cup scale engraved on the decanter glass. So if you use a separate vessel to fill your coffee maker, you can use that and be confident that your amount of water is accurate - and that will eliminate this complaint. By the way, the size of the coffee maker is about 7 x 9 x 14 inches.