Java all day with the Hamilton Beach Elite Programmable Coffee Maker
27 Nov 2020
Disclaimer: We were provided the Hamilton Beach Elite Programmable Coffee Maker for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
Coffee is a staple in our house. Whether in the morning during the week, or after a nice sleep in on the weekend, there is nothing like a hot cup of java to start the day. Both Wendy and I are coffee drinkers, although Wendy does drink a lot more than I do. We also prefer our coffee differently: Wendy likes her java with a little bit of milk, while I like mine with one teaspoon of raw sugar and about lots of milk. Wendy often jokes that I like my milk with a hint of coffee – and she just may be on to something there.
Tuesday, March 17th, 2020
When the pandemic officially hit, Wendy was told she would be working from home for the foreseeable future. With me working from home as well, and both of us loving our morning coffee, we needed to figure out a better solution than our single-serve coffee maker that served us well for the past couple of years.
I quickly found out that Wendy enjoyed multiple cups of java a day, and her morning coffee was just to prepare her for her long commute to work. With the girls doing at-home learning, they also started drinking coffee, so we now had 4 coffee drinkers in the house, for the first time.
We did have an older coffee maker that we pulled out of the pantry, but it did not have a programmable feature, so we had to make the coffee in the morning when we were still tired. Not a great solution. We needed something better.
Hamilton Beach Saves The Day!
If there are 2 things that Wendy enjoys, it’s getting lots of sleep, and hot coffee. The programmable function of the Hamilton Beach Elite Programmable Coffee Maker allows Wendy to sleep as long as possible and wake up to hot coffee. She simply adds the coffee and water in the evening, sets the timer and voila! Simple!
Features
• 12 cup capacity
• Black Stainless Steel Finish
• Fast, Easy Filling Brew Basket
• Rotating Design
• 3 Brew Strength Options
• Removable Water Reservoir
• Automatic Pause & Serve
• Programmable Clock
• 2 Hour Automatic Shutoff
See the Hamilton Beach Elite Programmable Coffee Maker in action in this video:
Our Thoughts
The Hamilton Beach Elite Programmable Coffee Maker has a few features that make it really easy to use. They added something that we haven’t seen before – it rotates! The swivel feature allows you to turn the coffee maker to easily access the water reservoir in the back. And the removable 12 cup capacity water reservoir makes filling so much easier. Our previous coffee maker had an attached reservoir and that was tricky to fill without spilling water. Not gonna lie – I ended up getting water everywhere – usually on the floor. Storm loved it. Wendy? Not so much.
One thing that bothered me about our old coffee maker was the coffee basket – if the basket wasn’t pushed in exactly, the hot water would still pour through and would spill everywhere. If you walked away, you would come back to a big mess. Now I know what you are thinking – why would you not close it properly? Well, we thought we did when it wasn’t really closed completely. It was quite annoying. The Hamilton Beach Elite Programmable Coffee Maker has a quick-release button, that allows for easy access to load the filter and coffee. In order to close it, you need to press and hold the button, swing the brew basket to the closed position, and then depress the button. If it doesn’t lock in place, the door simply isn’t closed.
There are some mornings where we are pretty impatient to get ourselves a cup of Joe, so the automatic pause and serve feature is fantastic. It allows me to sneak a cup without making a mess before Wendy even gets down to the kitchen. That is ground-breaking for me!
We have mixed feelings about the 2 hour shut off. It’s great that we don’t have to worry about the coffee maker being left on but if we don’t drink 12 cups of coffee in 2 hours, it starts getting cold. And there are some days where meetings take over and we end up re-heating the coffee.
Additional Features
There are a few other neat features that the Hamilton Beach Elite Programmable Coffee Maker has that we likely won’t use that frequently, but they are nice to have in case we need them.
You can use the “1 to 4 cup” setting if you are going to make a smaller pot of coffee. This is great if you really only need a coffee for one, or just want enough to fill a travel mug.
Also, you can use the Select-a-Brew brew-strength selector to make your coffee “bold”, or stronger. While we both love coffee, we prefer a good medium roast with the recommended amount of coffee, and love the results we have been getting with our preferred brand.
A Better Way To Start The Morning
The Hamilton Beach Elite Programmable Coffee Maker has made our morning coffee ritual in the morning so much easier. We set it at night before heading to bed, and enjoy freshly brewed coffee to start our day.
Cheers,
Big Daddy
If you would like me to review your product, service, restaurant, or travel destination, please send me an email at craig@bigdaddykreativ.ca or tweet me at @BigDaddyKreativ
Craig Silva
Craig is a husband, father, team leader, travel and food writer, senior youth group coordinator, designer, brander, community builder, volunteer, and social media strategist. He likes to travel, go camping, go on road trips, watch movies, build stuff, operate the grill, and sing with his band. Craig is a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association and Travel Media Association of Canada. If you are a PR agency or brand and would like Craig to review a travel destination, vehicle, restaurant, product or service, please send him an email.
Recommended Posts
5 Lessons in Self-Love That You Can Learn in Italy
14 Nov 2023 - Contributor Articles, Europe, Food & Drink, Italy, Travel
